Padilha supports the demise of EBC to avoid competition with private media.
By signaling his support for the dismantling of EBC (Brazilian Communication Company), Minister Eliseu Padilha, of the Civil House, confuses the role of public communication and speaks of avoiding competition with private broadcasters such as Globo, Band, and SBT; "The government has no interest in competing with private media," he says; public broadcasters, which exist in several countries around the world, aim to offer quality communication, free from the dictates of the markets and the political interests of the media families that control large communication conglomerates and, with this power, influence the political process, overthrowing and "electing" governments – a distortion that exists in Brazil, with Globo, to say the least.
247 - The Minister of the Civil House, Eliseu Padilha, signaled his support for the demise of EBC and justified his position by arguing that one should not compete with private media.
"I've already spoken with President Michel about this, and he has ordered a real study of the expenses. The government has no interest in competing with the private media. That's an absolutely superfluous expense. And, at a time when we are in a phase of doing more with less, superfluous things are unnecessary. This served very well those who wanted to ideologize the government's actions, who wanted to build an ideological franchise based on this communication. That's not our case. We can resize it. We are not going to eliminate the area of government communication. The ideologization of government communication is inadmissible. But government communication is indispensable," he said.
By signaling his support for the dismantling of the company, Minister Padilha, to whom EBC became subordinate after the Secretariat of Communication lost its ministerial status, confuses the role of public communication.
Companies like EBC exist in several countries around the world, such as France, Spain, and England, and aim to offer quality public communication, free from the dictates of the markets and the political interests of the media families that control large communication conglomerates – a distortion that has, in Brazil, Globo as the prime example.
The Marinho brothers, with their near-monopoly, have built the world's largest media fortune, worth approximately US$30 billion. And with this power, they have helped elect and overthrow presidents, directly influencing the political process and the public agenda. According to Padilha, this model seems to be the one that best suits Brazil.