Brasília – The minister of Communications, Paulo Bernardo, said on Tuesday (14) that the government is evaluating whether the restriction to foreign capital in communications vehicles, as forecasted in the Federal Constitution, may be applied to news sites. The question, according to him, must be discussed further, as there is no definite position on the matter.
"I was asked to consider the matter by Abert [the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Companies]. I am going to request analysis from the Federal Attorney General, who has already received a similar inquiry,” said the minister. "The restriction is forecasted in the constitution. We now need to know whether news sites may be considered communication vehicles,” he added. “And we need to know whether what seems to be vehicle, smells like a vehicle, is really a communications vehicle,” he added.
According to Paulo Bernardo a revision of the proposal for modification of the regulator for electronic media has already been concluded and should be passed on to public inquiry, but only after being viewed by ministers and president Dilma Rousseff. He explained that this revision is limited to regulating what was already forecasted in the Constitution, and that in no way may it be considered censorship.
*Translated by Mark Ament
