Media and Democracy Council begins activities

In a week when the topic of disinformation was prominent in the Brazilian public debate due to the definition of Bill No.

In a week when the topic of disinformation was prominent in the Brazilian public debate due to the definition of Bill No. 2630, the Media and Democracy Council began its activities as a public space for activists, researchers and organizations of civil society to promote dialogue and to conceive guidelines to ensure the integrity of digital environments and the strengthening of Democracy. 

The council is part of the Media and Democracy project, an initiative of the European Union Delegation and the School of Communication, Media and Information at FGV, and has two more work fronts, namely social media monitoring and analysis and information checking, in a collaboration between FGV, Agência Lupa and the German center for analysis of the public debate Democracy Reporting International (DRI).

The coordinator of the project at FGV ECMI, Amaro Grassi, explained the details of the initiative and the specific purposes of the council: “To identify, exchange experiences and develop actions to protect the civic and electoral debate in digital spaces, formulating positions and outlining lines of action against content that affects vulnerable groups in particular”, he said.

Researchers at Instituto Novos Paradigmas (INP) are responsible for the formulation, articulation and operation of the council, under the coordination of journalist Sandra Bitencourt, PhD in Communication and Information, and sociologist Jorge Branco, PhD student in Political Science. The council’s composition is focused on organizations and entities of civil society that use media actions – particularly in the digital environment – to fight political violence against women, black people, indigenous people, quilombolas and LGBTQIA+, and to fight disinformation affecting the Amazon and the climate initiative. “We seek to qualify the investigation and the fight against processes of political violence (particularly against women, black people and the LGBTQI+ community) and against social and environmental disinformation – including climate science negationism. These topics are at the center of building a healthy, democratic and sound digital environment”, explained Sandra.

The first version of the council’s composition includes 25 organizations and entities in Brazil and abroad, which work on different areas and with different focuses, such as digital rights, fighting disinformation, gender and race issues, public security, school violence, and the quality of working conditions. The organizations are: Sleeping Giants Brasil; Instituto Marielle Franco; Instituto de Referência Negra Peregum; Mulheres Negras Decidem; Mães e Pais pela Democracia; Barão de Itararé; Obcomp - Observatório da Comunicação Pública- UFRGS; Purpose Brasil; Instituto Kaingáng; Nina da Hora; Washington Brazil Office; Fundación Chile 21;Unesco Brasil; ISER (Instituto de Estudos da Religião); Democracia em Xeque; Instituto Terra, Trabalho e Cidadania; Anvisa; Intervozes; Rede Nacional de Combate à Desinformação; Rede Trabalho em cena; Instituto Vero; Desinformante; Coletivo Bereia,  Internetlab; Sala de Articulação contra a Desinformação. 

Representatives introduced each of their organizations, describing them and indicating areas of interest and expectations regarding the council’s activities.  Ana Regina Barros Rêgo Leal, coordinator of Rede Nacional de Combate à Desinformação, emphasized the importance of fighting the disinformation phenomenon in each of its dimensions. Viviane Tavares, the representative for Intervozes, talked about communication as a human right. Magali Cunha, from Coletivo Bereia, explained her activities as both a researcher and a journalist, emphasizing the fight against disinformation circulating in religious digital environments. Tom Siqueira, project manager for International Technical Cooperation and advisor to the CEO of Anvisa, showed enthusiasm in participating in a space for promoting democratic education and clarification on health surveillance. Those are only a few examples of participation.

The council will be organized into cycles composed of a formative stage, diagnostics and convergence of positions, based on weekly reports of the topics agreed upon in this planning meeting. The plenary deliberation meetings will be held bimonthly in a virtual platform. They will also be largely based on the weekly monitoring of the public debate on social media, with monthly resolutions and expansion of the discussions undertaken. In addition, there will be space for the organization of events in different formats for exchange, learning and discussion with governmental and institutional sectors.

The journalist Marcela Duarte of Agência Lupa, a partner of the project, explained the checking process and the content proposal and presented a timeline of the discussion on digital environment regulation, including details, agreements and disagreements in Bill 2630, which will be voted next Tuesday, May 2.

The representative of the Delegation of the European Union to Brazil, Jordi Casanova, emphasized the importance of the initiative and called attention to the plurality of the composition, as well as its female majority, a guideline that was present in the project since its inception.

The council itself will jointly define the details of its operating rules, ensuring its autonomy and favoring the promotion of research, teamwork, coordinated strategies, and participation in actions supporting its commitment with the truth and facts.

The schedule defined previously indicates a more detailed discussion on Bill 2630, with more meetings in May.