Bill Seeks to Compel ‘Voice of Brazil’ Broadcast on Free TV

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A bill in progress in the Senate seeks to compel free TV broadcasters to schedule time to divulge activities by the federal government’s executive, legislative and judicial branches. This would resemble a video version of ‘Voz do Brasil’ (“Voice of Brazil”), currently broadcast on radio.

The text is authored by Senator Soraya Thronicke and amends Law No. 4.117. Bill 5.833/2019 establishes that free TV broadcasters are required to relay, daily, the official information of the branches of government.

The channels would be required to reserve 18 uninterrupted minutes of programming, of which ten minutes would be dedicated to the Executive Branch, “highlighting the actions of the President of the Republic and the accomplishments of the State”. The remaining eight minutes would be divided equally between the Legislative and the Judiciary Branches.

The bill further establishes that the government’s schedule be shown in prime time, between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM. The bill’s explanatory text emphasizes the widespread nature of free TV broadcasts and states that the measure is required to complement radio broadcasts, which do not reach the new generations who have grown up watching television.

On Twitter, the author of the bill once again compares the Voice of Brazil on TV to Radio. Thronicke says that “no one has ever complained” and that those unwilling to broadcast should withdraw from the free air system.

In a video, the legislator says that the project is significant “at a time when part of the media cannot be trusted, because the information is manipulated,” and that “people need to know what is happening in the direct administration of the government”.