July 29, 2024

EBC will implement a social participation system with committees and ombudsman

The working group focused on Public Communication and Social Participation presented its final report in July. As announced by the Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, the EBC Social Participation, Diversity and Inclusion Committee will be created and regulated within 60 days. This committee will include representatives from civil society, EBC itself and broadcasters from the National Public Communication Network (RNCP), covering all regions of Brazil.

In addition, a National System of Social Participation in Public Communication will be established. This system must include the Social Participation, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the Ombudsman, the Editorial and Programming Committee and the Social Participation and Diversity Advisory.

For the president of EBC, Jean Lima, the conclusion of the working group represents an important milestone. "The first step was to separate public communication from government communication; the second, to expand the National Public Communication Network (RNCP); and the third is to consolidate social participation in the EBC. Public communication does not exist without social participation", stated Lima.

The interim minister of the Communication Secretariat (Secom), Laércio Portela, highlighted that the working group's report recovers a long tradition of fighting for public communication in Brazil. "Our main commitment is to strengthen the country's communication, essential for democracy. We need to demonstrate that we can progress, bringing the energy and involvement of organized society to the debate on public communication," said Portela.

The rapporteur of the working group and former president of the extinct EBC Board of Trustees, Rita Freire, highlighted that the current effort seeks to correct the State's debt with public communication and society. "EBC was open to this experience, as we want to start a new phase of social participation. We want society to be able, in the future, to make decisions, help build and effectively participate in management. We want to start a permanent dialogue with society about the EBC's public communication project", declared Freire.

In 2016, a provisional measure abolished the EBC Board of Trustees, then the company's main instance of social participation. This debate was resumed in November 2023 with the creation of the Public Communication and Social Participation working group within Secom.

With information from EBC