Brasília, March 10, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Senate Commission in charge of discussing Regionalization and Program Schedule Quality on radio and TV networks has still not arrived at a consensus on how to put into practice a bill that stipulates 22 hours weekly of regional programming for areas with over 1.5 million homes with television sets. The group met on Monday (8) and Tuesday (9) to discuss the issue. The Commission will meet once more on Thursday (11), at 9 A.M., to complete the text of the project, which should be presented to the Social Communication Council of the Senate and submitted to a vote.
Article 221, paragraph III, of the Federal Constitution determines the obligation of "regionalization of cultural, artistic, and journalistic production, according to percentages established by law." Bill 256/91, authored by Deputy Jandira Feghali (PCdoB/RJ), is intended to regulate this percentage. However, it goes further and cites what should be transmitted. According to the text, 40% of regional programming should be aimed at independent productions, with the "presentation of documentaries and audiovisual works of fiction and animation, including drama." For Flávio Cavalcanti Júnior, regional director of SBT-Brasília, "the project exceeds what the Constitution says. Nobody listened to the public, and they are telling it what it must watch," he criticized.
According to Cavalcanti, making independent works obligatory will not stimulate this type of production. For him, what will happen is that the networks themselves will set up independent producers. "Am I going to approach Gugu [the popular MC of a Sunday afternoon variety show] and say: You and your whole team are fired, so go open a production company and we will hire it to do the program? The network will be abiding by the law to broadcast independent programs, and the problem will be solved, won't it?," questioned the director, who participated in Monday's meeting in the Senate.
For the president of the Commission, Benenice Bezerra, "this represents 15 years of resistance on the part of the owners." She guarantees that the group will try "concretely, to resolve the problems and the conditions for applying the law."
Another controversial point in Cavalcanti's view is the adaptation of radio stations to the legislation. "They have specific, segmented audiences; imagine a classical music station in Recife having to stop its programming to play frevo [regional Carnaval] music," he observed. Another discussion involves the definition of what is regional culture. "What region does Chico Buarque's music represent? And Rita Lee, is her music São Paulo regional music, because she was born there? Rio is surrounded by funk, is that the regional music of Rio? And in Rio Grande do Sul, is it the fandango?," the director interrogated.
One of the suggestions made by the networks for the project is that the programming be divided not by state, but by geographic region, which would reduce production costs and expand the range of topical options. Ricardo Moretzsohn, who represents civil society on the Commission, explains that all the sides involved in the issue are being heard, "so that the project has everyone's opinion."
The expectation is that, after 15 years in the works, the project will be approved by the end of the year. If it is enacted, the networks will have to years to adapt to the new law. (DAS)
