The study “Tensions between the professional and academic worlds of journalism: Paradoxes of the Brazilian reality” by Otávio Daros from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul looked at the qualification issues for journalists in Brazil in the light of historical sociology between 1969 and 2013.
Brazil is rare amongst countries when it comes to journalism in that there, journalistic activity was regulated by the requirement of a journalist having an academic degree – a mandatory diploma. This is different from the licensing/accreditation systems in many other countries or the lack of requirements in others. The law was in effect 1969 to 2009.
The law and the requirements had both its supporters and detractors. On the one hand, the supporters argued that it increased professionalization, labor rights and ethical standards. On the other, the detractors claimed that the logic was authoritarian and corporate and placed the citizenry solely in the role of news consumers.
The study here is a socio-historical examination of the issue examining the relationship between the professional, union, and university spheres. The materials for the study consist of interviews, opinion pieces and memoirs. The actors are on a large part from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, because the first national trade association and the first journalism school were founded there.
Before the requirement, journalism in Brazil was largely unrecognized as a profession – the professions of note were basically medicine, engineering and law, and journalism was mainly practiced by students from the field of law. Journalists were often confused with writers, but the press was seen as as a platform to launch a political career or reach a position in the public administration.
Following Argentina, the Brazilian Press Association (ABI) was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1908, aiming to provide training, assistance and freedom for the Press. The founder, Gustavo de Lacerda, believed strongly that journalism should be performed by sort of priesthood and not be a profit-making business.
It is this period that according to the author is the key to the professionalization of journalism. Waisbord (2013) defines the process of professionalization as “as a process by which occupations claim jurisdiction over a field of practice”, as well as “about the specialization of labor.” The process largely coincided with the modernization of the state.
In 1943, the government institutionalized journalism education in the national higher education system, in Rio de Janeiro, but it took five years for the school the organize itself and receive first students. At the same time, in 1947 the Casper Líbero College of Journalism (FCL) began operating in the city of São Paulo. However, in the beginning, the profession suffered from lack of credibility as journalism professionals did not believe they needed the training.
Significant changes occurred in the mid-1960s. The military came into power through a coup d’état in 1964- Consequently, the relationship between the regime and journalists became complicated, with journalists working amid threats of arrest and torture.
Paradoxically, during the heavy dictatorship of generals Costa e Silva (1967–1969) to Emílio Médici (1969–1974), there were demands for greater status of journalistic associations which culminated into Decree-Law No. 972 of 1969 – the imposition of the mandatory academic degree in journalism. It is likely that the degree was, according to Albuquerque (2006) due to the government wanting to manipulate this demand for their own interests.
When Brazil returned to democracy in 1985, the law was debated and taken to Congress. On the side of overturning the law were many newspaper editors-in-chief who argued that Brazil must move towards modernity and a free market where talent prevails.
On the other side, there was no shortage of prominent figures, either. President of the Brazilian Press Association for decades, Barbosa Lima Sobrinho was one, as were Alberto Dines, from media criticism platform Observatório da Imprensa, and the leaders of journalism departments of the country’s main universities: José Marques de Melo at the University of São Paulo, and at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Muniz Sodré and Nilson Lage.
Finally, in 2009, the Brazilian Supreme Court overturned the requirement in 2009 by eight votes to one, claiming it to be unconstitutional. This was welcomed by many, such as Leonardo Sakamoto, an award-winning human rights journalist, who saw components of elitism and exclusion in the old law.
In the conclusion, the author states that it is nevertheless limiting to view licensing or accreditation of journalists as a standard policy against press freedom, even though the law was instituted during a military dictatorship.
Also, there seems to be no evidence that after the law was overturned, that there would have been an improvement for journalism schools, putting the “reputable” ones in an advantageous position, suggesting that foreign models are not necessarily successful when applied to local conditions.
There remains work to be done not only in transacting university and industry, but also within the communications/journalism schools themselves in articulating undergraduate and postgraduate education and research.
The article “Tensions between the professional and academic worlds of journalism: Paradoxes of the Brazilian reality” by Otávio Daros is in Journalism. (free abstract).
Picture: Brazilian flag by Rafaela Biazi.
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