“How much space is there in radio media for the broadcasting and debate of truly progressive content for the population? Which brings us to the central question: who controls the content of public broadcasters at the municipal, state, and national levels? What is the degree of autonomy of each broadcaster, both in terms of news and even artistic content?”
With this question, journalist Luiz Roberto Serrano, editorial coordinator of the Jornal da USP, marked his participation in the 1st International Congress of Public Broadcasters, held from May 21st to 22nd at the University of São Paulo (USP). His speech was delivered during the panel discussion “Challenges of South America and Africa”.
EBN and redemocratization
During the democratic transition, Serrano, as head of the Brazilian News Agency (EBN) during the Sarney administration, faced the challenge of overhauling the company’s operations, especially the Voice of Brazil.
“As superintendent of the EBN, I managed the news agency, which supplied media outlets throughout the country free of charge, and the Voz do Brasil, the radio news program, broadcast nationwide at 7 p.m., as you all know. It’s the oldest radio program in the country and in the Southern Hemisphere still broadcasting”, he explained.
Serrano recalled that the news program—historically associated with collusion with regimes – was marked by popular rejection. “The challenge, upon arriving in the New Republic government, was to restore some credibility to the news agency’s news program, a much greater challenge than the Voice of Brazil, which had a reputation for encouraging listeners to turn off their radios when it went on the air, especially during traffic jams in large cities.” “A Sisyphean task, a never-ending task”, he described, referring to the Greek myth. “We found a company addicted to producing news convenient to the military period, spreading information that was, above all, most convenient to it throughout the country. It was an attitude that reinforced the low credibility of the news generated by both the news agency and Voz do Brasil. The company’s culture needed to change”.
One of the guidelines adopted by the new management was to reverse the logic of state propaganda: “Prioritize reporting on the problems, difficulties, and challenges faced in each reported case, and only at the end of each story give voice to the federal government’s actions—if any, of course”.
The experience in public communication, however, was cut short. “Our adventure at EBN ended ahead of schedule, when Senator Fernando Henrique Cardoso lost the election for mayor of São Paulo to the then-resurrected, right-wing, former president Jânio Quadros”, he recounted. The dismissal of the EBN president by the new Minister of Justice led to the collective resignation of the team. “Ulysses Guimarães even asked if I wanted to take over as president, but I preferred to return to São Paulo”.
Childhood on the radio
Serrano also shared personal memories of radio, dating back to his childhood in Santos. “My mother, Maria Ismênia, hosted a Sunday program called Vovó Carlota, and my father, Juan Manuel, ran the station’s technical department – they fell in love and got married”.
He also recalled the technical difficulties of sports broadcasts in the 1960s, when, with his father, he would follow the broadcasts of the Rádio Atlântica team from Santos: “In the interior games, for the Campeonato Paulista, the challenge was finding a telephone line that would allow the broadcast, leaving the team’s booth in the stadium, to reach the radio studios in Santos. For some matches, it was necessary to ‘rent’ a telephone from a house near the stadium and run a wire to it, connecting the booth in the stadium to the residence”.
Autonomy in contemporary times
Today, with the digitalization of communications, the technical aspect is no longer a problem, but the political aspect is exacerbated: “The question that arises, given so many alternatives for broadcasting and public participation, is the content transmitted through this myriad of available media. How much space is there in radio media for the broadcast and debate of truly progressive content for the population?”.
In this context, he points out the central question: who controls the content of public broadcasters at the municipal, state, and national levels? “What is the degree of autonomy of each broadcaster, both in terms of news and even artistic content?”.
For Serrano, university radio stations play a strategic role. “Certainly, university radio stations have, or can have, a special space, conducting programming not only focused on scientific and cultural issues but also on the discussion of social problems in the areas where they operate”.
Concluding his speech, he quoted Pope Leo XIV: “Communication is not merely the transmission of information. It is the creation of culture, of human and digital environments that become spaces for dialogue and debate. And, considering technological evolution, this mission becomes even more necessary today”.
“Here lies the new and complex battlefield for those who dedicate themselves to using radio and other media to disseminate accurate information and promote democracy and well- being in societies”, he concluded.
*Intern under the supervision of Marcello Rollemberg
English version: Mota Produções
