[fable]

"A plan by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to create a national journalists' council to regulate Brazil's boisterous press has prompted mounting criticism here. News organizations that would be affected by the bill call it the most serious threat to freedom of expression here since a right-wing military dictatorship..."

This is something rather different than your thread's subject, but it's interesting. It sounds like Lula wants the press to monitor itself. Depending upon the people chosen for the council, the power it receives, and the way in which it applies that power, it could be either a very good thing or a very bad one. If they're intelligent people who have given this matter a great deal of thought, they might suggest measures that make newspapers more accountable for printing falsehoods. They might force more disclosure, and in a more obvious fashion, when a news outlet's editorial slant is quietly compromised by personal relationships between its staff and the subjects it covers. (For example, some of the supposedly non-biased news anchors on Fox have appeared as guest speakers at US Republican conventions--not something Fox publicizes, but definitely a matter that should be disclosed whenever they report political news because of inherent personal bias.)

On the other hand, such a body could be just as easily used to force out one's political opponents and restrict freedom of the press, all at the supposed instigation of "the People."

Sorry for the spam, but you brought the matter up. It's probably best to move this discussion to a different thread, if you want to carry it on.