Research presented at a USP conference analyzed 11 stations on the National Public Communications Network
USP’s University City in São Paulo hosted the 1st International Congress of Public Broadcasters from May 21st to 22nd. A space for debate, reflection, and the exchange of experiences, the event brought together national and international figures for discussion and also featured an academic session organized into five working groups.
Among the 33 papers presented, “The Challenges of Federal University TV Stations in the National Public Communication Network,” by Andréa Xavier of the University of Brasília (UnB), addressed the relationship between university TV stations, the Brazilian Communications Company (EBC), and the management of the federal institutions that support these stations. Andréa participated in Group 1, Session 2: Public Communication: Strategies to Combat Disinformation, Maintain Editorial Independence, and Promote Democratic Culture: Public Broadcasting and University TV Stations.
Within the scope of the National Public Communication Network (RNCP), the researcher analyzed how the assumptions of diversity, differentiation, independence, and social participation are articulated on TV channels. Andréa identified a search for diversity and differentiation within broadcasters without, however, having explicit coordination mechanisms. Furthermore, the researcher detected a lack of autonomy and external editorial interference within TV channels.
Read the full abstract of the work below:
The challenges of federal university TV stations in the National Public Communication Network
The emergence of the Brazilian Communications Company, with Law 11.652 of 2008, became a milestone for the formation of the National Public Communications Network (RNCP) – a radio and television network that emerged as the seed of a Public Broadcasting System in the country (Brazil, 2008). In 2023, one of the first actions of the new government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the field of public broadcasting was the expansion of the RNCP from Higher Education Institutions.
The inaugural act of the network’s new amplification policy was the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the National Association of Directors of Federal Higher Education Institutions (Andifes) for the membership of 32 universities in the public broadcasting network (Empresa Brasil de Comunicação, 2023). From there, cooperation agreements were signed to implement the stations. Subsequently, federal education institutes and state and municipal universities joined the RNCP’s expansion efforts (Brazil, 2023; Brazil, 2024).
In this context, this research focused on the branch of the National Public Communication Network that specifically brings together television stations (RNCP/TV) and observed that, since the beginning of its operation, in 2010, federal university TVs constituted the system (Lopes, 2015; Guerreiro, 2016).
A question then arose: were these university stations, already part of the network, allowed to operate in accordance with the principles of public broadcasting? The universe of stations studied consisted of 11 TV stations, members of the RNCP until September 2023 (therefore, before the policy redirection).
Based on the concept of an institutional arrangement for implementing public policy that characterizes the network (Gomide; Pires, 2014; Pires, 2016), this study aimed to understand the internal dynamics of the relationship between these university TV stations, the EBC, and the senior management of the Federal Educational Institutions that maintain them. The objective was to analyze how this composition of actors, rules, institutions, and interactions strains the exercise of the following assumptions in the university broadcasters implemented in the network: diversity, differentiation, independence, and social participation (UNESCO, 2001; Pieranti, 2018; Santos; Bianco, 2016).
To identify the stage corresponding to the praxis of these stations, the public policy cycle (Subirats et al., 2008) was adopted as a theoretical-methodological tool, with an emphasis on the implementation phase (Lotta, 2019). Two dimensions organized the research: a subjective one, with semi-open interviews conducted with 14 university TV station managers; and an objective one, based on the evaluation of cooperation agreements with the EBC, internal university communication policies, and internal regulations of television stations. The
analysis of the material was conducted in light of the framework of institutional arrangements (Gomide; Pires, 2012, 2014; Pires, 2016) and the formation of political-administrative agreements (Subirats et al., 2008) to verify whether state capacities were developed (Pires, 2016) to enforce the policy objectives.
The study’s results revealed a quest for diversity and differentiation, but based on individual actions, without explicit coordination mechanisms. It also uncovered clues about the lack of autonomy of television stations, the existence of external editorial interference (with potential flaws in the stations’ institutional model and an internal culture within universities that ignores the role of university television as a public television channel), sustainability issues, and gaps in the implementation of social participation instruments. Thus, evidence was found that, for the stations studied, the institutional arrangement of RNCP/TV is deficient in its technical-administrative capabilities and lacks legitimacy in terms of political capabilities.
English version: Mota Produções
