Kim Kataguiri launches bill to annul STF decision on punishment of the press

Federal deputy Kim Kataguiri (União-SP) filed this Friday (1st) a bill that challenges the recent decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that can hold journalistic companies responsible for statements made by interviewees against third parties. The measure was approved on Wednesday (29) by a thesis by Minister Alexandre de Moraes and generated a great repercussion.

The Kataguiri project, obtained exclusively by People’s Gazetteregulates article 5 of the Federal Constitution, which provides for the “non-attribution of responsibilities to the activity of the press”.

“Journalistic companies cannot be held civilly responsible for the speech of an interviewee, even if at the time of publication there was concrete evidence of false imputation and if the vehicle failed to observe the duty of care in verifying the veracity of the facts”, wrote the deputy in the document.

The text, which is also signed by deputy Mendonça Filho (União-PE), was presented to the committees of the Chamber of Deputies on the same day the measure was approved by the STF.

Entities representing the press expressed concern about the Supreme Court trial. For the category, a decision that “indiscriminately holds journalism responsible for what its interviewees say will have enormous consequences in terms of self-censorship and the dissemination of information that serves the public interest”.

After the negative repercussion, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, who presides over the STF, went public to try to soften the interpretations, stating that the Court is one of “the main guardians of the press”, and that it has “dozens of complaints accepted to ensure freedom press and freedom of expression”.

Retired STF minister Marco Aurélio Mello pointed out that the determination creates “total insecurity” for journalists. “Imagine if it is a TV outlet or an online website. Will you no longer be able to listen because the interviewee might talk nonsense? This is dangerous”, said Marco Aurélio to the portal Power360.

Case analyzed during the trial

The ministers defined the thesis when analyzing an action presented by former deputy Ricardo Zarattini Filho, who died in 2017, against the newspaper Diário de Pernambuco. In 1995, the outlet published an interview with police chief Wandenkolk Wanderley, also now dead, who accused Zarattini of participating in the bomb attack at Guararapes Airport, in Recife, which caused the death of three people in 1966.

The former deputy’s defense pointed out that the accusation was not true and asked for compensation in court. The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) accepted the request, but the newspaper filed an appeal and the case began to be processed in the STF. Barroso recalled that, at the time of the events of the res judicata, one day’s newspapers were used to “wrap fish” for the next day. However, today, the news is available on the internet permanently.

As a result, a person who has been falsely accused of a crime will have their personal and professional life compromised by that information. “The accusation was known to be false, and this man spent his entire life facing false news that he had committed a terrorist act. Imagine the harm this did to his wife, his children, his family”, pondered Barroso.

The minister highlighted that, in the case judged, there was a malicious interview and negligence in investigating the facts, as Zarattini had not even been reported for committing the crime.