Brazil is now in the international spotlight as host of the World Cup, but even as the South American nation emerges as an economic powerhouse, it has, at best, a mixed record on press freedom, censorship and the safety of journalists.

Brazil is South America’s largest media market, with thousands of radio and TV stations and a host of large newspapers. The country's president, Dilma Rousseff, came to power in 2011 promising that her government would guarantee freedom of expression.


But the group Committee to Protect Journalists says that since 1992, Brazil has been 11th deadliest country in the world for journalists - one spot worse than war-torn Afghanistan. At least 10 journalists have been murdered in direct reprisal for their work since Rousseff took office, and five more were slain in circumstances that remain murky. And dozens of journalists were attacked by both military police and demonstrators during a wave of protests that shook the country in June 2013.

In addition, the CPJ has in recent years included Brazil on its "Impunity Index," a list of countries where the killers of journalists are most likely to go unpunished.

Another journalism group, Reporters Without Borders, said many of the murdered journalists "had covered sensitive stories such as drug trafficking, corruption or local political disputes. Journalists are often the victims of violence by local authorities, especially in the north and northeast. Investigations have occasionally produced results but most cases go unpunished."

One such case involves sports journalist Valério Luiz de Oliveira, 49, who was shot dead by a gunman on a motorcycle in July 2012. Oliveira, who had worked for local TV and radio stations, was known for his criticism of a local soccer team that had lost a state championship, and the team's vice president, wealthy businessman Maurício Borges Sampaio.

In February 2013, five men were arrested in connection with Oliveira's slaying, including Sampaio and a sergeant from the military police. But in March 2014 one of the men fled to Europe and the others remain free pending trial.

The case "is in many ways exemplary of justice in Brazil: halting and incomplete," the CPJ wrote.

Censorship

Brazil's 1988 Constitution guarantees freedom of the press and outlaws censorship. In practice, censorship remains a problem.

"Politicians, business people, and celebrities have used laws intended to guarantee the privacy of average citizens to silence the media," the CPJ says. "Often relying on their close connections to local judges, these powerbrokers have secured legal orders that effectively prevent or discourage critical reporting by making it extremely costly for media outlets and independent journalists to publish unflattering stories about them."

For instance, independent journalist Lúcio Flávio Pinto was recently ordered to pay roughly $205,000 in libel damages to businessman Romulo Maiorana. Pinto had accused Maiorana of using his family's company to pressure advertisers.

Pinto, who has written about corruption, drug trafficking and deforestation by ranchers and loggers, has over the years faced dozen of lawsuits, death threats and at least one assault.

Brazilian journalist Natália Mazotte, writing for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, said Pinto's case "is a perfect example of the judicial censorship which increasingly harasses media professionals in Brazil. While freedom of expression remains a fundamental right, the court system has become an effective way for undermining media organizations and silencing critical journalists and bloggers."

Such findings are echoed by the advocacy group Freedom House, which in 2013 rated the Brazilian press as "partly free."

Freedom House researchers noted that Brazil "has a vibrant democracy with strong constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression... However, journalists also experienced frequent violence, harassment, and censorship during the year. Incidents of judicial censorship were particularly troubling."

Freedom House said just the threat of lawsuits and court orders "leads many bloggers and online journalists - who lack the resources of journalists backed by traditional media companies - to practice self-censorship."

There have been some positive developments. The country's new freedom of information law, which took effect in 2012, guarantees public access to government documents and information about private entities that receive public funding.

Freedom House noted that by the end of 2012, the federal government had received more than 50,000 information requests, of which roughly 95 percent were approved.

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus.