The federal government is preparing a new media bill for President-elect Dilma Rousseff and invited international specialists to discuss regulation issues at the International Seminar on Electronic Communication and Media Convergence, which took place Nov. 9-10 in Brasília. The conference gathered almost 300 representatives from government, industry, academia, international organizations, and journalism.

What is on the table are new rules governing telecommunications, broadcasting, and the Internet, Folha de S. Paulo reports. Brazil’s minister of Social Communication, Franklin Martins, says new rules are necessary, as there are still measures in the 1988 constitution that do not have a regulatory framework and are not being enforced.

The media regulations are controversial and have sparked a polarized debate. On one side many major media companies and industry groups see Franklin’s proposals as threats to press freedom. Other publications defend the proposals, saying that media regulation is not synonymous with censorship, while some activists accused the media of not guaranteeing freedom of expression for “social actors.”

For more information about the regulatory debate, see the Portuguese version of this post.