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Many South American countries in the last two decades experienced significant political and social changes, embracing representative liberal democracy and the global market after having lived through relatively long dictatorship periods. After escaping from the tentacles of the military generals (1964-1985), which kept the country tied to an old economic model of state intervention and to a weak form of political institutionalisation with fragile freedom of expression, Brazil reduced the role of the state, diving into the waters of the market. At a first glance, the contemporary scenario seems to invite only optimism: the market permitted stronger governmental accountability and a means of safeguarding citizens from corruption. Political democracy was also consolidated, with full competitive and free elections held regularly. Certain groups of civil society players were included in the mainstream arena and a relative degree of press independence and freedom was achieved due to political democratisation and market expansion. The contemporary years nonetheless have been highly contradictory, with the market and the state and the various societal spheres being overwhelmed in tensions.

This article focuses on the achievements in the field of media democratization in Brazil, underlining the current challenges that public communication systems face in the light of the persistence of the misuse of these structures by politicians for their own interests. The role that the public media platform can have in the democratic project is examined, including how it can assist policymakers concerning vital national as well as global issues. The slow democratization of Brazil during recent decades, however, has taken place while not altogether disassociated from the authoritarian legacy that has characterized the formation of Brazilian society. Nonetheless, the acknowledgement that the mainstream media have become more professional, including wider voices in the mediated sphere, is not reason enough to proclaim the end of the struggles for media democratization.

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ThisarticleexaminestheprocessofdeepeningofmediademocratizationinBrazilina comparativeperspectivewithEuropeancountries,assessingtherolethatmainlypublic communication systems can have in strengthening national development as well as contributing to provide a wider platform for an international dialogue between advanced democracies and developing societies. Latin American countries have emergedatthedawnofthetwenty-firstcenturywithaseriesofchallengestoconfront, ranging from coming to terms with their authoritarian past to tackling persistent problemsofeconomicandsocialinequality,aswellasinsertingthemselvesfullyinthe global economic order. Latin American nations have a weak public sector and are seeking to fortify existing public spaces of debate in order to expand citizens' informationrightsandcreatethemeansforwiderculturalemancipation.Itisprecisely when public service broadcasters are most vulnerable in Europe that they start to be seenasrelevantinotherpartsoftheworld.Thearticlelooksatthehistoricalevolution of public communications platforms, giving first a general overview of their development in some Latin America countries and their relationship with the public interest, before investigating the Brazilian case in greater depth and in a comparative perspective with the role that public service broadcasting systems have played in European societies. In order to understand the functioning of media systems in Brazil and their relationship to political and economic factors, it is necessary to situate this debatewithinbothlocalandglobalspecifications,engagingwithcurrentglobalization debatesandculturalimperialismtheses,aswellasthecurrentpoliticalproblemsofthe wider region and the impact of economic underdevelopment on the country's communicationsystems.Keywords: Brazilian broadcasting, Latin American media systems, media reform and globalization,publiccommunications TheLatinAmericanmediaenvironmentcurrentlyfacesseriouschallengeswhichrange from historical factors to regional political problems and gradual shifts in cultural attitudes. As Fox and Waisbord (2002, ix) have claimed, both local politics and media

Interview with Rosalind Gill.

The mass media are today seen as playing a key role in enhancing globalization, and facilitating cultural exchange and multiple flows of information and images between countries through international news broadcasts, television programming, new technologies, film, and music. If before the 1990s mainstream media systems in most countries of the world were relatively national in scope, since then most communications media have become increasingly global, extending their reach beyond the nation‐state to conquer audiences worldwide. International flows of information have been assisted by the development of global capitalism, new technologies, and the increasing commercialization of global television, which has occurred as a consequence of the deregulation policies adopted by various countries in Europe and the United States in order to permit the proliferation of cable and satellite channels.

Confl itos de interesse: nada a declarar. ResumoObjetivo: Avaliar o nível de conhecimentos dos agentes educativos sobre os fatores de risco para a saúde mental de crianças e adolescentes e analisar a sua associação com variáveis sociodemográfi cas.Métodos: Estudo quantitativo, com recurso a uma amostra não probabilística de 136 agentes educativos (62,5% professores, 32,4% enfermeiros e 5,1% polícias), na sua maioria mulheres (70,6%) e média de idades de 48,34 anos. A colheita de dados, com recurso a um questionário de auto-preenchimento, realizouse no ano lectivo de 2018 em quatro escolas do concelho de Viseu -Região centro de Portugal. Testes estatísticos utilizados: Qui-Quadrado e Análise de Regressão Múltipla.Resultados: Na generalidade os agentes educativos revelaram possuir conhecimentos sobre os fatores de risco para a saúde mental, destacando-se 39,71% que chegam mesmo a evidenciar excelentes conhecimentos. Em termos comparativos, os enfermeiros são os que evidenciam melhores níveis de conhecimentos ( =15,546), seguindo-se os professores ( =13,318) e, por fi m, os polícias ( =8,571), diferenças estas signifi cativas (x 2 =14,725; p= 0,004). O estudo multivariado inferiu ser o género a única variável a se revelar preditora do nível de conhecimentos, explicando 11,5% da sua variabilidade (p=0,002), evidenciando as mulheres maior nível de conhecimentos. Já o efeito preditivo da variável categoria profi ssional (p=0,051) e tempo de experiência profi ssional (p=0,0179) não se revelou signifi cativo.Conclusão: O facto do género ter sido a única variável que se revelou preditiva do nível de conhecimentos, faz-nos ponderar da necessidade de se adoptarem estratégias diferenciadas em programas de formação, onde as características e vulnerabilidade dos dois sexos sejam salvaguardadas.