Key concepts, dilemmas, and trends in political communication: a literature review considering the Brazilian landscape

Marques, Francisco Paulo Jamil; Miola, Edna

doi:10.1080/23808985.2021.1945479

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…Bringing together rival companies may be motivated by an interest in exploring niche markets (Çomlekci, 2022) or reinforcing the field’s authority. Besides supporting the de-westernization of Communication Research (Oliveira et al, 2021; Marques and Miola, 2021) and expanding the research about such narratives (Dias and Sippitt, 2020), we built a codebook that offers an original framework for further studies by favoring a cross-cultural perspective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who is who in fact-checked conspiracy theories? Disseminators, sources, and the struggle for authority in polarized environments

et al. 2023

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Despite the growing scholarship concerning mis- and disinformation, research has yet to assess how journalism tackles conspiracy theories in settings where news organizations and media professionals have their authority questioned. Against this background, our article poses two research questions: RQ1) Who are the actors mainstream fact-checkers cover when addressing conspiracy theories? RQ2) To what extent does the focus on such actors delegitimize those who challenge news organizations or compete with them for the audience? Using content analysis as our key methodological strategy, we consider 197 fact-checks published between 2018 and 2021 by the Projeto Comprova, a Brazilian initiative currently comprising professionals from 41 media organizations. We found that the most discussed topics were those mobilizing polarized groups, namely, the Covid-19 pandemic and election fraud allegations. The then-President Bolsonaro and his supporters were often cited as disseminators of such plots. In turn, Facebook is pointed out as a thriving environment for the circulation of conspiratorial narratives. The results also reveal the prominence of mainstream news outlets as sources to ground the “factual” information sustained in the fact-checks. More interestingly, our data suggest that fact-checkers have favored specific news values when addressing conspiracy theories. To strengthen our investigation, we use interviews with four professionals contributing to the Comprova to illustrate how the project has brought together rival companies interested in delegitimizing “alternative” sources of information.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who is who in fact-checked conspiracy theories? Disseminators, sources, and the struggle for authority in polarized environments

et al. 2023

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“…Second, since Brazil is the largest Latin American country in terms of territory, economy, and population, this case helps us understand the new manifestations of populism in a region historically wounded by authoritarianism (Doyle 2011; Waisbord 2020), besides reinforcing the importance of Global South’s cases (Marques and Miola, 2021; Oliveira et al, 2021; Waisbord and Mellado, 2014). That is, the Brazilian case allows us to comprehend the relationship between populism and news organizations in a media system characterized by a mix of clientelism, commercialism, and political instability (Matos 2008; Marques and Miola, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defending democracy or amplifying populism? Journalistic coverage, Twitter, and users’ engagement in Bolsonaro’s Brazil

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Marques

2022

Journalism

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The article examines how mainstream news organizations in Brazil have tweeted about Jair Bolsonaro, investigating to what extent they may (voluntarily or not) amplify the visibility of populist leaders. We also scrutinize the levels of audience engagement with posts mentioning the President. Our empirical design comprises a content analysis of 128,096 tweets published throughout 2019 by Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo, and O Globo. The results reveal that such newspapers focused on controversies and negative issues involving Bolsonaro, while posts addressing public policies did not achieve high visibility or engagement. The article also discusses to what degree the newspapers may be taking advantage of users' preferences for content with populist features to reinforce their watchdog role and boost audience ratings. Our findings also contribute to understanding how populist leaders and media organizations can build a mutually beneficial relationship, even though they publicly claim to oppose each other. Finally, the paper suggests new hypotheses to be explored, such as the argument that quality papers may be loosening the division between news and opinion when using social media to satisfy audience niches in polarized environments.

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“…Moreover, although there are different indices and evaluation systems for transparency, a cross-sectional measure requires a comprehensive and synchronous diagnosis of Brazilian municipalities -mainly if we consider that Brazil has over five thousand municipalities characterized by a variety of geographical, social, cultural, and economic profiles (Sacramento, 2009;Michener, 2015;. We throw into question whether a country with different local political cultures, as well as with a particular regulatory and institutional environment (Marques;Miola, 2021), gives rise to different results even if we use some of the variables employed in previous studies aimed to understand successful e-transparency practices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What factors influence the quality of local governments' digital transparency? Evidence from the Brazilian case

2022

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This article investigates the factors associated with the quality of transparency of the websites of Brazilian local governments. We also question the extent to which external control institutions have pressured municipal governments to improve their online transparency. Through multiple regression models, we discuss whether and how socio-demographic, political, and economic variables are relevant to explain the differences in e-transparency in 5,563 cities. The results show that, despite an institutionalization process of public transparency led by federal regulatory evolution, experiences at the local level remain heterogeneous. Population size, GDP per capita, education levels, and voter turnout are statistically important to explain the quality of e-transparency experiences. The main conclusion is that external regulators play a crucial role in shaping digital transparency due to the possibility of imposing legal penalties. Effective use of digital media to foster democratic practices involves pressure from external monitoring agencies willing to challenge a bureaucratic culture resistant to openness.

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Key concepts, dilemmas, and trends in political communication: a literature review considering the Brazilian landscape

Cited by 13 publications

References 87 publications

Who is who in fact-checked conspiracy theories? Disseminators, sources, and the struggle for authority in polarized environments

Who is who in fact-checked conspiracy theories? Disseminators, sources, and the struggle for authority in polarized environments

Defending democracy or amplifying populism? Journalistic coverage, Twitter, and users’ engagement in Bolsonaro’s Brazil

What factors influence the quality of local governments' digital transparency? Evidence from the Brazilian case

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