Media activism in Brazil: Discursive strategies of Mídia Ninja1

Abstract

This article analyses the discursive content produced by the Brazilian collective Mídia Ninja on its Facebook page about a significant political event in Brazil – the habeas corpus granted (and later denied) in July 2018 to the former centre-left president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The article uses discourse analysis based on the three-dimensional model (a non-hierarchical relationship between text, discursive practice and social practice) as methodology. The research problematizes the media activism features of Mídia Ninja, arguing that the group acted in favour of Lula’s freedom based on a centralized and multimedia narrative (written texts, photos, cartoons, videos and live broadcasts) combined with a counter-hegemonic discursive strategy. This strategy elected opponents and heroes, and defined the situation as part of a coup led by the traditional media alongside sectors of political and court systems. Furthermore, the action of Mídia Ninja challenges traditional journalistic practices such as objectivity and impartiality by representing a hybrid media activism, embracing an aesthetic-enunciative freedom characteristic of free media.