Journal article
Defending democracy or amplifying populism? Journalistic coverage, Twitter, and users' engagement in Bolsonaro's Brazil
Journalism (London, England), Vol.24(8), pp.1634-1656
08/01/2023
DOI: 10.1177/14648849221075429
Abstract
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.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Defending democracy or amplifying populism? Journalistic coverage, Twitter, and users' engagement in Bolsonaro's Brazil
- Creators
- Giulia Sbaraini Fontes - Universidade Federal do ParanáFrancisco Paulo Jamil Marques - Univ Fed Parana, Dept Polit Sci, Rua Gen Carneiro 460,Ed Dom Pedro 1,5 Andar, Curitiba, Parana, Brazil
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journalism (London, England), Vol.24(8), pp.1634-1656
- Publisher
- Sage
- DOI
- 10.1177/14648849221075429
- ISSN
- 1464-8849
- eISSN
- 1741-3001
- Number of pages
- 23
- Grant note
- 88887.478242/2020-00 / Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES); Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) 310724/2020-1 / Brazilian National Scientific Council (CNPq); Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPQ); Fundacao de Apoio a Pesquisa do Distrito Federal (FAPDF)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 08/01/2023
- Academic Unit
- Center for Social Science Innovation; School of Journalism and Mass Communication
- Record Identifier
- 9984772266902771
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