Intrinsic power balance in a hybrid society

1. Brazilian
media system
Intrinsic power balance
in a hybrid society

2. Country overview

3. Complexity as keyword
● Territory / Biomes
● History: colonization/ migration flows
/ power disputes

5. Diffused boundaries:
duality as constant
● Public/Private sphere
(individual and collective society)
● Fiction/Non fiction
(soap operas, infotainment programmes)
● Triple ethnic identities
(foreign ancestry, regional culture and
‘Brazilianness’)
Practices
Professional accountability
● Autonomy/Freelance
(micro business model)
● Specialized analysis
channels
(Observatório da Imprensa; media and
market segment as beat)

6. Power balance

7. Crossing data: political, technological and market timelines
1940s ...and expansion State controlled. Radio undergoes radical changes in programming.
1800s
Infancy of a truly Brazilian
Media System
After a slow beginning, Brazilians make media in Brazil for Brazilians (instead of Europeans making media in
Europe about Europeans in Brazil)
1920s Commercialization
The end of the First World War (1914-1918) takes the technology from under control of the armed forces,
allowing it for commercial use.
1930s Radio's 'Golden Era'...
Amidst revolutions and coup attempts, radio was used as government propaganda. News radios are founded.
Seen as national integration tool.
1950s
Journalism as industry +
TV
Modernization of technical processes and professionalization of journalism. Continued political factionalism.
TV as luxury for elites (teletheatre) or as public event.
1960s Journalism at gunpoint
Several media outlets did not survive the confrontation with the military.Government adopts 'panis et circenses'
policy. Populist TV with live audience shows and MPB festivals.
1970s Rise of alternative media
Tabloids force the discussion of political, economic, social and cultural rights in a country stifled by censorship.
Focus on quality standards for TV (realism).
1980s Redemocratization
Focus on the obstacles faced by Brazilian society in the political opening. Start of informatization.
Automation allows music 24/7. Popularization of TV and youthful narratives.
1990s
Online journalism and
transmedia content
Investigation of corruption as a challenge. Internet: hypertext, personalization, instantaneity, multimedia, data bank,
interaction. Marked by coverage of big events and tragedies.
2000s
Convergence and rise of
UGC. Precarization of the
profession.
Reality shows and transmedia (second screen): association between TV and cinema, private and public, broadcast
and online.

8. Purposes and competences
● Integration
(cultural, religious, commercial, political)
● Education
(functionally illiterate population + absence
of public services)
● Accountability
Policies
Professional accountability
● Law
(ethics code, professional
regulamentation)
● Organizations
(agencies, boards, unions)

9. Actors and stakeholders

10. ● Freedom of the Press
2014 (Freedom House):
90th - Partly Free
● Press Freedom Index
(Reporters Without
Borders): 111th
Rankings
● Impunity Index
(Committee to
Protect Journalists): 11th
29 deaths in 22 years

11. Tendencies

12. Media use

13. Adversity: fertile ground for innovation
● Storytelling techniques
(HQs, newsgames, satire...)
● Organized Civil Society
(specialized wires, collective media groups, intervention in mainstream media)

14. Key players in today’s media system

15. Thank you!