Telejornalismo e poder: enquadramentos telejornalísticos do governo Bolsonaro como indicadores da autopercepção sobre a função social do jornalismo na contemporaneidade

Abstract

Symbolic disputes over power are largely fought at the interface of the fields of communication and politics. They are present in journalism practices, given the ability of this field to construct narratives and imaginaries that permeate and structure social debates. In the country’s recent history, there has been a growing wave of delegitimization of journalism and a succession of attacks on the media led by Jair Bolsonaro (Falcão, 2023) while still a candidate, in 2018, and after being elected (Falcão; Assis, 2021). In this context, this thesis aims to analyze the coverage of the first quarter of the Bolsonaro government in Jornal Nacional, Jornal da Record, and Repórter Brasil Noite. It seeks to identify and evaluate the editorial lines of each newscast and, from the coverage of the government, to verify how the newscast has constructed narratives about itself in a self-perception of its role to inform. In total, 465 audiovisual materials were analyzed. Together, they add up to 21 hours and 23 minutes between reports, live broadcasts, and notes taken to the air, also made available in the broadcasters' digital repositories. These are news products in which the actions of Jair Bolsonaro, his government, ministers, or people directly linked to him were investigated. The perspective was that the then president, in the exercise of confrontation and attacks against journalism, would provoke some kind of reaction in the way of doing and thinking of newscasts. The documentary research (Moreira, 2005) and the Analysis of Audiovisual Materiality (Coutinho, 2017) were adopted as research methods, considering that the audiovisual experience works as a whole and, therefore, needs to be observed, described, and analyzed in its entirety. The results pointed to an editorial alignment contrary to the government's interests in Jornal Nacional when the subjects are linked to controversial statements, investigations of people close to Bolsonaro, and the ex-president's participation in events abroad. Jornal da Record, on the other hand, worked on the perspective of emphasizing points favorable to Jair Bolsonaro and his government, minimizing crises and slips along the way. Repórter Brasil Noite, on the other hand, adopted a more balanced perspective on the coverage but avoided thorny issues. In relation to economic interests, even from different perspectives, Rede Globo and Record prioritized the agendas and carried out positive scheduling, mainly of the agendas on pension reform. The editorial positions revealed their own ways of constructing narratives and, in the case of Jornal da Record and Repórter Brasil, the work concentrated on breaking news. The Jornal Nacional reports were unfolded in archives, more complex and elaborate investigations, especially when they shed light on Bolsonaro's weaknesses. Regarding the self-perception of their role in informing, in common, it was noticed that the newscasts, in the face of the escalation of violence, adopted more rigorous care with the values and principles of journalism to position themselves mainly as instruments of control and exercise of power. They took upon themselves the activity of social scheduling and aligned references to editorial interests. This is without losing sight of the values and principles of journalism.