Brazilian Major Media and Affirmative Action: The Cases of 'Veja' and 'O Globo'

May 26, 2011 - 4:00 pm

João Feres Júnior, Rio de Janeiro State University

João Feres Júnior will present preliminary results of a large research project on treatment of the Brazilian affirmative action debate by the nation’s major media organizations.
This presentation will focus on the cases of O Globo and Veja and cover all texts on race-based affirmative action published by these organizations from 2001 to 2009.

Through a valence analysis that takes into account the different sorts of texts published by each media (editorials, articles, op-eds, etc.), Feres will identify the position of each publication on the issue and the presentation of the chief arguments used for and against affirmative action that appear in the texts, showing how they have evolved in the period examined. The case materials enable him to show that the publications have different strategies in presenting affirmative action as a debatable topic, strategies that vary according to the ways in which public opinion, national identity, and society are represented in the texts.

About the speaker:

João Feres Júnior is professor of political science at the Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos (IESP) of the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and the Centro de Ciências Jurídicas e Políticas (CCJP) at the Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO).