ABSTRACT
By means of an analysis of the contexts and debates in editorials and other sections of O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo newspapers during Getúlio Vargas’ second presidential term and Lula da Silva’s first presidential term, the following article explores the characteristics of what it terms the “moralization of politics” adopted by the press during both periods. In this sense, it is argued that the strategy of colonizing public matters with the distinction between “honest” and “corrupt” was aimed at silencing public debate, focusing the accusations of corruption on governments and concealing the historical appropriation of the ruling classes. The press was therefore complicit in naturalizing the social order in Brazil, with the two newspapers also favoring the shaping of political crisis scenarios so significant as to have rocked these governments.
Lula; Vargas; press; Brazil; politics
