The Economist and Human Rights Violations in Brazil During the Military Dictatorship

A Revista The Economist e as Violações de Direitos Humanos no Brasil Durante a Ditadura Militar

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyse British media coverage of the Brazilian dictatorship. Specifically, we examine coverage by the weekly news magazine The Economist in the period from the promulgation of Institutional Act 5 in December 1968, to 1975, the second year of the Geisel administration. We compare its coverage with that of The Times and The Guardian in order to reach an understanding of its portrayal of Brazil in terms of two themes in particular: economic performance (notably the ‘Brazilian miracle’), and political repression. We relate the latter theme to the international condemnations of torture, and the disappearance of political prisoners. Furthermore, given that The Economist mainly covers issues from an economic perspective, we examine shifts in the frequency and content of articles about Brazil, and conclude that The Economist’s portrayal of Brazil in the period under review deviated from that of much of the rest of the British Press.

Keywords
Brazilian dictatorship; Brazil’s foreign image; Brazil and England; torture in Brazil; Brazil in the British media