CULTURAL JOURNALISM IN BRAZIL AND PORTUGAL: a cross-country analysis (2012-2018)

JORNALISMO CULTURAL NO BRASIL E EM PORTUGAL: uma análise transnacional (2012-2018)

PERIODISMO CULTURAL EN BRASIL Y PORTUGAL: una análisis transversal (2012-2018)

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an innovative cross-country analysis focused on the cultural coverage of two countries that have been connected since the colonial period, Brazil and Portugal. Aiming to map editorial patterns (sources, news values, cultural sectors, and people featured) and uncover stereotypes, we selected two reputable newspapers, the Brazilian Folha de S.Paulo and the Portuguese Público. A content analysis was performed on a sample of 1.118 news articles. Both media outlets present an elitist, western-centric, and scholarly notion of culture. We observed asymmetrical trends between the Brazilian and the Portuguese cultural coverage.

Key words
Brazil; Content analysis; Cultural journalism; Portugal

RESUMO

Este artigo apresenta uma análise em perspectiva cruzada focada na cobertura cultural de dois países com relações iniciadas no período colonial, Brasil e Portugal. Com o objetivo de mapear padrões editoriais (fontes, valores-notícia, setores culturais e pessoas em destaque) e identificar estereótipos, selecionamos dois jornais de referência, o brasileiro Folha de S.Paulo e o português Público. Para tal, realizamos uma análise de conteúdo em uma amostra de 1.118 peças. Os dois jornais apresentam uma noção de cultura elitista, centrada no ocidente e de viés acadêmico. Observamos, também, tendências assimétricas entre a cobertura cultural brasileira e portuguesa.

Palavras-chave
Análise de conteúdo; Brasil; Jornalismo cultural; Portugal

RESUMEN

Este artículo presenta un innovador análisis transversal centrado en la cobertura cultural de dos países que han estado conectados desde la época colonial, Brasil y Portugal. Con el objetivo de mapear patrones editoriales (fuentes, valores noticiosos, sectores culturales y personas destacadas) y descubrir estereotipos, seleccionamos dos periódicos de renombre, el brasileño Folha de S.Paulo y el portugués Público. Se realizó un análisis de contenido sobre una muestra de 1.118 artículos periodísticos. Ambos medios de comunicación presentan una noción de cultura elitista, centrada en Occidente y académica. Observamos tendencias asimétricas entre la cobertura cultural brasileña y portuguesa.

Palabras clave
Análisis de contenido; Brasil; Periodismo cultural; Portugal

1 Introduction

Brazil and Portugal have had a relationship since the sixteenth century when the European colonial occupation started. Key aspects of the socio-historical context include the genocide of indigenous peoples, the transatlantic slave trade, the transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil in 1808, the atypical independence process in Brazil, a shared language (Portuguese), and several waves of migrations. Brazilians were the largest immigrant group in Portugal by 2021, according to the Portuguese Immigration and Border Service (Estrela et al., 2022).

Today, according to some authors, both countries occupy ambiguous places in the world order (Santos, 2002; Cesarino, 2012). Brazil, a former colony, acts somewhat imperialistically with some South American and African countries. On the other hand, Portugal, the former imperial power, is seen as an underdog in European politics, sometimes referred to as a “subaltern colonizer”. Brazilian and Portuguese societies have traces of internal colonialism toward unprivileged groups related to gender, class, and race (Santos, 2002; Cesarino, 2012).

Quijano (2005) highlights that colonial relationships may continue in political and economic areas after colonial administration ends. Despite the absence of a “colonial administration”¹, the coloniality of power can be an element of contemporary capitalism, embedded in a eurocentric worldview (Quijano, 2005, p.135). Coloniality can be expressed in three dimensions: power, being, and knowledge (Maldonado-Torres, 2007; Mignolo & Walsh, 2018; Cabecinhas & Barros, 2022). The authors consider that racism and sexism have grounded the notion of coloniality of being, and language barriers are an example of the coloniality of knowledge.

Furthermore, Mignolo (2020, p.4) understands that “decoloniality is not a draft for a universal model, but an orientation to a praxis of living”. Walsh (2018) argues that the decolonial praxis acts within the dominant order’s cracks, margins, and borders. Moreover, research that considers the decolonial approach in the cultural coverage analysis is still scarce. Therefore, this paper aims to bring together journalism studies and the decolonial approach, analyzing journalistic cultural coverage from Brazil and Portugal. When a newspaper creates a section designated as cultural and gives visibility to certain themes, people, and artistic manifestations, journalistic practice contributes to constructing a shared notion of what is and what is not culture in a given context.

Based on a cross-country analysis, this research aims to characterize two periods of cross-country news coverage and identify artists and cultural production patterns from Brazil and Portugal. We understand that the concept of culture is complex, dimensional, and cumulative. There is a myriad of perspectives based on different theoretical currents, for example, Cuche (1999), Williams (1981), and Eagleton (2005). Based on Raymond Williams’s categories of the word “culture” (1983), it can relate to a general process of intellectual and aesthetic development; or it can mean a particular way of life of a group or community. It can also include artistic activities, from music to theatre and film – being this one the most widely used meaning of culture.

This research focuses on what the news media presents as being culture and the characteristics of its coverage. Therefore, we aim to map what culture means to the media outlets analyzed. This mapping can contribute to the debate about how culture is covered by the news media, what they privilege, and what is missing. As this research is embedded in postcolonial studies, we introduce some concepts from cultural studies. We understand journalism as a social construction (Alsina, 2009; Silveira & Marôpo, 2014) based on Berger and Luckmann’s (2010) idea of the social construction of reality. As Couldry and Hepp (2016) point out, while reworking Berger and Luckmann’s legacy, the social is nowadays constructed in an age of deep mediatization. Although cultural journalism has specific characteristics, it is immersed in structuring elements of general journalistic practice (Baptista, 2017). Visibility and mediation are important concepts to analyze cultural journalism (Golin & Cardoso, 2009; Janssen & Verboord, 2015) that we comprehend as a relationship and tension between two fields: journalism and cultural production.

2 Particularities of the colonial and postcolonial Brazilian context

Postcolonial research focused on Brazil is a recent phenomenon. Ballestrin (2013) indicates that this may be related to the fact that important Anglo-Saxon texts were only recently translated into Portuguese. In addition, postcolonial studies can be understood as a product of the “cultural turn” in social sciences that happened in the 1980s (Santos, 2002). During that decade, Brazil was under a dictatorship that restricted free thought and hindered the development of academic research in some fields.

Ribeiro (2011) analyzed the socio-historical context and argued that the Brazilian postcolonial period began in 1808. As a result of the French Invasions, the Royal Portuguese court was transferred to Brazil in 1808. Roughly 15.000 people crossed the Atlantic when Rio de Janeiro became the capital of the Empire, while Lisbon was under Napoleonic rule. The year is also representative because it was the beginning of Brazilian administrative autonomy (Ribeiro, 2011).

Schwarcz and Starling (2015) note that the Brazilian independence process liberally broke with colonial domination while remaining conservative in maintaining monarchy, the slave system, and manorial predominance. Hence, a significant part of the population was excluded from the political process, meaning that independence created a state rather than a nation (Schwarcz & Starling, 2015). Moreover, Anderson (1983) understands that a nation is an imagined political community. In this concept, the members of a nation have a shared mental image that is simultaneously limited and sovereign.

As an example, when analyzing Brazilian fiction created after independence and before the Brazilian Modernist Movement of 1922², Arenas (2003) identifies references to an independent and distinct nation. The former colonizer, Portugal, was referred to in a negative light as if they were saying, “they are not the real Brazil”.

Analyzing particularities of the colonial system in the time-space of the official Portuguese language, Santos (2002) emphasizes that colonial relationships should be understood considering historical and comparative perspectives. This approach includes an account of the political economy and articulates other power relations, such as class exploitation, sexism, and racism. In Portuguese colonialism, Santos (2002) observed ambivalent, interdependent, and hybrid practices between the colonizer and colonies. For instance, a degree of Portuguese weakness and incompetence allowed the reproduction of colonial relations inside Brazil in a process called internal colonialism. Local elites reproduced colonialist relations with marginalized groups, such as black and indigenous people (Santos, 2002; Cesarino, 2012).

Moreover, there has been an unequal flow of cultural products between the two countries that can be analyzed through media. Arenas (2003) points to the consistent presence of Brazilian cultural and media products in Portugal, particularly music, film, and television. On the other hand, Portuguese cultural products are rare in Brazilian everyday life. Books are an exception because Portuguese fiction writers are read in Brazilian college programs, while Portuguese universities focus on only a few well-known Brazilian writers. Moreover, Arenas (2003) emphasizes important language differences related to the distinct accents, sounds, and vocabulary of Brazilian and European Portuguese. Portuguese people are generally familiar with Brazilian cultural products and can comprehend the specificities of Brazilian Portuguese, while European Portuguese may sound exotic, shocking, or even difficult for Brazilians to understand (Arenas, 2003).

We understand that colonial and postcolonial contexts are fundamental to understanding the contemporary relationship between the two countries, social representations, and stereotypes that arise in media content.

3 Social representations, stereotypes, and their relationship with journalism practice

Social representations can be understood as a specific phenomenon related to a particular type of worldview and communication (Moscovici, 1988). Höijer (2011) understands that Moscovici’s theory allows media researchers to develop a tight relationship between the theoretical and empirical levels.

Jodelet (2018) emphasizes that Moscovici’s proposal contributes to the dialogue between fields, and highlights its proximity with journalism. Social representations are summarized by Jodelet (2018) as 1) systems of meaning that allow us to comprehend events and social relations; 2) built on interactions and contact with public space discourses. This notion is aligned with our understanding of journalism as a social practice based on the social construction of reality (Berger & Luckman, 2010).

Identifying and contextualizing facts is a fundamental stage in the social construction process of news, whereby meaning is given to selected facts (Hall et al., 1978). This process implies elements that are central to Moscovici’s concept of social representation: journalists’ comprehension of the world and their shared knowledge.

Based on Berger and Luckmann’s (2010) idea of the social construction of reality, Alsina (2009) points out that journalists are socially legitimized and institutionalized to build a publicly relevant social reality. Relationships between journalists and their audiences are grounded on a social and historically constructed agreement of trust (Alsina, 2009). This notion is related to what Charaudeau (2012) refers to as the communication contract. Couldry and Hepp (2016) add that the social is also currently constructed in this age of deep mediatization, meaning that every element is itself technologically based on mediation processes.

Based on Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of symbolic power, Berger (2003) argues that credibility is the primary journalistic capital emphasized in the editing process. It is possible to include or exclude, legitimize or not, give voice or make facts, events, people, movements, etc., public or not.

Hall et al. (1978) highlight news values, a set of criteria used to select a fact and/or feature it in the news construction process. Journalists identify and contextualize facts in a meaningful social process that considers shared cultural knowledge and can emphasize supposed consensuses. Therefore, news coverage analysis allows the identification of maps of meaning about how a society works, helping clarify dominant ways of seeing the world in a specific context (Hall et al., 1978). Analyzing the main topics, themes, and people highlighted in cultural coverage enables us to identify media classifications, collaborating on a shared notion of culture.

Moreover, identity processes and social stereotypes (Tajfel, 1963) are intertwined. Tajfel (1963) argues that social identity is part of an individual’s self-concept related to being a member of one or many groups, and their recognition and emotional meaning are tied to this affiliation. A group definition makes sense to those surrounding it. In fact, social comparison is based on an idea of “we” and “they”, either in a group of belonging (ingroup) and/or related to an external group (outgroup). When someone receives a label, a meaning level and some characteristics are attached through inference. Furthermore, the tendency to generalize and simplify these processes often leads to social stereotypes.

An exploratory study on Brazilian women stereotypes analyzed media content from 7 European countries, including Portugal. Findings indicated that the stereotypes of hypersexuality and body objectification are still present (Passos et al., 2022). Moreover, when analyzing a television news series broadcasted in Brazil about Brazilian migration to Portugal, Posch and Cabecinhas (2020) found that the migration trajectories highlighted were repetitive and stereotypical, but with an emphasis on elite migrants with a lack of diversity. This might be connected to the recent migration wave of Brazilians moving to Portugal, which is a visible phenomenon in the official data (Estrela et al., 2022) and media coverage.

Arenas (2003) pointed out some stereotypes and cliches associated with both countries in a study focused on Brazil and Portugal and their subjectivities. For instance, in the Portuguese imagery, Brazil evokes images of a tropical paradise, with sensual women, soccer players, and carnival. Also, violence, poverty, corruption, and other social and economic injustices come to mind. On the other hand, Brazilians imagine Portugal as a poor and archaic country, frozen in time, with rural women singing the melancholic fado. The simplified, distorted, and stereotypical ideas they both have of each other reveal part of their complex relationship.

As we highlighted in this section, social representations are systems of meaning that allow us to comprehend events and social relations and can be built on interactions and contact with public space discourses (Moscovici, 1988; Jodelet, 2018). We understand that news coverage analysis allows the identification of maps of meaning about dominant ways of seeing the world in a specific context (Hall et al., 1978). Moreover, the tendency to generalize and simplify identity processes often leads to social stereotypes (Tajfel, 1963). Although there is a strong relationship between Brazil and Portugal, there is a lack of contemporary studies focused on cross-country media stereotypes, since each study tends to focus on only one national context as the majority is focused on Brazilian stereotypes (Posch & Cabecinhas; Passos et al., 2022).

4 Cultural journalism: mediation, visibility, and transformations

We understand cultural journalism as a relationship and a tension between two fields: journalism itself and cultural production. Visibility is a central characteristic of printed or digital cultural journalistic coverage. Being covered means having been selected and legitimized over others and accumulating prestige. This legitimation and visibility cycle is related to Bourdieu’s proposal of the creation, circulation, and consecration of symbolic goods (2004, 2008).

Bourdieu (2004, 2008) points out that prestige is a useful and recognized capital in artistic fields, able to confer authority. Moreover, accumulating symbolic capital is legitimate for buyers and sellers, and a person and/or a brand recognized can consecrate others. This idea of a signature that can consecrate objects, people, or artistic manifestations is visible in journalistic cultural coverage.

Drawing on Bourdieu’s proposal, Janssen and Verboord (2015) emphasize cultural mediators or gatekeepers’ role in the production cycle of cultural goods. Book editors, cultural institutions, distributors, and journalists are examples of professionals that have a role in the process.

In a parallel comprehension, Golin and Cardoso (2009) conclude that cultural journalists are in a privileged mediation position between the cultural system and the public. Authors (Golin & Cardoso, 2009) also identified a fight for prestige inside cultural coverage. Cultural journalism provides visibility to artists and institutions and, at the same time, uses artists’ and institutions’ prestige to its brand.

Moreover, Gripsrud (2017) observes that cultural coverage mediation plays a key role in broader cultural and political influences, not only between the public and aesthetic experiences. Santos Silva (2016) states that cultural journalism can be understood as a product and cultural practice. In line with changes in culture, consumer industries, and growth in media professionalism, cultural journalism is expanding its focus (Kristensen, 2010).

There is a myriad of studies that focused on cultural coverage analysis in distinct contexts. Despite the specificities, we highlight that Janssen et al. (2008) identified an increased level of internationalization in the European newspapers analyzed between 1955 and 2005. In a study that analyzed the press and radio (1985-2015) in Sweden, Roosvall and Widholm (2018) concluded that both displayed a strong emphasis on the transnational scale, but the press focused more on Sweden and radio more on other countries. New multimedia formats or hybrid formats were identified in research focused on digital cultural journalism in Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Spain (Santos Silva, 2016).

A transformation of cultural hierarchies is observed in a large-scale analysis of seven newspapers from different countries between 1960 and 2010. Purhonen et al. (2019) identify a rise and legitimization of popular culture and a decline and popularization of highbrow arts in the context of cultural globalization. Moreover, Purhonen et al. (2019) mention that shared languages and colonial histories can be seen in cultural coverage. For example, the case of Latin America’s presence in the Spanish newspapers and the United States in The Guardian.

Cultural journalism and/or journalistic cultural coverage are both expressions applied in this research taking into account what media outlets establish explicitly as culture and how they do this. This study is aligned with previous studies that analyzed culture coverage in specific contexts with the addition of a theoretical framework from cultural studies. We understand visibility as a central characteristic of cultural journalism (Golin & Cardoso, 2009; Janssen & Verbood, 2015) with a key role in broader cultural and political influences (Gripsrud, 2017). We reckon cultural coverage has been expanding its themes, formats, level of internationalization, and focus over time (Janssen et al., 2008; Kristensen, 2010; Santos-Silva, 2016; Purhonen et al., 2019).

5 Research design

This research is based on a cross-country viewpoint aiming to analyze the cultural coverage of two countries, Brazil and Portugal. We selected two newspapers considering aspects such as data availability, digital coverage characteristics, and the existence of explicitly labeled culture sections. The Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo and the Portuguese Público also share a national position not focusing on one specific region within their countries. Both reach a significant online audience, reported as 162 million (Folha)³ and 59 million monthly pageviews (Público)⁴.

The main objective was to characterize two periods of cross-country news coverage of culture in these two media outlets, 2012 and 2018. More specifically, we aim to answer the following research questions:

1. What are the main editorial characteristics (themes, new values, people featured, sources, etc.) of the digital coverage of culture in the two newspapers in 2012 and 2018?

2. What are the main convergences and divergences regarding the coverage of culture in the digital edition of both newspapers?

We selected two time periods to verify possible changes in the coverage, especially the ones arising from the integration of digital capabilities. 2012 was considered a relevant milestone since two atypical simultaneous events focused on culture happened in both countries: The Year of Brazil in Portugal and The Year of Portugal in Brazil. Taking into consideration our calendar, data availability, and scope of analysis, 2018 was the latest possible.

Our sample was selected using keywords (Portugal and Portuguese in the case of the Brazilian newspaper and Brazil and Brazilian in the Portuguese one) from Factiva’s database and Folha de S.Paulo’s digital archive. We performed a quantitative and qualitative content analysis (Bardin, 1977; Neuendorf, 2002) on a sample of 1.118 news articles, 415 from Folha (220 published in 2012 and 195 in 2018) and 703 (266 published in 2012 and 437 in 2018) from Público. News pieces were analyzed using 15 variables⁵ that described substantive elements (authorship, sources, news values, multimedia formats, etc.) and cross-country mentions between Brazil and Portugal. Therefore, this research is aligned with previous studies that apply content analysis to cultural journalistic coverage with large or long-term samples in distinct contexts (Janssen et al., 2008; Baptista, 2017; Roosvall & Widholm, 2018; Purhonen et al., 2019).

Defining the sample size required for the intercoder reliability test, we applied an equation proposed by Lacy and Riffe (1996, p.965) with a 95% confidence interval and an expected 80% coincidence. As a result, 62 articles were coded by an independent coder. The result was that 90.4% of all items coincided between author and coder, which validated the intercoder reliability expected for this sample.

As we mentioned before, cultural journalism has specific characteristics that differ from hard news. However, the majority of news values frameworks were created, tested, and analyzed on hard news (Galtung & Ruge, 1965; Hall et al.,1978; Ponte, 2004; Traquina, 2013; Harcup & O’Neil, 2016). Moreover, this research integrates concepts from cultural studies that were not considered in these previous studies. Selecting one or two of these proposals and applying them to our empirical object would result in inaccurate outputs. Therefore, we decided to create a news values categorization suitable for digital cultural coverage that considered a cultural studies approach.

We started this process with an exploratory reading of our sample and a selection of previous studies (Galtung & Ruge, 1965; Hall et al.,1978; Ponte, 2004; Traquina, 2013; Harcup & O’Neil, 2016). Moreover, each new value proposed in these studies was analyzed considering the following aspects: accuracy of description; clarity; suitability to the theoretical framework; the possibility of being identified reading the news piece. For instance, amplitude and straightforwardness (Galtung & Ruge, 1965) were not clear in the case of two national contexts, which could lead to stereotypes (Tajfel, 1963). Additionally, the fact that the main coder in this research would be Brazilian could lead to misinterpretations in the Portuguese news. Good News and Bad News (Harcup & O’Neil, 2016) were not suitable for our cultural studies approach since good and bad are notions that change considering groups of belonging (Tajfel, 1963) and systems of meaning (Moscovici, 1988; Jodelet, 2018). Traquina (2013) structures different news values related to work routines (availability, balance, etc.) that cannot be identified in a news piece, requiring a different method. Shareability (Harcup & O’Neil, 2016) is also a news value we understand that can not be clearly identified based on simply reading a news piece.

Therefore, the first news values grid proposed were Anniversary, Death, Newness, Agenda, Conflict, Recognition, Comprehensiveness, Topicality, Proximity, Notoriety, and Institutional. Then, we applied a pre-test to this news values proposal. Two independent researchers have coded 80 pieces (20 per year and the newspaper). Results indicate an overall 81% percent of coincidence between coders. As our specific goal with this test was to validate the news values proposal, we focused on single results for each value. Three values were excluded considering low coincidence between coders: Topicality (59% of coincidence), Proximity (41%), and Notoriety (59%). The final grid of news values applied in this research was Anniversary, Death, Newness, Agenda, Conflict, Recognition, Comprehensiveness, and Institutional.

6 Findings

We analyzed patterns in the Brazilian and Portuguese journalistic cultural coverage regarding their general characteristics and cross-country approaches. Considering the extension of the analysis, we present selected findings that revealed distinct aspects of our empirical object and answer our research questions. These patterns relate to the prevalence of cultural subsectors, the geographic reference, the prominent news values, the focus of the pieces, and the people featured will be presented in the next sections.

6.1 Cultural subsectors, geographic reference, and news values

Folha de S.Paulo and Público have similar patterns regarding cultural subsectors and the distribution of news values. Books (31%), Film (20%), and Music (19%) were the most prominent fields in 2012 and 2018 in the Brazilian coverage. Similarly, the Portuguese newspaper focused most of its pieces on Music (27.6%), Books (18.5%), and Film (14.5%). Visual Arts (10.5%) was more emphasized by the Portuguese than by the Brazilian media outlet (6%). Graph 1 shows the prevalence of subsectors in both media outlets.

Graph 1
Distribution of cultural subsectors in Folha de S.Paulo (N=415) and Público (N=703)

Cultural subsectors with scarce coverage are mostly the same in both media outlets. Design, cultural policy, dance, food, and Portuguese language accumulated less than 1% each in Folha de S.Paulo news coverage. Subsectors such as cultural policy, design, history, performance, street art, and television are the focus of less than 2% of pieces published by Público. Some of these subsectors are closer to an idea of lifestyle (e.g. food and design) that is increasing in cultural coverage analysis in different contexts (Kristensen, 2010) and do not have a significant space in both media outlets.

Moreover, pieces with main geographical references were identified. The Brazilian Folha mostly focused on São Paulo (64 occurrences, 29% of the total), where the newsroom is based. Followed by Rio de Janeiro (38 occurrences, 17%), Paraty (24, 10%), Lisbon (20, 7%), and Cannes (11, 5%). Data shows a concentration in a specific Brazilian region, the Southeast, and an emphasis on cities with traditional art festivals (Cannes, in France, and Paraty, in Brazil). This focus on the Southeast region can be understood as evidence of intern colonialism (Santos, 2002; Cesarino, 2012) to cultural production from other regions of the country and highlights a lack of diversity.

Similarly, most pieces with a geographical reference in Público focused on where the newspaper is based, Lisbon (159 occurrences, 39.5%). Followed by Rio de Janeiro (46 occurrences, 11.4%), Porto (37, 9.2%), São Paulo (13, 3.2%), and Madrid (11, 2.7%). Cities from other Portuguese regions (Alentejo, Algarve, Center, Islands, and North) have a minor space in the coverage, and both Brazilian cities (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) are from the same region, the Southeast. Regarding news values, Folha and Público have a prominence of Agenda and Newness in both years revealing a close relationship with cultural industries and cultural mediators (Janssen & Verboord, 2015). The news value Agenda is directly related to the main geographical references mentioned above since art festivals are expected or scheduled events. Institutional is less prominent news value in both years and media outlets, even though appears more in Folha’s news pieces. Most of these pieces have products as their focus, such as a collection of books edited by the newspaper. Graph 2 shows the distribution of news values on Folha news pieces.

Graph 2
Distribution of news values on Folha news pieces (208 occurrences from 2012 and 182 from 2018)

In a qualitative analysis of Folha’s pieces with Death as a news value, we identified that Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer died in 2012. Many of the pieces were focused on him, and this explains the difference between the years.

Data from the Portuguese Público reveals a significant increase in Agenda, Newness, and Conflict in 2018 as Graph 3 shows below. This finding indicates that the Portuguese media outlet is more focused on releases made by the cultural industries, scheduled events, and controversial topics in 2018 than in 2012.

Graph 3
The distribution of news values on Público news pieces (255 occurrences from 2012 and 422 from 2018)

In both media outlets, Conflict aggregates distinct controversial topics and quarrels, for example, cases of racism or plagiarism. Our sample has postcolonial dilemmas, such as nonconsensual notions about Portuguese colonialism or slavery. Reports of transphobia, sexism, or racism appear more frequently in 2018. We understand that these news pieces reveal traces of decolonial praxis that express through the margins and borders of the dominant order (Walsh, 2018). Scheduled events and releases are present in most of the pieces in both newspapers while some of them, especially from 2018, present controversial topics.

6.2 Pieces with a cross-country approach: sources

Given that the sample was constructed using keywords, not all the news pieces are necessarily centered on a cross-country object or fact. Some of them only contain peripheral mentions of Brazil and Portugal. In fact, most of the analyzed pieces are not focused on the other country. Only 19% of the pieces published by the Brazilian Folha de S.Paulo had Portugal as the focus, while 61% were centered in Brazil. The percentage of news pieces from Público focused on Brazil was 28%, and the majority were centered in Portugal (54% of the total), as Graph 4 below shows.

Graph 4
The focus of Folha de S.Paulo (N=415) and Público (N=703) news pieces

These findings present an asymmetrical cross-country trend aligned with the arguments by Arenas (2003) and Fino (2020). The Portuguese newspaper Público is more focused on Brazil (61%) than the other way around. In the case of the Brazilian newspaper Folha, only 19% of the pieces were focused on Portugal.

In addition, Folha and Público published cross-country news pieces without any source from Portugal or Brazil, respectively. 8.9% of Folha’s articles focused on Portugal had no Portuguese source. This percentage is higher in the case of Público’s pieces focused on Brazil: 19.6% did not have any Brazilian source. We understand that pieces focused on a specific country without any source from this country highlight groups of belonging and can lead to stereotypes (Tajfel, 1963). Taking into account the colonial and postcolonial context of these two countries, the absence of sources can also be interpreted as traces of the coloniality of knowledge (Quijano, 2005).

6.3 People featured in news pieces

Some of the findings have shown similarities in cultural coverage between the two newspapers analyzed. The percentage of news pieces with a single person featured was similar in both media outlets: 45.5% (in the Brazilian Folha de S.Paulo) and 40% (in the Portuguese Público). Men were the focus of most of the analyzed pieces in 2012, and an increased highlight of women was observed in 2018. On the other hand, non-binary people were the focus only in pieces published by Público, as Graph 5 demonstrates.

Graph 5
Highlighted people per year and media outlet (Folha de S.Paulo, N=415; Público, N=703)

Specific data about people in the spotlight were only collected when it was explicitly written in news pieces, taking into account the intersectionality approach (May, 2015). Non-binary gender identification, nationality, skin color, and sexual orientation are some examples. In the analyzed pieces from Folha, most of the people featured were Brazilians (61%), 22% were Portuguese, 4 people had their ethnicity identified, and only two people’s sexual orientation was mentioned. In the case of Público’s news stories, 43.3% of highlighted people were Portuguese, and 38.2% were Brazilians. Featured people’s ethnicity was identified in 9 pieces, sexual orientation in 5 pieces, and non-binary in 4 pieces, all of these were published in 2018. Despite the growth of women’s presence, findings indicate that the coloniality of being is visible in people in the spotlight in both media outlets (Quijano, 2005).

6.4 Cross-country perspective: who is in the spotlight

By looking with a qualitative approach at people featured in pieces with a cross-country focus (28% of the total in Público and 19% in Folha), we could identify patterns mostly related to consolidated arts and culture movements. To begin with, most of the people featured in news pieces about Portugal from Folha were Portuguese men without a clear ethnicity. Most of these people worked in the Publishing sub-sector (24), followed by Film (10). Moreover, they were legitimated in their fields as indicated in previous research (Golin & Cardoso, 2009; Jenssen & Verboord, 2015).

The most common events in the coverage were: award receptions, event invitations, exhibitions, or tours in Brazil. Writers were often featured when invited to participate in consolidated events in Brazil. We observed that most news pieces generally focused on Portuguese writers that journalists emphasized as undiscovered or lesser known in Brazil. Similarly, news pieces featuring people from the Film sub-sector were less diverse than Portuguese cultural production in this field. Most pieces (6 of 10) focused on movie director Manoel de Oliveira, and no women were highlighted.

Furthermore, the analysis indicated that Brazilians had limited knowledge about contemporary Portugal and its creative industries reinforcing an asymmetrical trend (Arenas, 2003). Most people featured in Publishing were related to a simplified notion that “Portuguese people are better at literature than other arts”, revealing stereotypes. Also, the absence of recognized Portuguese artists from Visual Arts and Music in Folha’s cultural coverage should be emphasized.

Most Brazilians in the spotlight were from the Music sub-sector, followed by Publishing. Circumstances that led individuals to the spotlight were similar: to be legitimized in their field, tour in Portugal, and win prizes/awards. Music coverage had some particularities related to an idea of Popular Brazilian Music (MPB) created after the 50s. Well-known Brazilian musicians (e.g., Caetano Veloso) and some rising artists were highlighted more than once. On the other hand, some popular and/or growing music genres in Brazil did not appear in Público’s coverage or were underrepresented: Brazilian funk and country music (sertanejo), for example. Musicians not identified as in line with the idea of Brazilian Popular Music probably will not be featured. That can be related to two stereotypical ideas: 1) all Brazilian music production is based on the MPB movement; 2) only the music production related to MPB “matters”.

Featured people from the Publishing sub-sector were mostly men (24 of 29), well-known, and recognized. Many of them won awards; some were deceased writers, for instance, Jorge Amado. Young and emerging writers were not covered overall. These findings could indicate that Público understands Publishing as a sub-sector requiring a more senior and legitimized position than others. A stereotypical conception that “Brazilians are better in other areas, especially in Music” could also contribute to this scenario.

6.5 Asymmetrical trends and stereotypical patterns

Aligned with previous studies (Arenas, 2003; Fino, 2020), asymmetrical trends between the Brazilian and the Portuguese cultural coverage were identified. In general, our findings confirm the consistent presence of Brazilian cultural production in Portugal, aligned with the idea that shared languages and colonial histories can be seen in cultural coverage (Purhonen et al., 2019). Several factors are related to this asymmetrical perspective and we understand that they go beyond the differences between the cultural industries dimensions of both countries.

The Royal Portuguese Court’s move to Brazil in 1808 and several migration waves to Brazil may have contributed to the closeness of the Portuguese. A degree of proximity is visible in Público’s news pieces through expressions such as “shared history” and “brother-country”, referring to Brazil.

On the other hand, movements related to the Brazilian independence process and an imaginary idea of the nation (e.g., the 1922 Modern Art Week) reinforce a degree of estrangement from Portugal. Several authors (Arenas, 2003; Ribeiro, 2011) observe that the construction of the Brazilian national identity was based on a distance from the former colonizer. Moreover, we can highlight some internal Brazilian issues visible in society, such as local inequality (e.g., the Southeast region concentrated resources since the colonial period) and internal colonialism (Santos, 2002, Cesarino, 2012).

Coverage patterns and characteristics can unveil stereotypes about the cultural production in each country. Público and Folha de S.Paulo emphasize Brazilian music and Portuguese literature, respectively, and there is more diversity and depth in music and literature than in other subsectors. This approach can reinforce shared stereotypical notions about artists and cultural production from both countries. For example, the idea that “Brazilians are better at creating music than other artwork” and the “Portuguese are better at writing than creating other artwork”. In addition, this remarks a shared idea that “these subsectors are more important than others” or “really matters”.

The prevalence of consolidated cultural subsectors (e.g., Music and Books) compared to emergent or non-hegemonic fields (e.g., Performance and Street Art) expose a traditional coverage approach. In line with this, men are the majority of people in the spotlight in both media outlets, and non-binary people have limited space.

7 Concluding remarks

By designating a newspaper section as cultural and inserting certain themes, people, and artistic manifestations, journalistic practice contributes to constructing a shared notion of culture in a given context. Folha and Público present a restricted notion of culture, aligned with the cultural industries, the elites, and the most prestigious institutions in both countries. Therefore, our findings indicate that the coverage rarely sees decolonial issues except for some pieces with the news value Conflict and people in the spotlight that emphasize their groups of belonging.

Most of the pieces focus on the cities where newspapers are based (São Paulo and Lisbon), revealing an unequal coverage of other Brazilian and Portuguese regions. In general, less emphasis is given to sales and audience volumes, distancing the news coverage from contemporary artistic movements of distinct trajectories (e.g., pop artists with millions of social media followers). Janssen and Verboord (2015) note that a distance from economic gains is connected to a romantic idea of arts and artistic lives. Moreover, as we observe in the coverage, other professionals involved in different stages of artwork production can be ignored.

Books, Film, and Music are major subsectors and important cultural industry players. Nevertheless, our analysis is not focused on mapping the particularities and diversity of these subsectors and their players. Independent cultural institutions and artists, small businesses, and crowdfunding projects are some players that can be explored in further research.

Through the news values grid proposed (Anniversary, Death, Newness, Agenda, Conflict, Recognition, Comprehensiveness, and Institutional), we mapped the most relevant news values to Folha and Público’s cultural coverage. Findings reinforce the strength of cultural industry players. Releases and first exhibitions (Newness), expected or scheduled events (Agenda), and controversial topics (Conflict) have a greater chance of being covered than other subjects.

Folha and Público diverge in how they treat the cultural production of the former colony and mainland. The Portuguese newspaper is close to Brazil, while the Brazilian chooses distant regard toward Portugal. We identified an asymmetric approach from a cross-country perspective since the Portuguese Público published more pieces focused on Brazil than Brazilian Folha on Portugal. Moreover, both media outlets emphasized stereotypes about cultural production from each country. There is more Brazilian music and Portuguese literature than other subsectors suggesting a shared idea that these subsectors are “representative of these countries’ cultural production” or “more important than others”.

Due to research design feasibility, this study does not explore image analysis that may create and/or reinforce stereotypes in cultural journalistic coverage. The digital environment allows an easy reproduction of images and audiovisual products that can be examined in further research considering a cultural studies approach.

Coverage analysis also points out that Folha focuses mainly on the USA, Germany, and France’s cultural production and Western-centric events. Despite the significance of these cultural flows, we can interpret this as a trace of the colonial view of Brazilian journalists toward these countries. In contrast, we understand that the percentage of Portuguese pieces focused on Brazil without a Brazilian source (19%) could be a potential trace of colonialism to be explored in future research.

NOTES

• 1
  Recently, the expression “Global South” has become widely used for referring to some regions/countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania that before used to be labeled as “Third World” or “Developing Countries”. According to Dados and Connel (2012), “[t]he uses of the phrase Global South marks a shift from a central focus on development or cultural difference toward an emphasis on geopolitical relations of power” (p. 12). For Cahen (2015), the names Global South and Global North reify a dichotomy, thus not presenting any added value compared to the previous formula. The author (Cahen, 2015) also discusses the ambiguities of the designations of “postcolonial” and “decolonial” studies.
• 2
  Modern Art Week happened in São Paulo in 1922 due to the disappointment with the Republic and, at the same time, the imagination of modern Brazil (Schwarcz & Starling, 2015). Artists and intellectuals involved in the movement were generally criticizing traditional notions of culture and offering what they referred to as “real Brazilian art”.
• 3
  Google Analytics data from November 2021 (latest available). Retrieved from www.publicidade.folha.com.br/folhadigital/
• 4
  Google Analytics data from January 2022 (latest available). Retrieved from https://comunique.publico.pt/publicidade/audiencia.html
• 5
  There were several reasons to establish these 15 variables. In summary, we gathered aspects that were considered relevant to the two national contexts, cultural journalism theory, the cross-country viewpoint, and the digital environment. For enhanced precision, some variables (namely arts and culture subsector, formats, and multimedia formats) allowed the coder to select from more than 15 specific options or write down a customized description. In the case of news values, the coder was allowed to select more than one per piece.

RESEARCH FUNDING

• This work was supported by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia under the Ph.D. scholarship PD/BD/128179/2016 and the project UIDB/00736/2020.
• One review used in the evaluation of this article can be accessed at https://osf.io/ahf2p | Following BJR’s open science policy, the reviewers authorized this publication and the disclosure of his/her names.

REFERENCES

• Alsina, M. R. (2009). A construção da notícia Vozes.
• Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism Verso.
• Arenas, F. (2003). Utopias of Otherness – Nationhood and Subjectivity in Portugal and Brazil. University of Minnesota Press.
• Ballestrin, L. (2013). América Latina e o giro decolonial. Revista brasileira de ciência política, (11), 89-117. DOI: 10.1590/S0103-33522013000200004
  » https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-33522013000200004
• Baptista, C. (2017). Jornalismo cultural em Portugal – retrato de uma década e projecções para o futuro. In C. Baptista (Ed.), A Cultura Na Primeira Página - Uma década de jornalismo cultural na imprensa em Portugal (pp.43-85). Escritório Editora.
• Bardin, L. (1977). Análise de Conteúdo Edições 70.
• Berger, C. (2003). Campos em confronto: A terra e o texto Editora da UFRGS.
• Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (2010). A construção social da realidade: Tratado de sociologia do conhecimento (32^a ed.). Vozes.
• Bourdieu, P. (2004). Coisas ditas. Brasiliense.
• Bourdieu, P. (2008). A produção da crença: Contribuição para uma economia dos bens simbólicos (3^a ed.). Zouk.
• Cabecinhas, R., & Barros, M. de. (2022). Produção de Conhecimento, Reparação Histórica e Construção de Futuros Alternativos. Entrevista com Miguel de Barros. Comunicação E Sociedade, 41, 243–258. DOI: 10.17231/comsoc.41(2022).3719
  » https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.41(2022)
• Cahen, M. (2015). Pontos comuns e heterogeneidade das culturas políticas nos PALOPs. História, Questões & Debates, 62, 19-48. DOI: 10.5380/his.v62i1.44146
  » https://doi.org/10.5380/his.v62i1.44146
• Cesarino, L (2012). Brazilian postcoloniality and South-South cooperation: a view from anthropology. Portuguese Cultural Studies, 4, 85-113. DOI: 10.7275/R5XS5S99
  » https://doi.org/10.7275/R5XS5S99
• Charaudeau, P. (2012). Discurso das mídias Contexto.
• Couldry, N., & Hepp, A. (2016). The mediated construction of reality: society, culture, mediatization. Polity Press.
• Cuche, D. (1999). A noção de cultura nas ciências sociais. Edusc.
• Dados, N., & Connell, R. (2012). The global South. Contexts, 11(1), 12–13. DOI: 10.1177/1536504212436479
  » https://doi.org/10.1177/1536504212436479
• Eagleton, T. (2005). A ideia de cultura Editora Unesp.
• Estrela, J., Lopes, S., Menezes, A., Souza, R., & Machado, P. (2022). Relatório de Imigração, Fronteiras e Asilo 2021 Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteira. Retrieved from https://www.sef.pt/pt/Documents/RIFA2021%20vfin2.pdf
  » https://www.sef.pt/pt/Documents/RIFA2021%20vfin2.pdf
• Fino, C. (2020, April 22). O apagão mediático português no Brasil Público. Retrieved from www.publico.pt/2020/04/22/opiniao/opiniao/apagao-mediatico-portugues-brasil-1913296
  » www.publico.pt/2020/04/22/opiniao/opiniao/apagao-mediatico-portugues-brasil-1913296
• Galtung, J., & Ruge, M. H. (1965). The Structure of Foreign News: The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers. Journal of Peace Research, 2(1), 64–90. DOI: 10.1177/002234336500200104
  » https://doi.org/10.1177/002234336500200104
• Golin, C., & Cardoso, E. (2009). Cultural journalism in Brazil: academic research, visibility, mediation and news values. Journalism, 10(1), 69-89. DOI: 10.1177/1464884908098321
  » https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884908098321
• Grisprud, J. (2017). The Cultural, the Political and the Functions of Cultural Journalism – In Digital Times. In N. Kristensen & K. Riegert. (Eds.), Cultural Journalism in the Nordic Countries (pp.181-193). Nordicom.
• Hall, S., Chritcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J., & Roberts, B. (1978). The social production of news: Mugging in the media. In S. Hall, C. Chritcher, T. Jefferson, J. Clarke & B. Roberts (Eds.), Policing the Crisis (pp. 53-77). The Macmillan Press.
• Harcup, T., & O’Neill, D. (2016). What is News? News values revisited (again). Journalism Studies, 18(12), 1470-1488. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2016.1150193
  » https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1150193
• Höijer, B. (2011). Social Representations Theory, A New Theory for Media Research. Nordicom Review, 32(2), 3-16. DOI: 10.1515/nor-2017-0109
  » https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2017-0109
• Janssen, S., Kuipers, G., & Verboord, M. (2008). Cultural Globalization and Arts Journalism: The International Orientation of Arts and Culture Coverage in Dutch, French, German, and U.S. Newspapers, 1955 to 2005. American Sociological Review, 73(5), 719-740. DOI: 10.1177/000312240807300502
  » https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240807300502
• Janssen, S., & Verboord, M. (2015). Cultural Mediators and Gatekeepers. In James D. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2^nd ed.) (pp. 440–446). Elsevier.
• Jodelet, D. (2018). Ciências sociais e representações: estudo dos fenômenos representativos e processos sociais, do local ao global. Revista Sociedade e Estado, 33(2), 423-442. DOI: 10.1590/s0102-699220183302007
  » https://doi.org/10.1590/s0102-699220183302007
• Kristensen, N. N. (2010). Cultural journalism in the Danish printed press – a history of decline or increasing media institutional profiling? Nordic Journal of Media Studies, 8, 69-92. DOI: 10.1386/nl.8.69_1
  » https://doi.org/10.1386/nl.8.69_1
• Lacy, S., & Riffe, D. (1996). Sampling Error and Selecting Intercoder Reliability Samples for Nominal Content Categories. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 73(4), 963–973. DOI: 10.1177/107769909607300414
  » https://doi.org/10.1177/107769909607300414
• Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007). Sobre la colonialidad del ser: contribuciones al desarrollo de un concepto. In S. Castro-Gómez & R. Grosfoguel (Eds.), El giro decolonial: reflexiones para una diversidad epistémica más allá del capitalismo global (pp.127-167). Siglo del Hombre Editores.
• May, V.M. (2015). Pursuing intersectionality, unsettling dominant imaginaries Routledge.
• Moscovici, S. (1988). Notes towards a description of social representations. European Journal of Social Psychology, 18(3), 211-250. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2420180303
  » https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420180303
• Mignolo, W. D., & Walsh, C. E. (2018). On decoloniality Duke University Press.
• Mignolo, W. (2020). On decoloniality: second thoughts. Postcolonial Studies, 20(4), 612-618. DOI: 10.1080/13688790.2020.1751436
  » https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2020.1751436
• Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook Sage.
• Passos, T. S., Almeida-Santos, M. A., & Ramos, N. C. (2022). Stereotypes of Brazilian Women’s hypersexuality in European Media: data mining. Cadernos de Gênero e Tecnologia, 15(45), 182-200. DOI: 10.3895/cgt.v15n45
  » https://doi.org/10.3895/cgt.v15n45
• Ponte, C. (2004). Leituras das notícias: Contributos para uma análise do discurso jornalístico Livros Horizonte.
• Posch, P., & Cabecinhas, R. (2020). Estar presente na ausência: a construção semiótica da imigração brasileira recente em Portugal nos média brasileiros. Comunicação E Sociedade, 38, 201–217. DOI: 10.17231/comsoc.38(2020).2592
  » https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.38(2020)
• Purhonen, S., Heikkilä, R., Karademir Hazir, I., Lauronen, T., Fernández Rodríguez, C. J., & Gronow, J. (2019). Enter culture, exit arts?: The transformation of cultural hierarchies in European newspaper culture sections, 1960–2010 Routledge.
• Quijano, A. (2005). Colonialidade do poder, Eurocentrismo e América Latina. In E. Lander (Ed.), A colonialidade do saber: Eurocentrismo e ciências sociais. Perspectivas latino-americanas (pp.17-142). Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales.
• Roosvall, A., & Widholm, A. (2018). The Transnationalism of Cultural Journalism in Sweden: Outlooks and Introspection in the Global Era. International Journal of Communication, 12(2018), 1431–1451. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8228/2307
  » https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8228/2307
• Santos, B. S. (2002). Between Prospero and Caliban: colonialism, postcolonialism, and inter-identity. Luso-Brazilian Review, 39(2), 9-43. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/3513784?seq=1
  » www.jstor.org/stable/3513784?seq=1
• Santos Silva, D. (2016). Cultural Journalism in a Digital Environment - New Models, Practices and Possibilities [doctoral dissertation, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa]. Nova University Repository.
• Schwarcz, L.M., & Starling, H.M. (2015). Brasil: Uma biografia Companhia das Letras.
• Silveira, P., & Marôpo, L. (2014). Jornalismo e construção social da realidade: um contributo para o debate teórico. Revista Comunicando, 3(1), 7-19. DOI: 10.58050/comunicando.v3i1.151
  » https://doi.org/10.58050/comunicando.v3i1.151
• Sousa, H. (2018). Lusophone community in the digital age: the ambiguous place of skepticism and performance. Media, Culture & Society, 40(3), 451–457. DOI: 10.1177/0163443717752811
  » https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443717752811
• Ribeiro, G. L. (2011). Why (post) colonialism and (de) coloniality are not enough: a post-imperialist perspective. Postcolonial Studies, 14(3), 285-297. DOI: 10.1080/13688790.2011.613107
  » https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2011.613107
• Tajfel, H. (1963). Stereotypes. Race, 5(2), 3–14. DOI: 10.1177/030639686300500201
  » https://doi.org/10.1177/030639686300500201
• Traquina, N. (2013). Teorias do Jornalismo: A tribo jornalística - uma comunidade interpretativa transnacional Insular.
• Walsh, C. (2018). Decoloniality in/as Praxis. In W. Mignolo & C. Walsh (Eds.), On Decoloniality (pp.15-102). Duke University Press.
• Williams, R. (1981). The sociology of culture The University of Chicago Press.
• Williams, R. (1983). Keywords. A vocabulary of culture and society Oxford University Press.

Edited by

Desk Review Editor: Laura Storch

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  10 July 2023
• Date of issue
  2023

History

• Received
  04 Sept 2022
• Reviewed
  21 Sept 2022
• Reviewed
  02 Feb 2023
• Accepted
  02 Mar 2023