“A word is enough to the wise?!”: a study on narratives produced by the media when translating the role of the players involved in the Operation Car Wash in Brazil

Abstract

This article aims to analyze how the media translates the role of those involved in the Operation Car Wash in Brazil, the events, relationships, antecedents and consequences, producing the narratives consumed by society. This is a qualitative research, based on the analysis of narratives and the assumption that the social construction of reality is a process grounded on the meanings the media attributes through their narratives. Based on secondary data collected from three media channels - Revista Carta Capital, Revista Veja, and Revista Exame - selected from an initial search, the study carried out a narrative research. The data analysis was based on Shuman’s (2012) proposal for narrative analysis that only contemplated the cover stories. The results identified and characterized four narratives, pointing out how the roles of the players involved in the Operation Car Wash were translated in each of them. Then, it was identified that the negotiation of meaning by media vehicles is related to the responsibility of those involved in the scheme investigated by Operation Car Wash. It is concluded that the media promotes the mediation of interpretations in this process of translation, insofar as it constitutes a legitimate spokesperson for a specific version, as well as it mobilizes relations that culminate in the crystallization of texts believed to be true and used as source to support positions on the part of the various actors in society.

Keywords:
Operation Car Wash; Wrongdoing; Media; Translation; Narratives

Resumo

O objetivo deste é artigo é analisar como a mídia traduz o papel dos envolvidos, os eventos, as relações, seus antecedentes e suas consequências, produzindo versões narrativas consumidas pela sociedade. É uma pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa, com base na análise de narrativas e na compreensão da construção social da realidade alicerçada nos sentidos articulados narrativamente pelos agentes. A partir de dados secundários coletados em três veículos de mídia - revistas Carta Capital, Veja e Exame, selecionadas a partir de um levantamento inicial, realizou-se uma pesquisa narrativa. A análise de dados baseou-se na proposta de Shuman (2012) para a análise narrativa que contemplou somente as reportagens de capa. A respeito dos resultados, foi possível identificar e caracterizar quatro narrativas, apontando, em cada uma, como os papéis foram traduzidos. Diante disso, identificou-se que o sentido negociado pelos veículos midiáticos está relacionado à responsabilidade dos envolvidos frente a seus papéis no esquema investigado pela Operação Lava Jato. Pode-se concluir ainda que a mídia promove a mediação das interpretações nesse processo de tradução, na medida em que se constitui como porta-voz legítima de uma versão e mobiliza relações que culminam na cristalização de textos tomados como verdadeiros e usados como dados para sustentar posições por parte dos diversos agentes na sociedade.

Palavras-chave:
Operação Lava Jato; Wrongdoing; Mídia; Tradução; Narrativas

Resumen

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar cómo los medios traducen el papel de los involucrados, los eventos, las relaciones, sus antecedentes y sus consecuencias, produciendo versiones narrativas consumidas por la sociedad. Es una investigación de enfoque cualitativo, con base en el análisis de narrativas y en la comprensión de la construcción social de la realidad está fundamentada en los sentidos articulados narrativamente por los agentes. Por medio de datos secundarios recolectados en tres fuentes de medios de comunicación -Revista Carta Capital, Revista Veja y Revista Exame- seleccionadas a partir de una encuesta, se realizó una investigación narrativa. El análisis de datos se basó en la propuesta de Shuman (2012) para el análisis narrativo que consideró solamente los reportajes de portada. En cuanto a los resultados, fue posible identificar y caracterizar cuatro narrativas señalando, en cada una, cómo los papeles fueron traducidos. Ante ello, se identificó que el sentido negociado por los medios de comunicación estudiados está relacionado a la responsabilidad de los involucrados frente a sus papeles dentro del esquema investigado por la Operación Lava Jato. Se puede concluir que los medios promueven la mediación de las interpretaciones en ese proceso de traducción, en la medida en que se constituyen como portavoces legítimos de una versión y movilizan relaciones que culminan en la cristalización de textos tomados como verdades y usados como datos para sostener las posiciones por parte de los diversos agentes en la sociedad.

Palabras clave:
Operación Lava Jato; Wrongdoing; Medios de comunicación; Traducción; Narrativas

INTRODUCTION

Corporate scandals have brought attention to the misconduct¹ practiced by individuals and organizations, gaining public notoriety especially since 2000 with the increase in access to information (GREVE, PALMER and POZNER, 2010). Within this context, misconduct is a broad term in research - with there being no consensus in terms of its definition (GREVE, PALMER and POZNER, 2010). However, in light of the number of studies, explanations and analysis perspectives that use the term wrongdoing (GREVE, PALMER and POZNER, 2010), the perspective which will guide this work will be organizational wrongdoing (PALMER, 2012).

Operation Car Wash is considered to be a case of organizational wrongdoing.² In the same manner, many scandals have received media attention (CLEMENTE, DURAND and PORAC, 2016), which, in addition to structuring the understanding of these scandals and exposing them to society, has acted as an agent of social control (GREVE, PALMER and POZNER, 2010). Nonetheless, we recognize that within this context of hyper-information, the social construction of reality, which before was sustained through face to face interactions, has now with the emergence of relations mediated by various channels of media and the subversion of time and space has come to be mediatized by various media processes and agents (social networks and traditional media vehicles), sustained by technological apparatuses (COULDRY and HEPP, 2017).

Organizational wrongdoing, the term presented by Palmer (2012), describes transgressions committed according to the judgement of agents of social control, which in this case is represented by the media. The media’s narratives characterize and produce versions that judge the acts of organizations and organizational agents characterized as deviating from expected behavior, given their role and social immersion.

Considering, therefore, the media - and its infrastructure - as an agent capable of bringing people closer and connecting them, mediating human interactions in a relevant manner within the contemporary context, is a means of diffusing institutionally accepted ideas and standards (BOXEMBAUM and JOHNSON, 2017). Thus, ““thinking about the social world and its different domains as ‘mediatized’ means grasping that their construction involves practices of communication which are, in turn, moulded by the long-term processes of institutionalization and materialization which we refer to as ‘media’”” (COULDRY and HEPP, 2017, p. 33).

Based on this position, ideas circulate due to media vehicles and acquire through context a different significance depending on the movement of the translation in play (CZARNIAWSKA and JOERGES, 1996). This movement through which ideas circulate is explained by Scandinavian discussions of organizational institutionalism (CZARNIAWSKA and SEVÓN, 1996; BOXEMBAUM and PEDERSEN, 2009). In this perspective, practices and actions circulate in a given context and undergo a negotiation of meaning, that is, they acquire new meanings based on each element that they reproduce (WEDLIN and SAHLIN, 2017).

This demonstrates the relevance of this study, given that communication is central to the construction of social reality, to the extent that the media has become a means for the expression and dissemination of meaning, versions, and different types of “truth” (COULDRY and HEPP, 2017). Given this, the way in which the media translates these occurrences, such as corporate scandals, are narratives which articulate and disseminate meanings and forms of significance (CORVELLEC, 2015) and emphasize the understanding of facts (DE LA VILLE and MOUNOUD, 2015), participating in their negotiation. In this way, the objective of this work, based on a recognized case of organizational wrongdoing (Operation Car Wash), analyzes how the media translates the role of those involved, and their relationships, antecedents and consequences, producing the narrative versions that are consumed by society. These versions lift organizations and their “deeds and misdeeds” to a “stage” which is meant to be investigative, but in fact displays a dispute to determine the version elected by the “consumers of this organizational reality show” as the representative truth of their voice. This role is immersed within the context of events and relations, antecedents and consequences which sustain the actions of organizations and organizational agents. Moreover, they do not intend to present all of those involved, but just the main figures, which permits the understanding of how their practices and actions - by virtue of the roles they have played - have resulted in organizational wrongdoing.

A justification for this study is that it seeks to understand how the media acts in the social construction of social reality through its infrastructure and its communicative practices based on its role as an agent of social control, focusing on its actions in the face of unexpected events or facts, such as corporate scandals. In terms of these scandals, conceived of in the light of organizational wrongdoing, many are linked to individuals. However, few contemplate meso- and macro- levels (PALMER, SMITH-CROWE and GREENWOOD, 2016). Still considering the macro-level, this study seeks to understand how behavior is influenced by the institutional context which leads to the results of organizational wrongdoing, corroborated by its maintenance within this context (PALMER, 2012). Moreover, it intends to visualize how ideas are translated, formatted and altered in this process (SAHLIN and WEDLIN, 2008), and the way in which one justification for this study is related to the understanding of the editing - translation process (WEDLIN and SAHLIN, 2017) - of media vehicles when faced with the same episode of corporate scandal. As a complement, it points out the pertinence of the study of narratives in the translation and negotiation of the meanings of the object under analysis (CZARNIAWSKA, 1997).

From a practical point of view, one justification is the relevance of Operation Car Wash to the vehicles selected for this study. Within the data collection period, this study has found that roughly 40% of the issues of the magazine Carta Capital mentioned Operation Car Wash or those involved in it; as compared to 56% of the issues of Veja; and 22% of the issues of Exame. Given this data, we can say that the “subject” Operation Car Wash caused repercussions in these vehicles, and thus it was deemed to be interesting and pertinent in the selection of this case of wrongdoing. Moreover, understanding how narratives become accessible to meanings when considering a corporate scandal also alludes to the practical justification for this study. Finally, it seeks to examine how scandals have permitted the creation and development of policies, management practices, and the formation of managers during scandals, in the attempt to “normalize” behavior considered ethical and correct - judged as acceptable practices by the agent of social control (PALMER, 2012).

THEORETICAL REFERENCES

Study assumptions: the role of the media in the construction of reality and the narrative nature of the human condition

Bearing in mind the problem delineated in the introduction, we need to present the onto-epistemological assumptions of this work. They will support the theoretical choices and the delineation of the presented analyses.

It is based on the ontological assumption that reality is socially constructed: the objective world is subjectively learned and intersubjectively legitimized - intersubjective legitimization is fundamentally based on the interaction processes which sustain the socialization of subjects (BERGER and LUCKMANN, 2003). However, if the process described by Berger and Luckmann (2003) emphasizes face to face interaction, which is characteristic of the social context within which the authors were immersed, contemporary society in general experiences a profound process of mediatization in its social interactions (COULDRY and HEPP, 2017), positioning the media in a relevant role in the construction of its own social reality (COULDRY and HEPP, 2017). Socially constructed reality (BERGER and LUCKMAN, 2003), therefore, acquires a more complex dimension: if before face to face interactions constituted the forum of socialization processes and the intersubjective locus of negotiation of the objective and subjective dimensions that sustain the meanings of social reality (BERGER and LUCKMAN, 2003), in contemporary society the sublimation of notions of time and space in the interactional processes mediated by technology, accessible to subjects through various media vehicles, adds new elements to the process of social construction (COULDRY and HEPP, 2017). This new dimension of social construction with the media is part of what some authors call mediatization (HEPP, 2013; DEACON and STANYER, 2014).

Mediatization is one of the concepts involving the media and studies related to communication (DEACON and STANYER, 2014). This is a way to understand how the transformations of social reality are related to the media and communicative influences which accompany the growth and dependence on technology and the media (HEPP, 2013; COULDRY and HEPP, 2017). Within this context, Klinger and Svensson (2014) point out that the media is also a social force capable of constituting and reconfiguring social reality, acting within the organizational reality as well as the everyday lives of individuals. In this sense, given its institutional legitimacy in contemporary society, the media has also become responsible for the interpretation and solution of emerging issues (KLINGER and SVENSSON, 2014).

In this light, “thinking about the social world and its different domains as ‘mediatized’ means grasping that their construction involves practices of communication which are, in turn, moulded by the long-term processes of institutionalization and materialization which we refer to as ‘media’” (COULDRY and HEPP, 2017, p. 33). This means, therefore, going beyond the traditional understanding of the media as an object, represented by a newspaper, TV or radio and coming to understand it as a means of communication that sustains the entire process of constructing social reality, in which, according to Couldry and Hepp (2017, p. 27), “communication is a constructive process in the sense that it is the heart of how the social world is constructed as significant while the media and its infrastructure becomes more and more crucial to everyday communication practices.”

In this way, in knowing the logic of the media, it is possible to define the configuration of the ideas, norms, principles, routines and other activities that permit the direction of activities within this context (PALLAS, FREDRIKSSON and WEDLIN, 2016). The media, therefore, becomes an important form of communication because it makes change possible in various fields, such as politics, sports, culture and above all business (PALLAS, FREDRIKSSON and WEDLIN, 2016). In this way, it is possible to construct reality beyond the understanding of the social world when organizations and actors interact with each other, relying on the media as their medium (HEPP, 2013).

Given this ontological position, we argue that a fruitful way to learn about this mediatization process - which confers on the media the role of translating the meaning and significance that is consumed by society in general in respect to the facts that it circulates - is through the narratives produced and disseminated by the media. Thus, we place this study epistemologically in the tradition of narrative studies, derived from the narrative turn which they position as central to the constitution of social reality (CZARNIAWSKA, 2004). Narratives and stories are parts of the narration process. Narratives focus on topics, ideas, characters and situations within a particular context. Attention is particularly paid to the exploration of the content of various texts, conversations, dialogues, official documents, newspaper and internet articles, in which narrative analysis can provide us with insights about the meaning that is shared and socially constructed (GRANT, HARDY, OSWICK et al., 2004).

Narratives, therefore, are linked to human interaction and the creation of a sense of meaning and significance (CORVELLEC, 2015). They are representations of events which are connected and limited in space and time, making it possible to communicate and interact with other parties to tell or share a story (BRIANT, HALTER, MARCHELLO et al., 2016). It’s a process which is told in a specific order, with a beginning, a middle and an end followed by a conclusion, utilizing various forms of expression which are transmitted orally, in writing, or through audio and/or video (HÖYKINPURO and ROPO, 2014).

This being so, storytelling is a process through which stories are understood, known and told. Through this it is possible to manage meanings, in such a way as to create and communicate a reality, compounding, in this manner, the narrative process (GABRIEL, 2004). Thus, narratives and storytelling enter and utilize more and more media mechanisms and the digital interface, in order to legitimize ideologies and construct a meaning that links organizational actions in response to various environmental demands from the stakeholders and institutions to which they are submitted (HÖYKINPURO and ROPO, 2014).

In light of this, the narratives are here understood to be what maintains the communications process in the construction of the social world; man is understood as Homo narrans (FISHER, 1984), a conception which is the foundation of the idea that man is involved in the elaboration of stories which articulate meanings, which ensure the plausibility of his existence, giving meaning to life. Thus, narratives produced in the translation process, during which the media acquires the role of a translator, given its legitimacy sustained in the initial ontological discussion, constitute an essential part of social reality. However, they not only function as fragments (when considering narrative texts produced in isolation), but as part of a larger narrative which sustains a significant version which carries with it assumptions, interests, interpretive schemes, relationships, historic and situational elements, and thus the understanding “of the meaning and significance of life in all of its dimensions, which requires the understanding of the narrative structure which accompanies it” (FISHER, 1984, p. 3).

The Scandinavian tradition of organizational institutionalism and the translation perspective: demarcation of the analysis references in the translation process

Within the Scandinavian research tradition, the focus is on understanding how ideas, practices and actions circulate within a context, assuming that each step can have a possible new significance, highlighting that in accordance with the way ideas circulate, they become the basis by which organizations are formed, perceived and evaluated (WEDLIN and SAHLIN, 2017). This process is given the name translation, whose role in the interpretive process is how ideas acquire different forms of significance depending on their context and various elements. Based on this, an idea, practice or action gains a new meaning. This process, therefore, can indicate paths to understanding how different narrative versions are produced by different media agents in relation to (apparently) the same facts (WEDLIN and SAHLIN, 2017).

The translation process does not have an end, given the way in which ideas travel and circulate within given environments, making it possible to identify, select and give meaning to institutions to the extent that different contexts meet (PALLAS, FREDRIKSSON and WEDLIN, 2016). That being so, in accordance with what Czarniawska and Joerges (1996) wrote, the circulation of ideas is a continual process of editing which involves various editors, which here are called translators. To the extent that they circulate and move to different places, each translator, in attributing meanings to ideas, becomes a co-creator (CZARNIAWSKA and JOERGES, 1996).

During the translation process, ideas, objects and practices affect not just what is translated, but also their translators (CZARNIAWSKA and SEVÓN, 2005), based on the knowledge and practices of these translators (CZARNIAWSKA and JOERGES, 1996). Translation, therefore, is conceived of as a complex process of negotiation through which meanings, complaints, and interests are modified and acquire new meanings. Within this process, there is a negotiation between the various participants of the institutional environment, because there is a combination and adjustment of ideas, actions and practices that result in new points of view in terms of ideas (OSEI-AMPONSAH, PAASSEN and KLERKX, 2018).

A better understanding of this translation process may be discussed based on the work of Callon (1986), whose purpose is to present the understanding of translation based on the role of science and technology in the structuring of power relationships within the field of the social sciences. Social sciences are problematic to the extent that the problems addressed by this scientific field are not as technical as engineering and the natural sciences. There is a theoretical profusion of explanations regarding the same problem and, in addition, there’s a methodological difficulty in learning the phenomenon in question. In this sense, Callon discusses the translation movement in which social scientists are immersed, in order to be able to elaborate their explanatory work, arguing that, to accomplish this, they go through four interrelated phases, which constitute the translation process: 1) identifying the problem (problematisation); 2) its interest (interessement); 3) its registration (enrolment); and 4) mobilization (mobilisation). Based on the discussions of Czarniawska and Sevón (2005) and Czarniawska and Joerges (1996), it is understood that this process does not occur just in science, but when non-consensual ideas and practices, which are problematic and in search of a definition, circulate. This is the case of the object of study (a case of organizational wrongdoing) in question, in the dispute between various media agents in the translation of the meaning to be consumed by society in general.

Given this, the problem identification phase is the moment during the translation process in which the problematic situation begins to be defined in a way in which the media agent is indispensable to the developed narrative plot. In other words, its actions reveal, analyze and provide the public with what before was obscure which is fundamental so that the public in general can know “who is who” in the story. It is observed that the narrative elaboration here, engaging meanings, interpretative schemes and characters, is fundamental so that the legitimacy of the media agent may be maintained and the meaning of the version under negotiation may be plausibly articulated.

The second phase examines its interest, and media agents define a series of arguments and “proofs” which sustain that their version is the “correct” version of the facts, which makes all other actors (other media agents in this case) illegitimate spokesmen for a given version. In this phase, media agents begin to select their characters, focusing on some events and data to the detriment of others. It’s important to emphasize that, even though this is not an issue to Callon (1986), the recognition of a mediatized process, as we’ve discussed here, makes it possible for various versions to be diffused reaching (in a short space of time and a space of large proportions) dimensions that would be impossible within the dynamics of face to face interactions. Thus, each version finds its defending and diffusing public, making it possible for them to coexist, even though some versions tend to stand out from the others.

This leads us to the third phase of the translation process, the registration: here media agents use a series of strategies - remembering past events, links and interrelationships between figures and their roles, context, and narrative fragments from other contexts - with the goal of articulating the various actors and their roles in the relationship network. In the narrative produced by media agents, these actors appear to accept and act according to the characters created based on these various strategies, and this confers even more plausibility to the version under negotiation.

Finally, the mobilization phase is the one in which the media agent seeks to ensure that it is selected as the spokesman for this version, within its negotiation for the “truthful” version. It thus intends to effectively represent many other social actors, which in recognizing this version, begin to share it as if it were their own and thus concede the “authorization” so that the media agent can fulfill its intent. This agent seeks to acquire legitimacy through the translation process and act as a social control agent, given that the collectivity of the social construction process of mediatized reality confers upon it the power to act as such. Thus, the translation process can help explain how media agents can act as mediators of interpretations as well as agents of social control. In the same manner, its narrative fragments can lead to a larger narrative produced during this translation process.

Corporate scandals from the perspective of organizational wrongdoing

Corporate scandals attract the attention of society to actions and activities considered improper, inadequate or scandalous (AGUILERA, DESENDER, BEDNAR et al., 2015) demonstrating improper organizational practices by individuals as well as organizations (PALMER, 2012). Misconduct is a recurrent theme within organizational studies (GREVE, PALMER and POZNER, 2010), but there is no consensus in terms of its definition.

In this article, the analysis perspective adopted will be that of organizational wrongdoing (PALMER, 2012). The concept of wrongdoing is broad and may be defined in many different ways. At times, it is related to negative behavior as well as legal, social and ethical violations (POLLOCK, MISHINA and SEO, 2016). There are three categories to judge acts of wrongdoing. According to Palmer (2012), they correspond to current laws, ethical principles, and issues related to social responsibility.

There are two contrasting perspectives through which a phenomenon can be observed: abnormal and normal. When analyzed from the perspective of abnormality, the more conventional and more popular perspective, acts of wrongdoing are in general defined as aberrations which differ from the expected norm. The abnormal perspective of wrongdoing does not offer sufficient conditions for the understanding of organizational wrongdoing. Within this context, an alternative presents itself as a counterpoint, portraying this phenomenon as normal - in the sense that under organizational conditions, the adoption of wrongdoing is not an aberration, but the result of a conditioning system, in which forms of behavior which are socially accepted in an isolated fashion, when analyzed together in a configuration result in organizational wrongdoing. Finally, the last characteristic listed by Palmer (2012) is that the normal perspective is omnipresent, existing in many organizations, with greater media exposure in large organizations. These forms of behavior lead to fraud, schemes and tragedies, involving organizations, religious orders, nations and other businesses. In light of this, in this work, we understand organizational wrongdoing from the perspective of normal wrongdoing, in which the configuration of a series everyday practices, apparently accepted, can lead to scandals of great proportions, mainly when they involve agents of different natures - public, private, and control agents among others. Unveiling this interaction of relationships between various agents appears to be the central point of narratives produced by the media in its search to present the “correct and true” version of what’s happened, which is a true web of great and small practices which sustain organizational wrongdoing, when observed from a perspective of normality (PALMER, 2012, 2013).

METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES

Based on the delineated objective, it is assumed that this study’s approach is qualitative, based on narrative analysis. We have opted to delineate our analysis temporally from the date of the beginning of Operation Car Wash on March 17, 2014 until November 30, 2018, characterized as a transversal sample with longitudinal approximation (HAIR JUNIOR, BABIN, MONEY et al., 2005).

The research strategy used to achieve our objective is narrative research (CONNELLY and CLANDININ, 1990). “Everything is a narrative or at least it can be treated as one. Usually, however, a narrative is understood as a spoken or written text giving an account of an event/action or series of events/actions, chronologically connected” (CZARNIAWSKA, 2004, p. 17), revealing itself to be the most appropriate way to accomplish our objective.

For the data collection, we used secondary data. First research was performed in order to identify which media have been most accessed to obtain information related to corporate scandals. Based on these results, we observed that the majority of respondents use online media to access information. Knowing this, we selected three magazines among the sources determined by this initial research.

For this study, we used the magazines Carta Capital, Veja and Exame. One of the criteria for this selection of these three media agents was their editorial focus. Here it is necessary to point out the location of the source - or, as affirmed by Rosinha (1989), the vehicle’s point of view - for each of the magazines. Knowledge of the focus, or its preferences and line of reasoning, makes it possible to determine how the content is generated and what it is based on, which appears to be of fundamental relevance in the context of the translation process. An understanding of the focus of each vehicle permits the understanding of how the ideas were translated, and how new meanings and forms of significance of the same idea can be related.

This being so, Carta Capital, published by Editora Confiança, is predominantly political in focus, and militant and partisan in nature. The magazines Veja and Exame, are both published by Editora Abril, and each has a specific focus. Veja, like Carta Capital, is political, adopting a militant posture, above all contrary to the government in power at the time. On the other hand, we have Exame, with arguments mainly concerned with economic and financial indicators. Its line denotes issues which affect society and the economy in general.

We accessed the Go Read³ website which has an archive of online magazines, among which we found those selected for this work. Due to the large quantity of data, in a first approximation, we decided to select the cover studies of these vehicles for their relevance and content for the public, and for giving visibility to this subject (ROCHA, BOROSKI and CARVALHO, 2017). During the first analysis and approximation, we found a very large amount of information, and it was possible to observe a lot of repetition. Given that the objective of our analysis is not to work with the volume, frequency and repetition of words/ideas, but rather narratives and translated meanings, we opted to select the cover stories. These cover stories in a media vehicle are designed to highlight content and attract the public’s attention, emphasizing what is presented.

The data collection consisted of three cycles. During the first, all the articles which mentioned Operation Car Wash and those who were possibly involved were considered, judging by the appearance of these terms in the cover headlines and other cover writing. The second consisted of organizing all of the found data in a folder and rereading all the collected articles to select those which were considered appropriate to make up the database. This process was based on two criteria: whether the article was in fact depicted on the cover and whether the articles contained information about Operation Car Wash and/or those involved. After this procedure, the number of issues and pages were defined for executing the analysis processes. It should be emphasized that the distinction in terms of the issues was necessary just to categorize and quantify the number of cover stories that compose the corpus of this analysis. At the end, we arrived at a quantity of data to be analyzed. Based on this, we proceeded to a third collection step with the help of the Atlas.ti software to systematize the data and construct the larger narrative translated by the media agent during this period, composed of various narrative fragments from the entire translation process, analyzed based on the cover stories. Principles of content analysis were utilized mainly to codify all of the pages, which were read again. Even though the program is usually associated with content analysis, in this study it was utilized to organize the data (SALDAÑA, 2013), in order to make it possible to fulfill the objective of this work. The number of issues in which this information was identified and the number of pages found are displayed in Box 1.

Box 1
Summary of the reading cycles

Given that, to Shuman (2012, p. 125), “narrative is one cultural resource for negotiating meaning across these relationships in both larger and local cultural, historical and social contexts”, we may perceive that narratives have significance and meanings that make it possible to modify or create an understanding through traumatic situations which have altered the flow of everyday life (SHUMAN, 2012). In this sense, we have used his proposal for narrative analysis, according to the characteristics listed in Box 2.

Box 2
Proposal for narrative analysis

The narrative analysis structure idealized by Shuman (2012) alludes to forms of significance negotiated by the dissemination of narratives within a context, such as cultural and linguistic resources. Given that narratives are a way to express meanings and forms of significance by expressing ideas, conceptions and opinions (CZARNIAWSKA, 1997), the path that Shuman has selected appears correct, given that it is consistent with the conception of narratives in the translation process (CZARNIAWSKA and SEVÓN, 1996; SAHLIN and WEDLIN, 2008; WEDLIN and SAHLIN, 2017). In this sense, this analysis is based on structuring using the realized codifications of the aspects that may be interrelated which a greater understanding and a sequence of events could contextualize and express as narratives. Here it is necessary to point out that according to Boje (2001), narratives are often presented in a diffuse, fragmented form. In this sense, the effort was employed in the sense of conciliating the identified antenarratives (or fragmented narratives during the delimited time for data collection), which at the end of the analysis can be used to construct “larger” narratives presented in this study, which characterize the narrative translated for the public at large by the analyzed media agent. However, it should be emphasized that in consonance with Boje (2001), given the non-linearity of narratives and the existence of multiple versions which are frequently fragmented, there is no protocol to be used in a fixed or structured manner. That being so, the narrative analysis performed in this study is not of a structured nature.

Having presented our methodological procedures, we will now analyze the data.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS

Analyzing emergent narratives in media vehicles

Narratives in the translation process carry ideas and lead from one context to another (CZARNIAWSKA, 1997), making it possible to know “the true version” (BROWN, 2006) of each media vehicle. In analyzing the three media agents selected and justified in this study, it was possible to identify emergent narratives - linked to their position, version of the truth and interpretation - of the facts and roles of Operation Car Wash.

Carta Capital

This magazine presented two narratives which are very clear. Notably there is one narrative between March 2014 and December 2015 and another between January 2016 and November 2018. The narratives are as follows:

Operation Car Wash is an instrument which seeks to eradicate impunity, punish those who practice corruption, thus making the country more just

The understanding of this narrative in terms of Operation Car Wash is related to the eminent task of dismantling a supposed scheme which would siphon off and launder 10 billion reais of money from the Brazilian state company Petrobras, the subject of a growing wave of denouncements of corruption, which proved to be fertile and propitious ground for the installation of an operation which would come to be responsible for combatting and exposing corruption in the country (DRUMMOND, 2014). By virtue of this, the magazine signals and positions itself in terms of the possibility of punishing the culprits and dismantling the scheme. Within this context, it affirms that “due to an ingrained and ancestral habit, those who pay bribes in this country are rarely punished” (BARROCAL and SERAPIÃO, 2014, p. 2). From the presented excerpt, we can infer that the first intention of the vehicle was to associate Operation Car Wash with a way to punish those who up until this point had remained unpunished.

In relation to the roles performed, Paulo Roberto da Costa was identified as the man behind this entire scheme within Petrobras, and was considered to be the architect of the “corruption network” investigated by Operation Car Wash. The illegal dollar trader Alberto Youssef was characterized as the “payer of bribes” - or also the leader - and the intermediary between the companies involved and Petrobras (BARROCAL and SERAPIÃO, 2014). Judge Sérgio Moro, mentioned as the judge in the civil cases, “is a specialist in crimes against the financial system and money laundering, and was in command of the judicial actions of Operation Car Wash from its outset” (BARROCAL, 2014, p. 6).

Petrobras is treated as a victim and, due to the findings of the operation, “problems with suppliers, minor shareholder suits, the suspension of the publication of its balance, cash flow problems and new denouncements of irregularities marked the beginning of the year for Petrobras” (DRUMMOND, 2015, p. 2). The contractors involved in the scandals received little mention.

In relation to the positioning of the narrative, we can infer that its main message is related to the end of impunity. It mentions that it still persists, but that with the advance of the investigations of Operation Car Wash this reality may be changed. Not only this, but it points to the main perpetrators of corruption in this scheme. This first narrative, makes it possible to contextualize the narrative and its relevant roles. Thus, it demonstrates the intertextuality of the narrative when it focuses on things that lead the audience to believe that Operation Car Wash may be a means to an end. Its narratives carry conceptions that make it possible to understand that the operation is beneficial in ridding the country of corruption and impunity.

Operation Car Wash is an artifice created to discredit and dismantle the current government

The other narrative intensified beginning in 2016 and discussed the validity of Operation Car Wash and its real purpose. Now one read “radicalization has taken over the country after escalating attacks by the police, the judiciary, the media and politicians against the government and the Labor Party PT” (BARROCAL and MARTINS, 2016, p. 2). The new positioning occurred by virtue of the persecution of PT and the risks that the administration of Dilma Rousseff suffered due to the investigations. This, therefore, denotes a new context for Operation Car Wash. It’s an environment which presents risks to the government and gives new roles to known figures. The discourse changes drastically, since the focus is no longer Operation Car Wash against impunity and corruption, but rather against the government represented by the President’s party at the time. The focus changed as well as the plot and its characters. It’s possible to identify that there has been a change in the narrative plot. The style of the articles also changed. They assumed a marked militant posture, exposing the discontent with Operation Car Wash to the extent that it tried to bring down and demoralize the government.

In relation to the characters and their roles, ex-President Luis Inacio da Silva and President Dilma Rousseff were now painted as victims (COMBRA, 2016; BARROCAL, 2016). Examining the progression within the issues analyzed, we may perceive that the positioning of the magazine worked on the narrative to make Operation Car Wash appear as a coup against the president at the time Dilma Rousseff. In addition, the magazine tried to change the image that the media and Operation Car Wash had created in relation to Lula, for example. It became clear that the opinion and intention of this vehicle was to construct a new image for the “worn out” image created for the ex-president by Operation Car Wash. Within this context, the role of Sérgio Moro was modified, even though he had previously been considered to be a man of sound judgement (BARROCAL and BEIRANGÊ, 2015).

Moreover, in terms of impeachment, the magazine was categorical in affirming that the Labor Party and the current president were victims of a coup against democracy (BARROCAL, 2016). The consequences of this narrative are known. Dilma Rousseff was removed from office and her vice president assumed the presidency. The magazine went further to declare that the coup was a maneuver linked to Operation Car Wash, the media and opposition parties. The introduction of new figures and the militance of the magazine stimulated the newly presented narrative. Its style, opinions and positions were modified by its militantly partisan sympathies.

Veja

We can perceive that there is the expression and development of a larger narrative in terms of the actions of Operation Car Wash and those involved. That being so, the narrative links the operation as a means to unveil the largest Brazilian corruption scandal, exposing its culprits, illicit campaign financing and the use of public money diverted to parties and politicians. However, the narrative also deals with the imprisonment of ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Given the large volume of material collected, the analysis presents the most pertinent excerpts for the conception of the analysis as a whole. That said, the analysis of the narrative is as follows:

Operation Car Wash has revealed the largest corruption scandal in the country, exposing a network of corruption between companies and political parties, which benefitted the government at the time, led to the imprisonment of an ex-president and the impeachment of another.

Veja’s narrative is told in such a way that the audience can perceive the progression from the beginning of Operation Car Wash until the end of 2018, the end of the data collection period. The magazine characterizes Operation Car Wash as the greatest corruption scandal ever seen in Brazil (BONIN, RANGEL and PEREIRA, 2014). “Operation Car Wash may enter the country’s history as the biggest blow ever dealt to organized crime” (BONIN, 2014, p. 7).

From the beginning, the magazine identified Paulo Roberto da Costa and highlighted his role as the brains behind the scheme, administrating the money coming from the scheme’s banker Alberto Youssef (BONIN, 2014; RANGEL and MARQUES, 2014), and distributing it to politicians and political parties. Rangel and Marques (2014, p. 2) pointed out that “politicians and service providers are interlinked in a criminal consortium designed to make fraudulent contracts with Petrobras, enriching its members and financing politicians and parties.” Given this, it is evident that the principal destination of public money in Operation Car Wash was a form of illicit enrichment through corrupt practices and a form of campaign financing and support for politicians and their parties (BONIN, 2014).

The role of the victim is associated with Petrobras, where the money is being diverted from, and that’s where the “gang operates”. In an excerpt highlighted by Bonin, Rangel and Pereira (2014, p. 2) reveal that Petrobras has long been considered “a political arm”. The narrative addresses a series of stories which comprise a greater understanding of the construction of the narrative with a focus on political aspects and the people involved.

In relation to the contractors involved, which is little mentioned, there was a club of contractors who negotiated with Petrobras and paid bribes to do business (RANGEL, BONIN and MEGALE, 2015). The “gang” was led by Ricardo Pessoa of UTC Engenharia (RANGEL, 2015). We may note that the magazine began to give voice to others involved who were not in the political sphere. We may perceive that in allowing Ricardo Pessoa to talk, this gave voice to the contractors involved in this case, which up until this point had not been the focus of the reported news stories.

With this, it is understood that the intention of the magazine was to link the diversion scheme to the illicit enrichment of PT. This plot is behind the magazine’s entire narrative. The vehicle, it appears, seeks to argue that the scheme “was something more complex institutionally” (RANGEL, BONIN and MEGALE, 2015, p. 7), given that it assumes that “PT diverted a half billion reais from the coffers of Petrobras over a ten year period. The money was used, among other things, to finance the party’s electoral campaigns in 2010 and 2014” (PEREIRA and BONIN, 2015b, p. 2).

Given this bias in the narratives, the other news stories were presented to “unmask” the scheme and announce its political impacts. The reporting had a strong political flavor due to the participation of the ex-president in the scheme. By the way the news items were expressed, it’s possible to perceive the intertextuality being used as a rich resource in the negotiation of meanings. This negotiation sought, above all, to position the roles of each person involved in the narrative, giving the discoveries a sequence.

Due to the exposure of the ex-president, another important figure in the narrative was Judge Sérgio Moro, who Lula considered arbitrary (PEREIRA and BONIN, 2015a). However, he was considered to be a kind of “savior” and “became the hardest line judge not in terms of the severity of the sentences that he delivered, but rather in terms of the acidity of the critiques that permeate his sentences, becoming an indignant judge in the face of a court of scams which contaminate the democratic process” (PETRY, 2015, p. 3).

Operation Car Wash led Brazilian democracy to one of its most marked episodes, its second impeachment in history. “By 61 votes to 20, the senators approved the impeachment of Dilma and ended a period of thirteen years of PT government, responding to the clamor of millions of Brazilians who went to the streets in historic demonstrations” (PEREIRA and BRONZATTO, 2016, p. 2). With the destitution of Dilma, attention turned to ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The magazine argued that the leader of the scheme was the ex-president (PEREIRA, 2016), and that he and Dilma Rousseff knew all about the scheme. Lula, was imprisoned as a result of his involvement in the scheme.

We may note in the narrative, that the participation and mention of the contractors is diminished and receives little attention. The focus is illustrating the unfolding of the plot within the Brazilian political sphere, pointing out the effects of Operation Car Wash in this sphere and revealing corrupt actors and their roles in the plot.

With this, the vehicle’s narrative ends. Its finale is the imprisonment of the ex-president. To arrive at this moment, the narrative constructs a path, directing the audience to the motivations and visions of Operation Car Wash within the Brazilian context, positioning it politically. It may be observed that it was not of interest to the magazine to cite economic facts or the companies involved, even though it did mention them in a few instances. Its narrative, however, reproduces a critique of the system which involved members of the government in the maintaining of politicians in office and the perpetuation of a culture of corruption by government agents. Finally, it tried to demonstrate that no one is above the law in the sense of impunity being fought, given the efforts of Sérgio Moro, the various prison sentences handed out, and the destitution of a president from the Republic’s highest office as a consequence.

Exame

The construction of the narrative plot of this magazine emerges from the understanding that corruption is a reprehensible practice that damages the economy, companies and society, and this was thus this vehicle’s main narrative.

Corruption is a reprehensible practice that damages the economy, companies and society

Given the focus of the magazine Exame, the narrative does not focus specifically on figures and their roles in the scheme investigated by Operation Car Wash, but rather how corruption damages the Brazilian economy and its companies (PADUAN and RODRIGUES, 2014). With the scandal uncovered by the operation, it emphasized that the money came from company payments to Petrobras (FILGUEIRAS and BÔAS, 2014). Paralyzed and postponed projects, diminished investments and sales of shareholder participation were some of the consequences that dragged the Brazilian economy down (FURLAN, FILGUEIRAS and BAUTZER, 2015).

We can perceive that its greatest focus is giving voice to these complications that not only affect companies, but also significantly affect the economy, the companies themselves and society. Given the scenario that it presents, we may observe that corrupt practices have been institutionalized in the context of public contracts. The rules of the game were known by all, making this a recurrent practice. This demonstrates systemic corruption, which permeates the moral quagmire that governs public contracts (MORO, 2016). It may be observed that the magazine portrays Operation Car Wash as an expression of the fight against corruption. It also adds that corruption damages above all the economy. In this sense, it positions itself as a magazine opposed to these practices which affect the economy and the functioning of the Brazilian financial system and the health of companies whether they’re directly involved in the scheme or not.

The form of the approach is usually full of data presenting evidence that proves that corruption has contributed to the economic crisis demonstrated by the advances of Operation Car Wash. Most of the reports make up a narrative framework which offer data, numbers and information that lead the reader to associate the evils of corruption in a visual and applied manner.

It should be noted, however, that the meaning which it proposes to delineate in the narrative is conduct. Put another way, the entire narrative plot proposes to elucidate how companies and the attitudes of those involved led to the functioning of this scheme and the diversion of public funds. This opinion is shared by, and can be observed in, the narrative.

Finally, the narrative reveals and demonstrates how these scandals can affect society. Diversions of public funds affect the running and functioning of a government structure which meets the population’s needs, sustains companies and establishes the financial stability which supports economic operations. With Operation Car Wash, all of this was put into check. In conclusion, the narrative also does not focus on the role of those involved. They are subtly mentioned in the details. It’s possible to identify them, but the focus is presenting the economic consequences in general.

DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS

Having described the narratives found in the analysis, this data will be discussed in light of the proposed problem, its assumptions and its delineated theoretical aspects.

Beginning with the problem examined, in which we propose to analyze how the media translates the role of those involved, these events, their relationships, and their antecedents and consequences, in order to produce narrative versions consumed by society, it is possible to understand, first of all, that the presented narratives do not demonstrate who the actors and their roles were, but develops this into fundamental relationships to sustain the weight of the meaning of a plausible narrative.

Understanding the translation as a process, the analysis of narrative (or antenarrative) fragments and the construction of a larger narrative constructed over time, it is possible to perceive that the different phases of the translation process can explain some movements observed in relation to the findings. First, if we observe the fragmentation of the narrative of Carta Capital in two distinct moments (which are to a certain extent contradictory), we can perceive that the phase of identifying the problem (presented by CALLON, 1986) represented the entire first narrative, which was modified in a relevant manner during the interest phase, when there is a commitment to a version which clearly reveals the registration phase in which it presents “which side” the media agent is on. The version produced by Carta Capital becomes a representation of the truth of one side with a very clear understanding of the situation, which is diametrically opposed to the version presented by Veja, demonstrating the mobilization phase. On the other hand, when we observe the narrative movement of Veja, the phase involving the identification of the problem shows from the beginning the demarcation of each of the narrative characters: Petrobras, on one hand, as the victim of the scheme developed by a criminal organization represented by PT. The intensive use of intertextual resources in the narrative construction demonstrates an efficient strategy in the interest phase, as well as the magazine’s “exclusive access” to data, interviews and evidence that began to delineate it as a legitimate agent and bearer of a truthful version. The registration phase also sustained the entire process described above to the extent that “key-informants” corroborated the version presented by each figure in the narrative. This demonstrates the mobilization of the magazine as a spokesman of the representative relationships of interests opposed to those discussed in Carta Capital.

Exame, in turn, presents a translation movement which is very similar to that realized by Veja, bearing in mind that already in the problem identification phase, the delineation of the narrative in the demarcation of corruption is portrayed as an evil which afflicts all of society, given that it leads to serious economic problems. The organizations are considered hostages to this process as a whole. In the interest phase, the intense use of intertextual resources in the construction of the narrative sought to provide the fundaments of this narrative and made the arguments which sustain that this narrative version is irrefutable. It also used specialists and professionals capable of elaborating the presented version as indubitable truth. In this manner, during the mobilization phase this media agent could be assumed to be a spokesman for the relationships sustained in the unfolding economic wrongdoing unveiled by Operation Car Wash.

It may be perceived, therefore, through the translation process that each one of the versions presented reflects a specific context of relationships, in which the interests and positions of power are in play. Thus, before affirming that the produced narrative is a discursive reflex of editorial policy, it is understood that the narrative articulated is the fruit of a tangled web of relationships which demonstrates the legitimacy of supporting a version that is representative of that relational context. The media, in this manner, in addition to mediating possible versions in respect to the facts under analysis, assumes a role of social control, as constructed through the four described phases. This is a reality which corresponds to and resonates with society as a whole.

Besides the analysis of the translation process itself, some relevant considerations can be made in respect to the translation process as a whole, undertaken by the three media agents presented. First of all, it may be perceived that there is something similar between them to the extent that the translation process leads each one of the three to adopt its version, which takes a side, and produces a larger narrative during the time period examined. This means that the apparent contradiction of the motor of journalism which argues through dialogical postures and the promotion of counterpoints, is normalized - and the versions produced are almost fictional, to the extent that they assume coherence and plausibility with the version already defined in the problem identification phase of the translation. Another point that deserves discussion is the fact that the narratives produced by all three of these vehicles have a common plot structure: the organizations - Petrobras, and the others involved in the corruption scheme and all those indirectly affected by an economic system in crisis due to corrupt practices - are seen as great victims of acts of wrongdoing; it’s rare that an organization is portrayed as the locus or agent of practices of wrongdoing. The antagonistic role, that of the villain of the story, is relegated to public agents or political agents, depending on the versions presented: (a) in the Carta Capital version, the villains were the public agents who represent justice, while the martyr was represented by the political party PT; on the other hand, (b) in Veja, the public agents of justice are seen as just and heroic and PT is the great villain. A similar representation of the characters can be perceived in the narrative of (c) Exame, with the aggravating factor which takes on a socioeconomic context being the basis that sustains the “backwardness” of the country which is supported by this scheme, which surpasses therefore the dimension of analysis of what happened within the setting of Operation Car Wash and is amplifies its impact to the macro context.

Even though they change the roles of the characters, all of the versions agree on an important point: the idea that organizational wrongdoing is the fruit of deviations of conduct by people (whether they are public agents or a political party), demonstrating the predominance of the understanding of wrongdoing as something abnormal and the fruit of dissonant relations. There is no recognition of the normality of practices that, configured together, lead to the great proportions of wrongdoing involved in what was exposed by Operation Car Wash, ignoring the everyday acts of organizations that can lead to results of great proportions as demonstrated here. It may be perceived, therefore, that in propagating versions which ignore discussion, questioning and the understanding of the everyday foundations of the actions which culminate in wrongdoing, the media agents widely distribute the idea that corruption is the fruit of actions by public agents or political parties, which are seen most of the time by society in general, as identical and part of the same group.

Reiterating the assumptions of socially constructed reality based on mediatized interactions and the narratives which are a central part of the communicative construction of social reality, we come to understand that interactions occur more and more through the mediation of media agents in a controlled space which is artificially created by algorithms which group preferences and interpretive schemes (COULDRY and HEPP, 2017). Grouping subjects who feel represented by media agents considered to be legitimate spokesmen, we can understand why “a word” is enough for “the wise” who recognize and identify with those in the translation movement who represent their voices and the relationships which involve them. Thus, the explanation of the polarization of versions defended as insurmountable truths by each side appears to make sense, because the dialogical movement which is so dear to negotiations of significance has been lost, whose intersubjective locus makes face to face interactions so rich and conducive to understanding.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

The current study has sought to analyze how the media, through its narratives, translates the role of those involved in the case of organizational wrongdoing represented by Operation Car Wash. Based on this, narratives produced by each media agent were analyzed in order to respond to the overall objective of the study. Four narratives were identified: two for Carta Capital, and one each for Veja and Exame.

As presented above, the place that each magazine speaks from is derived from its editorial focus, its positioning, and its interests, as well as, far beyond this, the relational network which is established around the interests and relationships that the media agent represents. In this sense, the focus of Carta Capital is militantly political and partisan; in the same way in which Veja also represents a political focus; and finally tbere is Exame, with its economic-financial point of view.

We have identified two well-delineated and different narrative moments in Carta Capital. While the first narrates Operation Car Wash as an instrument to end corruption, the second portrays it as a maneuver to attack the government in power. Veja’s narrative depicts the operation as a battle against a scheme which exposes corruption in the country, above all in the political sphere. Finally, the Exame narrative in general demonstrates that corruption damages the economy, companies and society. It makes little mention of those involved in this narrative and their roles, because its focus is economic. In this narrative, Operation Car Wash is a backdrop for the facts that the vehicle expresses.

Given this, it is understood that this study offers relevant contributions in relation to organizational studies, mainly in terms of the relationship between the media and the exposure of the organization and its practices within a context of mediatization, which in the end can demonstrate relevant reflections on the role of organizations in contemporary society.

The first of these is when we observe the translation process and are able to understand that the three media agents adopt very similar movements, generating versions capable of representing the position of the spokesman of the media agent in relation to the relationship network to which it belongs. This issue, analyzed based on the translation process, also makes it possible to perceive that the structure of larger narratives produced by each one of the studied media agents is very similar, changing only in the roles of the characters. This finding reinforces the conclusion that the translation process of these three agents is delineated in a similar form which is representative of the relationship networks.

A second important point refers to the understanding of the centrality of communication and these narratives in the construction of the contemporary social world which is immersed in mediatized relationships. This mediatization, sustained in relational groups which are more and more homogeneous and isolated in space and time and articulated by the technologies at their disposition, makes us understand the statement made by the German philosopher Friedrich W. J. von Schelling: “There is no absurdity that cannot find a spokesman.” We can understand that the narrative version presented by each one of the media agents is not the exclusive product of the editorial creative power or political project of each magazine, but rather the result of a relationship network which negotiates significance in a translation process - “absurd” to some is “true” to others - which is published by the media agent.

The third contribution consists of what this entire process reveals in terms of the understanding of wrongdoing, the object of this analysis. The three media agents published versions which present wrongdoing as an abnormal phenomenon, exempting society as a whole and organizations specifically from the responsibility for reproducing in their everyday and routine practices aspects which are normally accepted and justified - having a second set of fake accounts, the paying of bribes to expedite decisions, relational articulation with people of influence, and tax evasion -, which configured can represent wrongdoing of great proportions, as can be observed by what has been revealed by Operation Car Wash. In exempting organizations from this process, it may also be pointed out that in these three narratives they are seen as central characters for economic success, and are taken to be almost neutral and never radically identified as a problem or a possible context for perverse practices which culminated in organizational wrongdoing.

Finally, in a broader form, this is a relevant theoretical contribution based on the confluence of onto-epistemological perspectives delineated for the understanding of the organizational wrongdoing phenomenon. This in turn is based on the theoretical perspective of translation to the extent that this analysis framework helps explain how organizations acquire a status commonly attributed to “celebrities”, figures to be “followed”, “shared”, “observed” and also “judged” and “sentenced” and taken to be part of the close network of relationships of people in general. This new context calls for management practices which are able to deal with a reality in which organizational actions are at the disposition of the producers and consumers of different versions, which follow organizational actions almost like a reality show.

Given all of this, it is understood that this work presents relevant paths for future research. New studies that seek to deepen our understanding of narratives through studies of media from the translation perspective are welcome. They also stimulate studies related to other corporate scandals from the perspective of organizational wrongdoing to demonstrate which institutional practices normalize certain types of behavior and lead to the results of misconduct. The context of mediatization and the profusion of versions needs studies which analyze organizations based on a fictional dimension: to what extent does the creation of facades, profiles and practices of sustained management in an aesthetic elaboration represent a fictional creation more and more distant from the effective practices of organizations? Or can the fictional creation which is represented and translated to the public in general by media agents be more “real” than the productive practices which are distanced from this produced aesthetic? To what extent can this movement be analyzed as organizational wrongdoing, given that the aesthetic production of stories - which configure a fictional dimension - is an important dimension of organizational acts? Moreover, issues regarding the reasons for the radical change in the narrative of Carta Capital or studies which consider how corporate scandals reflect a national culture or behavior that is accepted in organizations and in their relationships and interactions, are research possibilities that would be opportune. All of these issues deserve to be discussed and future studies can reveal how contemporary organizations have presented themselves within the social context sustained by mediatization.

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APÊNDICE - Referências das Reportagens Utilizadas

• BARROCAL, A. A clara definição de um complô. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 892, p. 1-13, 2016.
• BARROCAL, A. Oportunista e inútil. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 817, p. 1-9, 2014.
• BARROCAL, A.; BEIRANGÊ, H. O senador, o banqueiro, o pecuarista. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 830, p. 1-18, 2015.
• BARROCAL, A.; MARTINS, R. A força do caos. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 893, p. 1-12, 2016.
• BARROCAL, A.; SERAPIÃO, F. O pagador de propina. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 796, p. 1-9, 2014.
• BONIN, R. “Nunca tinha visto tanto dinheiro”. Veja São Paulo, ed. 2386, p. 1-9, 2014.
• BONIN, R.; RANGEL, R.; PEREIRA, D. Um poço de suspeitas. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2366, p. 1-12, 2014.
• COMBRA, M. A opinião pública na crise. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed., p. 1-4, 2016.
• DRUMMOND, C. Em plena tempestade. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 832, p. 1-8, 2015.
• DRUMMOND, C. Uma pedra no caminho. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 792, p. 1-4, 2014.
• FILGUEIRAS, M. L.; BÔAS, B. V. Não vai sair barato. Exame, São Paulo, ed. 1079, n. 23, p. 1-17, 2014.
• FURLAN, F.; FILGUEIRAS, M. L.; BAUTZER, T. Vai parar de vez?Exame, São Paulo, ed. 1081, p. 1-16, 2015.
• MORO, S. Castigo para o crime. Exame, São Paulo, ed. 1114, n. 10, p. 1-9, 2016.
• PADUAN, R.; RODRIGUES, A. Ela pode salvar a Petrobras?Exame, São Paulo, ed. 1062, n. 6, p. 1-18, 2014.
• PEREIRA, D. Lula comandava o esquema. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2470, p. 1-6, 2016.
• PEREIRA, D.; BONIN, R. Corrupção em águas profundas. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2448, p. 1-10, 2015a.
• PEREIRA, D.; BONIN, R. O homem da mochila. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2412, p. 1-10, 2015b.
• PEREIRA, D.; BRONZATTO, T. O pecado original. Veja, São Paulo,ed. 2507, p. 1-8, 2016.
• PETRY, A. A cabeça de Moro. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2458, p. 1-15, 2015.
• RANGEL, R. Meio desabafo, meio ameaça. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2408, p. 1-8, 2015.
• RANGEL, R.; BONIN, R.; MEGALE, B. Todos contra todos. Veja, v. 2411, p. 1-12, 2015.
• RANGEL, R.; MARQUES, H. O objetivo é o caixa dois. Veja, v. 2369, p. 1-9, 2014.

• 1
  The term misconduct within the context of organizations is present in the literature as a polysemic word and is the object of a series of different theoretical approaches - from those which work on the individual level (misconduct and misbehavior, generally associated with explanations of “deviant behavior” and specific psychological “profiles” of subjects that induce them to practice problematic conduct), to those which work on the level of organizations, utilized in a wide range of epistemologies and theories, and expressed by various words including wrongdoing, fraud and corporate scandals.
• 2
  Available at: <http://www.pf.gov.br/imprensa/lava-jato>.
• 3
  Available at: <www.goread.com.br>.

• [Translated version] Note: All quotes in English translated by this article’s translator.

APPENDIX

Reporting References Used

BARROCAL, A. A clara definição de um complô. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 892, p. 1-13, 2016.

BARROCAL, A. Oportunista e inútil. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 817, p. 1-9, 2014.

BARROCAL, A.; BEIRANGÊ, H. O senador, o banqueiro, o pecuarista. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 830, p. 1-18, 2015.

BARROCAL, A.; MARTINS, R. A força do caos. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 893, p. 1-12, 2016.

BARROCAL, A.; SERAPIÃO, F. O pagador de propina. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 796, p. 1-9, 2014.

BONIN, R. “Nunca tinha visto tanto dinheiro”. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2386, p. 1-9, 2014.

BONIN, R.; RANGEL, R.; PEREIRA, D. Um poço de suspeitas. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2366, p. 1-12, 2014.

COMBRA, M. A opinião pública na crise. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed., p. 1-4, 2016.

DRUMMOND, C. Em plena tempestade. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 832, p. 1-8, 2015.

DRUMMOND, C. Uma pedra no caminho. Carta Capital, São Paulo, ed. 792, p. 1-4, 2014.

FILGUEIRAS, M. L.; BÔAS, B. V. Não vai sair barato. Exame, São Paulo, ed. 1079, n. 23, p. 1-17, 2014.

FURLAN, F.; FILGUEIRAS, M. L.; BAUTZER, T. Vai parar de vez? Exame, São Paulo, ed. 1081, p. 1-16, 2015.

MORO, S. Castigo para o crime. Exame, São Paulo, ed. 1114, n. 10, p. 1-9, 2016.

PADUAN, R.; RODRIGUES, A. Ela pode salvar a Petrobras? Exame, São Paulo, ed. 1062, n. 6, p. 1-18, 2014.

PEREIRA, D. Lula comandava o esquema. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2470, p. 1-6, 2016.

PEREIRA, D.; BONIN, R. Corrupção em águas profundas. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2448, p. 1-10, 2015a.

PEREIRA, D.; BONIN, R. O homem da mochila. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2412, p. 1-10, 2015b.

PEREIRA, D.; BRONZATTO, T. O pecado original. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2507, p. 1-8, 2016.

PETRY, A. A cabeça de Moro. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2458, p. 1-15, 2015.

RANGEL, R. Meio desabafo, meio ameaça. Veja, São Paulo, ed. 2408, p. 1-8, 2015.

RANGEL, R.; BONIN, R.; MEGALE, B. Todos contra todos. Veja, v. 2411, p. 1-12, 2015.

RANGEL, R.; MARQUES, H. O objetivo é o caixa dois. Veja, v. 2369, p. 1-9, 2014

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  17 Apr 2020
• Date of issue
  Jan-Mar 2020

History

• Received
  26 Feb 2019
• Accepted
  01 Aug 2019