Media Parallelism Beyond the Political World: How Newspapers Push Economic Agendas Through Editorial Journalism

Authors

  • Deivison Henrique De Freitas Santos Federal University of Paraná, Brazil
  • Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques Federal University of Paraná

Keywords:

editorials, media systems, news organizations, pension reform, political parallelism

Abstract

Over the last decade, political communication research has scrutinized the characteristics of media systems beyond the developed world. To understand new façades in media/political connections, this article examines how the notion of parallelism unfolds in the O Estado de S. Paulo (OESP) editorials—one of the most influential Brazilian newspapers. We investigate (a) the arguments raised, (b) the policies suggested, and (c) the news companies’ evaluation of the political performance of the Lula, Temer, and Bolsonaro administrations regarding pension reform approval. A content analysis of 341 editorials revealed that the OESP adopts a parallelism that strays from the literature’s traditional definition. For the newspaper at stake, the contrasting ideologies underpinning the three governments matter less than their willingness—and political strength—to approve liberal economic reforms. The article reinforces its claim for de-Westernizing media research by empirically demonstrating singular dimensions of media parallelism that have not been fully explored to date.

Author Biographies

Deivison Henrique De Freitas Santos, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil

Deivison Santos. M.Sc. in Political Science (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil).deivisonfreitas@yahoo.com.brhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9257-8621

Francisco Paulo Jamil Marques, Federal University of Paraná

Ph.D. in Communication Studies and Associate Professor at the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil. He works as a CNPq research fellow and coordinates the Research Group on Media, Politics, and Technology (PONTE). His interests focus on Political Communication, Theories of Journalism, and Digital Democracy. Recent publications: “De-Westernizing Media Parallelism: How Editorial Interests Unfold During Impeachment Crises” (Journalism Studies, 2021); “Similar, but not the same: Comparing Editorial and News Agendas in Brazilian Newspapers” (Journalism Practice, 2020);  “What are newspaper editorials interested in? Understanding the idea of criteria of editorial-worthiness” (Journalism, 2019); “Context Matters! Looking Beyond Platform Structure to Understand Citizen Deliberation on Brazil's Portal e‐Democracia” (Policy & Internet, 2019).

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Published

2023-05-14

Issue

Vol. 17 (2023)

Section

Articles

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