Political Communication on the Internet and Institutionalization of political parties: the campaign on the websites of the majority candidates in 2012 and 2014 in Brazil

• Grant number: 12/10982-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: August 01, 2012
• End date: October 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science
• Principal Investigator: Fernando Antônio Farias de Azevedo
• Grantee: Michele Goulart Massuchin
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 14/10233-5 - Modern campaign and electoral strategies: the role of internet in Brazil elections 2014, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This research has as its object of study the content of websites of the candidates during 2012 and 2014 election periods and intends to analyze how this communication space is used to institutionalize political parties. It will be identified as candidates to act in their official websites, which would give visibility to the parties, with a possible way to help institutionalize them in this new environment campaign. The object of analysis was decided to monitor the websites of the candidates for mayor of the capital in 2012 with the largest number of voters in each region of the country and candidates for the presidency of the republic in 2014. The parties and candidates started to organize on the Internet with the purpose to bring the militants and disseminate political information (VACCARI, 2008) and although this space is not the primary way used by the voter to information (COUTINHO AND SAFATLE, 2009) it contributes to compose the information environment and provide public visibility because the new media tends to be regarded as a complement to the electoral campaign made in other spheres (ANDUIZA, 2009; DAHLGREN, 2000). The methodology used is quantitative content analysis and will have as starting point analytical models already used in the literature (GIBSON AND WARD, 2000; NICOLÁS, 2009; CERVI, 2003), including new variables for analyzing the content. The main hypothesis to test is that candidates don't act partisan on their websites and the use of this space is a personalistic strategy, focused only on the individual, not contributing to institutionalize the parties.