Views of the other: Cuba in the traditional Brazilian press (2007/2010)

• Grant number: 14/13582-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): February 01, 2015
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Suzeley Kalil Mathias
• Grantee: Vitor Garcia de Oliveira Raymundo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to analyze how some Brazilian newspapers, identified as traditional - Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo e O Globo - portrays Cuba in its news and opinion articles. For this, we start from the fact that this nation has been the target, since its revolution, in 1959, of a series of negative advertisements and policies contrary to their political regime, raised mainly by the United States. In this way, focusing on the period covering the second mandate of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2007-2010), we seek to understand how the Brazilian traditional media has treated issues related to Cuba, focusing on the health system of this country and the quality of life of its population. For a more complete examination of the situation, the research also proposes to counteract such views disseminated by the national press against reports of organisms with international reputation, such as International Organizations and NGOs, as well as opinion articles from the monthly newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil, known to have very different views compared to the daily journals that will be used in this research. Secondarily, we seek to analyses as well how the presentation of Cuba by the traditional media influences the attitudes of the Brazilian government. Based on the constructivist perspective of international relations, it is argued that the information transmitted by the media constructs and ratifies the social reality. Thus, this study relies on discourse analysis and the agenda-setting hypothesis, in order to better understand the construction of the Cuban reality by the Brazilian media, which influence the public opinion in this country.