Rede Globo and the Coverage of 2018 Brazilian Presidential Elections

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Abstract

Images account for an important part of the content broadcast by television journalism and have been neglected in studies on Brazilian electoral coverage. This article builds on the technical aspects of the visual framing theory to investigate the coverage of day-to-day presidential candidates in the first round of the 2018 elections broadcast by Jornal Nacional of Rede Globo de Televisão. The nightly news program remains the audience leader in the segment, still having a strong impact on voters' choice. 2,208 plans shown on the news between August 20 and October 6, 2018, were analyzed for the options of camera positioning and synchronization between voice and images, classifying them as positive, negative, and neutral. The results demonstrate that candidate Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) was the one that received the largest positive/neutral exposure of visual framing by the program. These findings indicate that we should pay more attention to images in surveys on electoral coverage in Brazil, since, coincidentally, the candidate with the best visual framing was also the one who received the majority of votes in the first round of the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections.

Author

• Marta Correa Machado, UFSC