A Democracy of Quiet Listeners: The Construction of an Imagined Political Nation by the Portuguese Punditry Sphere

• In Event: Covering Politics: New Political Journalism Research

Abstract

The nation’s imagining occurs through an imagining process by which mediated representations of nation are produced and reproduced (Anderson, 2006/1983). Media play a central role in that imagining process and this research extends Anderson’s conception to the analysis of the punditry sphere in Portugal. The study draws on data gathered from interviews with pundits, journalists, and news editors. Findings suggest that pundits and news media construct symbolic borders around the reflexive imagining of the political nation, one that presents a very clear dynamic of exclusionary practices. The circles of power are constructed as members of the political nation, whereas the general public as outsiders and are imagined as quiet listeners to pundits’ monologues. News media use the punditry sphere as a front for business diplomacy and political alliances while pundits use it primarily as a stage for self-serving performances, illustrating well the circularity between spectacle and narcissism argued by Abercombie and Longhurst (1998).

Author

• Rita Maria Figueiras, Catholic U - Portugal