Market Leninism: The reform of Folha de S. Paulo newspaper in the 1980s

• In Event: Modelos de periodismo en América Latina: consideraciones históricas, epistemológicas, coyunturales y teóricas

Abstract

The reform of Folha de S. Paulo newspaper in the 1980s has been often depicted as a turning point in recent Brazilian journalism’s history. The most accepted version about this argues that the reform promoted an American-style independent model of journalism, which focused on an informative approach in the detriment of a more partisan and opinion-based model. Also, it allowed the newspaper to modernize its practices, fostering an improved sense of professionalism among their journalists. According to this view, the newspaper’s political independence was only made possible by its economical strength: by consolidating a market position, Folha de S. Paulo was able to diminish its dependence from the government (Taschner, 1992; Waisbord, 2000). In short, this interpretation contends that Folha de S. Paulo’s commitment with independent journalism values and practices is at a great measure a consequence of its firm adoption of a business logic.
This version does not capture the entire picture, however. It has little to say about the reform process itself. My proposal intends to explore the reform as a top-to-down, authoritarian modernization project (Albuquerque & Gagliardi, 2011). In particular, I propose that, contrary to what has been usually assumed, many of the basic conceptions behind the reform came from an unsuspected source: The Leninist model of journalism. Accordingly, Folha de S. Paulo’s reform was presented as a “political project”, aimed to put the newspaper at the vanguard of the transformation process in Brazilian society.. Yet, the Leninist language and organization techniques were put in service of a liberal project, which was intended to endow newspapers – and Folha de S. Paulo in particular – with a representative role regarding the interests of their public.

Author

• Afonso D Albuquerque