Media coverage of the death of public sports personalities

Abstract

Death and notoriety are two news values ​​relevant to the media. That is why the death of personalities linked to the public sectors, particularly sports, is revested of great importance in terms of media coverage.

Starting from the study of the coverage of the death of five personalities of the sports world in three daily newspapers - Correio da Manhã, Diário de Notícias and Jornal de Notícias - we reached conclusions that show different highlights and several editorial positions in the coverage that each newspaper made of the death of each personality. In addition, we conclude that the time period separating the deaths of Fernando Pascoal Neves "Pavão", Joaquim Agostinho, Vítor Baptista, José Megre and Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (deceased between 1973 and 2014) refers us to new forms of spectacularization of death and prevalence of facts parallel to the event itself, as a sign of increased market pressures and the adoption of new strategies, closer to the spectacle than to information.