The potential of visuality in the media

an analysis of the front pages of the generalist press

Abstract

Considering the news-values, and focusing on the visuality potential defended by Nelson Traquina (2002), this article aims to understand which are the themes with more and less emphasis in terms of image on the front pages of the Portuguese generalist daily newspapers Correio da Manhã, i, Jornal de Notícias and Público, between the years 2017 and 2020.

We concluded that there are different graphic profiles, as well as diverse theme option: sports is the theme of choice in Correio da Manhã, while politics has greater potential for visuality in Público. The options of each newspaper also show different editorial positions, namely around tabloidization, visible, essentially, in the case of Correio da Manhã.

Considering only the results for the year 2020, almost entirely dominated by the covid-19 pandemic, we could realize, as expected, that the health theme, usually with a very low visuality potential, stands out in relation to other themes.