O O que nos dizem os escândalos políticos sobre os media?

Abstract

Political scandals are a social phenomenon of ascending relevance in modern democratic societies. This is mostly the result of the profuse media coverage granted to such cases. Consequently, the media offer society perceptions on topics and events that impact the intellection of citizens. The present paper focuses on some aspects of the press coverage of political scandals in Portugal over the democratic period from 25 April 1974 to 25 April 2014. It seeks to collate press coverage patterns, based on the clippings of four weekly newspapers of general circulation in the country – Expresso, O Jornal, O Independente and Sol. As the Nordic sociologist Mats Ekstrom (2000) highlights in a bold statement which could, unsurprisingly, be quoted herein, scandals fit perfectly into a news and media culture “in which the offering of what is shocking, spectacular, sensational and abnormal is the most fundamental strategy for attracting and fascinating presumptive audiences”.