Novas fronteiras do jornalismo: discursos sobre a mídia noticiosa como fator de identificação e coesão de grupos populistas de extrema-direita

Abstract

The research aims to determine the use of journalism as a boundary-drawing element between far-right populist groups and other political groups, especially in digital environments. It verifies that, in presenting discourse that contains meanings rejected by the members, journalism comes to represent an excluded element in relation to the identity of these right-wing groups. Following the theories of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Slavoj Žižek, Letícia Cesarino, Mayra Rodrigues Gomes, Vladimir Safatle and Judith Butler, the analysis of the enunciations made by politicians from the far-right points to a hegemonic position of antagonism to the discourses circulating in journalistic pieces and the identification of journalists and media vehicles as enemies. To arrive at this, we mapped posts on the X platform (formerly Twitter) from seven profiles during the 2022 election period, including the three candidates with the most significant vote counts in the election and four of the main political influencers of the movement identified with former president Jair Messias Bolsonaro. These posts were searched for through keywords linked to journalism’s practices, vehicles, jargon, and professionals. We used Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's theory of discourse analysis, Patrick Charaudeau's concepts of communication contracts, as well as works that allow us to contextualize the moment, on the side of modern journalism, focusing on digital journalism and print media, mainly using the perspectives of Alan Rusbridger, Barbie Zelizer and Matt Carlson, and on the side of digital platforms, using the works of Letícia Cesarino, Claire Wardle, Max Fisher and David Nemer, allowing not only an analysis of narrative devices and subject positions, but also the use of the networks’ infrastructure, the use of disinformation and the current moment of capitalism to promote the deterioration of the voice of authority and the role of journalism as a watchdog of political power