The Roots of Alternative Media in Brazil

Abstract

Academic studies on Brazilian journalism have been traditionally dominated by research on mass media institutions or grande mídia (Chagas Amorim, 2007). Historical accounts of non-mainstream journalism are rarer in the academic literature, with the exception of oppositional forms of reporting that challenged authoritarianism mainly during the military dictatorship, from 1964 to 1985 (Abramo, 1988; Kucinski, 1991; Woitowicz, 2009). This was a moment in the Brazilian history when media organisations were silenced by censorship and repression. The suppression of freedom led to the birth of small publications that operated underground to overcome the barriers imposed by the military government. Still today, the term “alternative press” (imprensa alternativa) is widely identified by the Brazilian society as the oppositional print press from the 1970s that condemned the military regime (Festa, 1986). However, alternative journalism in Brazil didn’t emerge with the dictatorship. This chapter presents a chronological overview of the development of the Brazilian media system with a focus on alternative experiences.