The state, television, and political power in Brazil

Abstract

This essay uses Gramsci's theory of politics to examine how TV Globo has become the key mediator between the Brazilian “ruling bloc” and the dominated classes in the construction and maintenance of hegemony. Brazil's broadcasting situation reveals a formidable presence of the state in granting licenses for station operation and regulation. The state is also one of the main advertisers as well as owner and operator of the physical infrastructure for communication. Despite that, the country lives under a virtual monopoly of TV Globo, the fourth largest network in the world and part of a huge privately owned conglomerate. The Globo media group is a powerful actor in the political process, and over the years it has manipulated its television newscasts by distorting, suppressing, and promoting information according to its own interests and those of the class fraction it represents.