Abstract

NOVAIS, Rui Alexandre  and  MAOCHA, Rony. The westernization of the political campaigns in Cape Verde: marginalization and depolitization of the press coverage of the general elections. OBS* [online]. 2020, vol.14, n.1, pp.01-21. ISSN 1646-5954.  https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS14120201475.

Based upon a comparative diachronic analysis of the latest general elections held in Cape Verde, this article aims to assess the existence of both the marginalization and depolitization of the press reporting of the electoral campaigns. Besides filling the gap in terms of the Cape-verdean scientific literature in this domain, it also allows to determine the occurrence of a complete transfer of such trends in international political communication to that specific national context. To this end, it adopts a combination of content methodologies centred upon the intensity and prominence of the reporting, complemented with the framing of the coverage comprising two representative weeklies of the country's ideological spectrum with different selection and presentation criteria. The study concludes that the decrease in the volume and relevance given to the electoral campaigns, alongside the overall prevailing of the horse-race framing, corroborate the argument surrounding the marginalization and depolitization of the news reporting. Aside from the focus upon the thematic framing to the detriment of the episodic ones, there is but a westernization of the press coverage of the parliamentary elections in Cape Verde.

Keywords : General elections in Cape Verde; Framing; Political communication in campaigns; Media diachronic comparative analysis; Marginalization and depolitization.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )