Abstract

FERRACIOLI, Paulo  and  MARQUES, Francisco Paulo Jamil. Journalism as an agent of public transparency in Brazil: The news coverage on the Access to Information Law. OBS* [online]. 2020, vol.14, n.2, pp.16-37. ISSN 1646-5954.  https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS14220201514.

The approval of legal provisions related to the transparency required institutions and agents of the Brazilian State to make information of interest to citizens publicly available. In this context, the work of journalism becomes more relevant both to constrain the political realm and to translate to the audience what the data now available mean. This article has as main objective to examine the news coverage of Folha de S. Paulo (FSP) and O Estado de S. Paulo (OESP) newspapers - two of the most prestigious publications in the country - on the Access to Information Law (L.A.I.) during the first six years after its approval by the Congress (from January 2012 to December 2017). The intention is to investigate the content of those pieces mentioning the Brazilian L.A.I. and texts in which the law was used as a resource for obtaining information as well. The empirical section examines 734 texts using Quantitative Content Analysis. The research found out that FSP and OESP coverages employed the L.A.I. mainly for obtaining information about the Federal Executive Branch. The results also show a progressive increase in the use of such a tool over the years - indicating that Brazilian journalism has adapted its production routines to the opportunities the current legal framework offers.

Keywords : Political Journalism; Access to Information Law; Transparency.

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