Abstract

FILLOL, Joana. Radar XS: a newscast under a veil of contradiction. OBS* [online]. 2020, vol.14, n.4, pp.158-172.  Epub Feb 28, 2022. ISSN 1646-5954.  https://doi.org/10.15847/obsobs14420201720.

In this paper, RTP's children's newscast, Radar XS, which was launched in September 2019 and is aimed at children of ages between eight and 12, is analysed through the lens of Social Semiotics and Critical Discourse Analysis. Bearing in mind the context in which the newscast is produced, as well as the visual, plastic and linguistic signs which are present in the programme, we have tried to understand the conception of a child underlying its production, and have looked for layers of meaning which may be hidden in the discourse. Pierre Bourdieu argues that the notion of a peasant can only be understood by taking into account its relationship with the city and the urban life. We believe the same happens with the child and his/her relationship with the adult and the adult world. Thus, Radar XS is analysed departing from a comparison with adults newscasts. We also revisited from Bourdieu’s understanding of the field of communication as a symbolic market, by taking into account the power relations that exist in the communicative act: who speaks? What legitimacy does he/she have to speak? What ideology is behind the message? What space is given to the interlocutor? We concluded that Radar XS is an antagonistic object that, on one hand, conveys a view of the child as a subject with limited rights, but, on the other, empowers him/her.

Keywords : children; news; television journalism; semiotics; critical discourse analysis.

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