Ethnography media: reflections on the production of political news in two different contexts

Abstract

In Cultural Studies field, “media” has managed to appear as a matter of relief. Part of the analysis about it often makes associations with “politics” theme. In the area of anthropology, however, mass communication media also has been poorly investigated. In general, studies tend to examine their products (information given) or their impacts (reception). Little attention has been given to the production process and the everyday conditions related to them. This paper therefore intends to examine the assumptions about the relationship between these two fields (“mediatic” and “political”), in particular concerning the production of “political” news, having as reference an ethnography made in Rio de Janeiro with the two major newspapers and one with five radio stations in Ilhéus (Bahia), in election periods.