Disputas de imagens no escandalo poli­tico : os enquadramentos midiáticos do Jornal Nacional e do presidente Lula na crise de 2005

Abstract

The starting point of this study is the roll played by the press in the 2005 political scandal. The breach of an ethical expectation in the political field _ the denouncement that PT and government members had been buying votes from the parliament _ resulted in an event of great importance for the media. Taking its mission of supervising the political activity, and bringing to light the moral aspect of the case, the press enhanced its field of influence, while turning the event into an issue of wide visibility to the public. Such behavior contributed to deepen what we call a dispute for the image construction. With the scandal, political actors pursued to participate in the mediatic field, coming up with understandings of the case. For a more systematic analysis of the image construction, we have adopted the concepts of agenda-setting and media framing. At first, we aimed at identifying what degree of importance the "mensalão" scandal had in the press and, thereafter, what types of interpretative perspectives were adopted. We focused the study on the reports of TV Globo s Jornal Nacional, in its task of covering the event, and on president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva s speeches, in which he attempted to oppose or even sustain some public understandings of the case. The results demonstrate that JN used mainly responsibility framings, with its strong moral aspect, while Lula sought to reinforce the perspective of his ethical behavior. JN s reports on the president emphasized, most of the time, Lula's personal characteristics as a political authority