Alternate Frames of Mass Media: The Politics of Representation and Brazil's Landless Movement

Lead Research Organisation: University of Cambridge
Department Name: Social Anthropology

Abstract

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Description Through the research funded on this grant, I was able to better grasp the complexities of interactions between social movements and the mass media. The case study I pursued was in Brazil, between a radical agrarian reform movement, the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) and a conservative, hyper-concentrated mass media that is routinely compared to the Berlusconi or Murdoch media conglomerates.

The objective of the fieldwork was to investigate conditions of communication between these bodies, with a tentative idea of some form of co-dependency between these radically opposed institutions. From my ethnographic fieldwork it is clear that the possibility of rapprochement is almost non-existent such is the rancor and distrust that has built up over the previous thirty years. However, in terms of generation of theory, it seems too simplistic to dismiss the unworkability of this relationship merely on the basis of political alignments. There are actors within the MST who wish to court the mass media (in the case of my research, the broadsheet press) and equally there are well-placed journalists, with a degree of institutional autonomy, who are broadly sympathetic to the goals of the movement. Why then the impasse?

I argue that what is at play in this complex ethnographic situation characterized by distrust and suspicion is a politics of alterity that closes down spaces of communication. This politics of alterity is premised upon several factors. There are pressures of time in that each group is focused upon its core activities. There is also a question of territoriality, in that the MST are extremely guarded when inviting journalists to their settlements, providing a guided escort, convinced that they have the right to do so, as journalists are entering onto 'their land'. However, the main factor that my research uncovers is a radical misunderstanding over definitions of professionalism.

Journalists in the Brazilian mass media consider themselves top professionals and the prestige of working for a major broadsheet becomes an intrinsic part of their identity. The newspaper often becomes their de facto surname for example, and gives them access to a range of activities and spaces to which normally they would be excluded. In the dealings between the MST and the broadsheet press, professionalism was often implicitly raised as a reason on both sides as to the barriers between them. For example, for the journalist, the MST's press department was undermanned and 'unprofessional' in that it could not provide requested data needed for the production of a satisfactory article. For the MST, it was unclear why a journalist would consider them 'unprofessional' for requiring journalists to submit to an escorted 'guided tour'.

These findings are presently being developed into a journal article. During the 12 months of this research funded by the ESRC, I submitted three journal articles, all of which were subsequently accepted for publication, in respectively, Critique of Anthropology, Ethnos and Latin American Research Review. I also was able to write two book proposals, both of which were accepted for publication, one resulting in a edited collection which will be published by Palgrave in early 2015.
Exploitation Route My findings can be built upon by a variety of academic disciplines, including anthropology, sociology and media studies. Ethnographic studies of the broadsheet press are uncommon and my ethnographic data can therefore be a valuable tool for other researchers to put alongside their theoretical approaches.
Sectors Creative Economy
 
Description HEFCE Global Challenges Research Fund QR Award
Amount £68,000 (GBP)
Organisation Durham University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2018 
End 07/2018