Estudos de imaginário do jornalismo no Brasil = Imaginary studies of journalism in Brazil

Abstract

This article intends to examine, in a documented and systematized way, the main contributions of scholars of the imaginary to research in journalism in Brazil, since the mid-1990s. It begins by presenting the idea of Juremir Machado da Silva ("journalism as an operation of information and mythologization"), followed by Vera Franca ("journalism as a form of sociability"), both postgraduates under Michel Maffesoli's guidance, in France. Then, the theses of Gislene Silva ("journalism as a mythic-symbolic manifestation") and Ana Tais Barros ("journalism as a potential generator of myths") are discussed, authors also affiliated with the French tradition initiated by Gilbert Durand, in the 1960s. The investigation seeks to examine the specific findings of each research, while promoting comparison between them, in order to highlight both the similarities and the differences in the way of viewing the news media. The strongest conclusion is that, despite the theoretical repertoire shared by Brazilian academics in the area — notably around the anthropological theory of the imaginary and the sociology of everyday life — their journalistic analyzes show conflicting results on the phenomenon in contemporary times.