New Environments, Same Jobs: The Role of Professional Journalism Stimulating Debate on Elections Across Social Media Networks

Abstract

Taking into account the new configurations of online communication between traditional journalism and its readers, this study analyzes how Internet users reacted to posts on the official Facebook pages of eleven Brazilian newspapers when they published news about the 2014 presidential elections. This analysis will focus on comments on posts that mentioned at least one of the main candidates (Aécio Neves, Dilma Rousseff, and Marina Silva/Eduardo Campos). Two variables were considered: the format of the comments and their justification. A quantitative content analysis methodology was used, and statistical tests pertinent to categorical data were applied. Results showed that the main formats used for comments were criticism and praise of the candidates, also the most common justification was one “of position”, especially when the praise format was chosen, which allows us to characterize Brazilian electors as supporters, given the polarization in the campaign.

Keywords

• Political journalism
• Election coverage
• Social network sites
• 2014 Elections
• Public Opinion