Recognition and the media

Recognition and the media recopila los aportes al campo de la comunicación y al estudio de los medios que viene desarrollando Rousiley Maia sobre la base de la teoría crítica de Axel Honneth, desde 1998 tras su formación posgradual en Política en la Universidad de Nottingham (UK) y como directora del grupo de investigación Pesquisa em Mídia e Esfera Pública (EME), de la Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) en Brasil.Recognition and the media recopila los aportes al campo de la comunicación y al estudio de los medios que viene desarrollando Rousiley Maia sobre la base de la teoría crítica de Axel Honneth, desde 1998 tras su formación posgradual en Política en la Universidad de Nottingham (UK) y como directora del grupo de investigación Pesquisa em Mídia e Esfera Pública (EME), de la Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) en Brasil

Debates públicos na mídia: enquadramentos e troca pública de razões

Resumo Este artigo tem por objetivo investigar como se dá a constituição de debates públicos e a troca de razões na mídia. Argumenta-se que os estudos sobre concorrência de enquadramentos apresentam um ponto cego, ao examinarem apenas o volume de informação disponível, a existência ou não de enquadramentos alternativos, e a permanência destes no ambiente dos meios de comunicação de massa, de maneira estática. Defende-se que, em situações de debate pluralista, não só diversos enquadramentos tornam-se publicamente disponíveis, mas, também, pontos de vista e argumentos conflitantes, presentes no interior desses enquadramentos, se transformam, devido à troca pública de razões. A fim de explorar a dinâmica de reflexividade de argumentos e uma eventual complexificação da justificação, investigam-se dois casos de debate público em grandes jornais nacionais ”“ o debate em torno da problemática publicidade do cigarro, motivado pela tramitação da Lei Antitabagista (Lei nº 10.167/00), sancionada em dezembro, e o debate em torno do referendo sobre a proibição do comércio de armas de fogo e munições, que ocorreu no Brasil em 2005. Sustenta-se que a disputa argumentativa pode seguir padrões distintos nos meios de comunicação de massa, o que apresenta implicações diversas para a constituição do ambiente informativo e para a formação de opinião. Palavras-chave: deliberação; mídia; opinião pública; lei antitabagista; referendo.   Abstract This article investigates the configuration of public debates and the exchange of reasons through the news media. It is argued that studies on frame controversies have a blind spot as long as they only investigate the available volume of information, the existence or not of competing frames, and their permanence in the media, in a static fashion. The author contends that situations of pluralistic debates generate not only competing frames, but also a public exchange of reasons, what provokes a transformation of arguments within those frames. In order to explore the dynamics concerning the reflexivity of arguments and the construction of more complex justifications, the author investigates two cases of journalistic coverage ”“ the debate on the tobacco advertising problematics, motivated by the implementation of the “Lei Antitabagista (10.176/00)”, sanctioned in December 2000, and the debate about the referendum on firearms ban, occurred in 2005, in Brazil. The findings support the conclusion that the argumentative dispute can follow distinct patterns in the media, having several implications for the constitution of the information environment and the process of opinion formation. Keywords: deliberation; media; public opinion; Anti-Tobacco Law; referendum

Deliberation across Deep Divisions. Transformative Moments

From the local level to international politics, deliberation helps to increase mutual understanding and trust, in order to arrive at political decisions of high epistemic value and legitimacy. This book gives deliberation a dynamic dimension, analysing how levels of deliberation rise and fall in group discussions, and introducing the concept of 'deliberative transformative moments' and how they can be applied to deeply divided societies, where deliberation is most needed but also most difficult to work. Discussions between ex-guerrillas and ex-paramilitaries in Colombia, Serbs and Bosnjaks in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and police officers and locals in Brazilian favelas are used as case studies, with participants addressing how peace can be attained in their countries. Allowing access to the records and transcripts of the discussions opens an opportunity for practitioners of conflict resolution to apply this research to their work in trouble spots of the world, creating a link between the theory and practice of deliberation

Deliberation across Deep Divisions. Transformative Moments

In group discussions of any kind there tends to be an up and down in the level of deliberation. To capture this dynamic we coined the concept of Deliberative Transformative Moments (DTM). In deeply divided societies deliberation is particularly important in order to arrive at peace and stability, but deliberation is also very difficult to be attained. Therefore, we wanted to learn about the conditions that in group discussions across the deep divisions of such societies help deliberation. We organized such group discussions between ex-guerrillas and ex-paramilitaries in Colombia, Serbs and Bosnjaks in Srebrenica, and poor residents and local police officers in the favelas (slums) of Brazil. We could identify factors that help to transform discussions from low to high deliberation and risk transformations in the opposite direction. We could also identify factors that help to keep a discussion at a high level of deliberation, and, in a next step, we could determine to what extent long sequences of deliberation had a positive impact on the outcomes of the discussions. Finally, we show how our research results can have a long term effect if it is used in schools of such deeply divided societies

A deliberação nos media: apontamentos conceituais

The aim of this paper is to conceptualize deliberation within the mass media ambient. I assume as premise that the “public interchange of reasons”, through a net of published opinions, constitutes a phenomenon with characteristics of its own that deserves to be explored, regardless of the effects the messages may provoke in the audience. Taking into consideration the deliberative framework and media studies, I explore the main characteristics of the so-called “mediated deliberation”, according to the following indicators: (a) accessibility and characterization of participants; (b) use of arguments; (c) reciprocity and responsiveness; (d) reflexivity and reversibility of opinions.Este artículo intenta conceptualizar la deliberación en el propio ambiente de la comunicación masiva. La premisa es que el “intercambio de razones en publico” a través de una red de opiniones que son publicadas constituye un fenómeno de características propias y que debe ser investigado independientemente de los “efectos” que las mensajes puedan tener en las audiencias. Desde el cuadro teórico deliberaccionista y de los estudios de media, se busca explorar las características esenciales de la “deliberación mediada”, a partir de los seguientes indicadores: a) accesibilidad y caracterización de los participantes; b) uso de argumentos; c) reciprocidad y responsividad; d) reflexividad y reversibilidad de opiniones.Este artigo tem por objetivo conceituar a deliberação no próprio ambiente da comunicação de massa. Assumo como premissa que o “intercambio de razões em público”, através de uma rede de opiniões publicadas, constitui um fenômeno com características próprias, que merece ser investigado independentemente dos “efeitos” que as mensagens possam causar na audiência. Partindo do quadro teórico deliberacionista e dos estudos de mídia, busco explorar as características essenciais da chamada “deliberação mediada”, a partir dos seguintes indicadores: (a) acessibilidade e caracterização dos participantes; (b) uso de argumentos; (c) reciprocidade e responsividade; (d) reflexividade e reversibilidade de opiniões

Crowd theory in some modern fiction: Dickens, Zola and Canetti, 1841-1960

This thesis examines some perceptions of collective behaviour and psychology in some nineteenth and twentieth century literature. Focusing on selected works by three novelists, Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge (1841) and A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Emile Zola's Germinal (1885) and Elias Canetti's Auto-da-Fe (1935), it is an attempt to analyse the cultural representations of the nature, psychology and behaviour of crowds from 1841-1960. We attempt to contextualize the models of the crowd present in each novel and the interpenetration of the development of crowd theory and political experience. We also evaluate the novelists' attitudes towards the crowd and the implications of their approaches for public policy. We argue that Dickens, failing to distinguish between individual and collective psychology, has a pre-modern perception of the crowd. Zola, placing collective behaviour in a positivist framework presents a modern view of the crowd psychology that prefigures in essentials the classical crowd theory of Le Bon. Canetti, questioning the approach of received crowd theory, and the traditional presumption that the crowd is necessarily unconscious, instinctual and anti-social, presents a post-modern interpretation of the crowd which corresponds to the highly original insights of his crowd monograph, Crowds and Power

Crowd theory in some modern fiction: Dickens, Zola and Canetti, 1841-1960

This thesis examines some perceptions of collective behaviour and psychology in some nineteenth and twentieth century literature. Focusing on selected works by three novelists, Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge (1841) and A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Emile Zola's Germinal (1885) and Elias Canetti's Auto-da-Fe (1935), it is an attempt to analyse the cultural representations of the nature, psychology and behaviour of crowds from 1841-1960. We attempt to contextualize the models of the crowd present in each novel and the interpenetration of the development of crowd theory and political experience. We also evaluate the novelists' attitudes towards the crowd and the implications of their approaches for public policy. We argue that Dickens, failing to distinguish between individual and collective psychology, has a pre-modern perception of the crowd. Zola, placing collective behaviour in a positivist framework presents a modern view of the crowd psychology that prefigures in essentials the classical crowd theory of Le Bon. Canetti, questioning the approach of received crowd theory, and the traditional presumption that the crowd is necessarily unconscious, instinctual and anti-social, presents a post-modern interpretation of the crowd which corresponds to the highly original insights of his crowd monograph, Crowds and Power

El reconocimiento y los medios

Recognition and the media recopila los aportes al campo de la comunicación y al estudio de los medios que viene desarrollando Rousiley Maia sobre la base de la teoría crítica de Axel Honneth, desde 1998 tras su formación posgradual en Política en la Universidad de Nottingham (UK) y como directora del grupo de investigación Pesquisa em Mídia e Esfera Pública (EME), de la Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) en Brasil.Recognition and the media recopila los aportes al campo de la comunicación y al estudio de los medios que viene desarrollando Rousiley Maia sobre la base de la teoría crítica de Axel Honneth, desde 1998 tras su formación posgradual en Política en la Universidad de Nottingham (UK) y como directora del grupo de investigación Pesquisa em Mídia e Esfera Pública (EME), de la Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) en Brasil

Characterizing Disagreement in Online Political Talk: Examining Incivility and Opinion Expression on News Websites and Facebook in Brazil

This paper examines the ways people engage in political conversation triggered by exposure to political news in two different informal platforms in Brazil: Facebook and news websites. We analyze the extent to which disagreement is associated to discursive traits that are commonly associated with deliberative behavior, such as directly engaging with others, and trying to justify one’s views, and negative traits, such as incivility. The contributions of this paper can be summarized as follows. First, this paper emphasizes the importance of looking beyond a single platform and a single topic to understand political discussion online. Second, we demonstrate that online disagreement is positively associated with both deliberative traits, such as justified opinion expression, and non-deliberative traits, such as incivility, and argue that the latter is not enough to dismiss the value of political talk. We also demonstrate that the topic of a news story is relevant both to drive political conversation and to spark political disagreement: controversies involving celebrities and stories covering international affairs are more likely to drive heterogeneous conversations than more conventional political topics (e.g. government, policy), even though these are the topics that tend to attract more political talk. Finally, this study contributes to fill an important gap in the literature, looking beyond the US and Western European contexts by examining political talk in Brazil, the fourth largest digital market in the world

Teaching and Developing Deliberative Capacities: An Integrated Approach to Peer-to-Peer, Playful, and Authentic Discussion-based Learning

Drawing on theories of deliberative democracy, this article analyzes initiatives in educational settings to develop deliberative capabilities—defined here as a person\u27s motivation and abilities to explain their views based on thoughtful considerations, reciprocal engagement, and more inclusive and respectful communication. Building and expanding on previous education experiences and citizen assemblies, we propose an integrated approach that includes: (a) peer learning, (b) playful and performative activities, and (c) authentic discussions about controversial political issues in small groups. Our field experiment involving more than 500 public school students in Brazil is used to illustrate combinations of methods to develop conceptual understandings and promote practice and self-reflection. We claim that these methods should not be conducted separately, but different combinations can complement each other to achieve better results in different contexts. This article has theoretical and practical implications for programs that seek to promote democratic communication, in particular through improving deliberative skills