Abstract

ABSTRACTThis research analyzes the discursive strategies of two Brazilian weekly news magazines – Veja and IstoÉ – and their representations of the 2010 Brazilian presidential election candidates Marina Silva and Dilma Rousseff. This was the first time that two women had been among the three main candidates; they made up 60.24% of the votes in the first round. These issues are relevant to the study of journalism. The Critical Discourse Analysis approach was used to analyze the articles, in conjunction with the ideology conceptualized by John B. Thompson. The theoretical framework was also organized on formulations of news values, information sources, and organizational constraints. The study shows that, despite editorial differences, both magazines reinforced certain cultural and historical stereotypes pertaining to women and their roles in society which are then used to legitimize and reject them as protagonists within the public scope.