Portuguese digital news coverage on the global south

: the case of Latin America

Abstract

In recent years, the demands for better journalistic representation of all regions have intensified, as it is argued that most news stories have a Western perspective, which often misrepresents and underrepresents non-Westerners. Although many of the studies on the representation of non-westerners have been based in countries with large newspaper industries, those conducted in Portugal remain scarce. In addition, those focusing on entire regions such as Latin America, are fewer in number, as previous Portuguese research focused
only on Brazil. The objective of this research is to analyze in depth the coverage of all Latin American countries in the online versions of the Portuguese newspapers Público, Diário de Notícias and Observador. To conduct this study, a theoretical framework on media imperialism and the representation of non-westerners was employed, as well as a mixed methodology combining content analysis (SPPS version 28), critical discourse analysis (socio-cognitive
approach) and interviews. In the end, 557 articles were collected between May 1, 2023 and June 30, 2023. The results show that Portuguese newspapers continue to cover the region in mainly negative events such as crisis and violence. In addition, it was found that countries historically and culturally close to Portugal and economically stable countries have better coverage than the rest. The Western perspective of superiority was also found in some articles, revealing that Portuguese online newspapers continue to promote the assumption that the West knows better than non-Westerners. The results corroborate previous studies, according to which Portuguese newspapers represent the region poorly and insufficiently, demonstrating that little progress has been made in improving their representation.

Date of Award	5 Jan 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Catarina Valdigem (Supervisor)