Media Power and Democratization in Brazil: TV Globo and the Dilemmas of Political Accountability by Mauro P. Porto (review)

Mauro P. Porto begins his book Media Power and Democratization in Brazil: TV Globo and the Dilemmas of Political Accountability with an anecdote about Tancredo Neves’s appointment of Globo-backed Antônio Carlos Magalhães, a former leader of the dictatorship’s official party, as minister of communications at the founding of the new democracy in Brazil in 1985. The author explains that Neves not only appointed Magalhães despite his own party’s opposition but also asked Roberto Marinho, the media mogul who owned TV Globo, to pass on the message. The opening anecdote speaks to the profound (and perhaps unparalleled) position the media conglomerate has held in transitional politics since the end of the military dictatorship (1964–1985). Latin America in general can be characterized as a political context in which one finds historical patterns of media collusion in politics. Officials fail to hold one another responsible for their actions or omissions, and biased, unbalanced electoral campaign coverage has been (historically) a common feature of political communication. Yet as Porto asserts, in recent years civic engagement has strengthened in Brazil, and there has been a subsequent increased desire for greater political accountability, coupled with a rising number of civil society organizations dedicated to media advocacy and monitoring. Brazil (alongside Mexico) offers an important example of media opening, defined generally as a process by which media systems become more independent of official controls and more representative of broader social views. It is against this backdrop that Porto explores how changes in media systems reflect and shape processes of democratization.

The book examines the opening of TV Globo since the mid-1990s from an authoritarian system to a more independent style of media reporting. Porto not only investigates why the changes have taken place but also explores the broader impact on political and social democratization. Porto proposes a “political context model” of media transformation that he then tests in three key areas: election news coverage, presidential communication and accountability, and patterns of symbolic representation in television fiction.

The book’s argument is tightly woven together in that each chapter builds on and contributes to the discussions raised in other chapters. The text is divided into two parts. In the first, Porto provides an overview of theoretical paradigms of democratization, media change, and political accountability. The author focuses the discussion of political accountability by considering three main types—vertical, horizontal, and social. In chapter 1, Porto offers a theory of democratization that emphasizes the quality of political representation. This emphasis allows him to address a significant shortcoming in existing approaches that fail to notice the linkages between state, civil society, and the media, which are particularly important in transitional societies. The discussion of democratization in chapter 1 lays the groundwork for Porto’s proposed “political context model of media transformation” in chapter 2. It merits noting that Porto intends here to contribute to theory building, as opposed to offering a finalized theoretical intervention. The proposed approach is dynamic and allows for the development of insightful comparative studies that take into account differences in the formations of civil societies, political institutions, and media systems. In this, Porto offers two important observations. First, the relationship between media and democracy is highly fluid in transitional societies. Second, there is a need for new paradigms to address the role of the media in the global South.

The second part of the book tests the assumptions presented in the first two chapters. In chapter 3, Porto provides essential background history on TV Globo that will benefit readers unfamiliar with this history. The chapter offers more than just a historical overview of the organization, though, by charting the opening of TV Globo’s news division and drawing attention to some recent changes in the organization’s structure. Through his archival research and interviews, Porto also draws out important developments during...