The echo chamber in Brazil: New Perspectives on Customized Information Consumption in Covid-19 Pandemic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/1984-6924.2025.e105165Keywords:
echo chamber, customized information, Covid-19, multimedia, communicationAbstract
The personalization of information consumption by media and communication vehicles, both online and offline, contributes to polarizing opinions and generating echo chambers. Our study analyzed Brazilian data collected during the Covid-19 pandemic, revealing that traditional media contributed more to the formation and permanence of the echo chamber, especially among less educated individuals, less interested in politics and who believes in protestant religion. Even though the scope of the phenomenon was smaller than expected and the identity factor, in this case religion, had more weight than the ideological spectrum and political and/or party preferences. Surprisingly, digital media such as search engines, social networks and messaging apps etc. demonstrated a tendency to take people out of the echo chamber.
Key words: Echo chamber; Customized information; Covid-19.
References
ACHEN, C. H.; BARTELS, L. M. Democracy for realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.
ABRAMOWITZ, A. I.; SAUNDERS, K. L. Is Polarization a Myth? The Journal of Politics, v. 70, n. 2, p. 542–555, 2008.
ARAÚJO, B.; GUAZINA, L. Jair Bolsonaro’s Populist Communication on Brazilian Television: An Analysis of Television Newscasts on Globo and Record During the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Communication, p. 1830–1850, 2024.
BARBERÁ, P.; JOST, J. T.; NAGLER, J.; TUCKER, J. A.; BONNEAU, R. Tweeting From Left to Right: Is Online Political Communication More Than an Echo Chamber? Psychological Science, v. 26, n. 10, p. 1531-1542, 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615594620
BAUM, M. A.; KERNELL, S. Has Cable Ended the Golden Age of Presidential Television? American Political Science Review, v. 93, n. 1, p. 99–114, 1999.
BORAH, P.; GHOSH, S.; HWANG, J.; SHAH, D. V.; BRAUER, M. Red Media vs. Blue Media: Social Distancing and Partisan News Media Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Health Communication, v. 39, n. 2, p. 417–427, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2167584
BORGES, R. P. Jornal Nacional x Bolsonaro no ringue da pandemia: credibilidade, recortes, ênfases na cobertura da Covid-19 associados a críticas ao presidente. In: OLIVEIRA, R. C.; CHRISTINO, D.; MACHADO JÚNIOR, E. V. (org.). Covid-19 e a comunicação. Goiânia: Cegraf, 2021, p. 302-329.
DAHLGREN, P. M. Media echo chambers: Selective exposure and confirmation bias in media use, and its consequences for political polarization. Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg, 2020.
DUBOIS, E.; BLANK, G. The echo chamber is overstated: The moderating effect of political interest and diverse media. Information, Communication & Society, v. 21, n. 5, p. 729–745, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1428656
GRAMACHO, W. et al. Political Preferences, Knowledge, and Misinformation About COVID-19: The Case of Brazil. Frontiers in Political Science, v. 3, p. 1-13, 2021
HAMILTON, J. T. News That Sells: Media Competition and News Content. Japanese Journal of Political Science, v. 8, n. 1, p. 7–42, 2007
HART, W. B.; RICHARDSON, K.; TORTORIELLO, G. K.; EARL, A. ‘You Are What You Read:’ Is selective exposure a way people tell us who they are? British Journal of Psychology, v. 111, n. 3, p. 417–442, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12414
HUDDY, L. From Social to Political Identity: A Critical Examination of Social Identity Theory. Political Psychology, v. 22, n. 1, p. 127–156, 2001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895X.00230
IYENGAR, S.; HAHN, K. S. Red media, blue media: Evidence of ideological selectivity in media use. Journal of Communication, v. 59, n. 1, p. 19–39, 2009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.01402.x
IYENGAR, S.; LELKES, Y.; LEVENDUSKY, M.; MALHOTRA, N.; WESTWOOD, S. J. The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States. Annual Review of Political Science, v. 22, n. 1, p. 7.1-7.18, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034
JAMIESON, K. H.; CAPPELLA, J. N. Echo chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the conservative media establishment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010
JIANG, X.; HWANG, J.; SHAH, D. V.; GHOSH, S.; BRAUER, M. News Attention and Social-Distancing Behavior Amid COVID-19: How Media Trust and Social Norms Moderate a Mediated Relationship. Health Communication, v. 37, n. 6, p. 768-777, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1868064
KUNDA, Z. The Case for Motivated Reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, v. 108, n. 3, p. 480–498, 1990. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480
LEVENDUSKY, M. How Partisan Media Polarize America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
MASON, L. Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became our Identity. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
MUNDIM, P. S.; GRAMACHO, W.; TURGEON, M.; STABILE, M. Viés noticioso e exposição seletiva nos telejornais brasileiros durante a pandemia de COVID-19. Opinião Pública, 2022.
PARISER, E. O filtro invisível: o que a internet está escondendo de você. 1. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2012.
POPKIN, S. L. Changing Media, Changing Politics. Perspectives on Politics, v. 4, n. 2, p. 327-341, 2006. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.1017/S1
PRIOR, M. Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
REDLAWSK, D. P.; CIVETTINI, A. J. W.; EMMERSON, K. M. The Affective Tipping Point: Do Motivated Reasoners Ever “Get It”? Political Psychology, v. 31, n. 4, p. 563–593, 2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2010.00772.x
SCHUDSON, M. Discovering the news: A social history of American newspapers. Basic Books, 1978.
STROUD, N. J. Niche News: The Politics of News Choice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
TAJFEL, H.; TURNER, J. An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict. In: AUSTIN, W. G.; WORCHEL, S. (Orgs.). The social psychology of intergroup relations. p. 33–47. Brooks Cole Publishing, 1979.
WEST, E. A.; IYENGAR, S. Partisanship as a Social Identity: Implications for Polarization. Political Behavior, v. 44, n. 2, p. 807–838, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-020-09637-y
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Maria Ayeska Andrade Echegaray, Pedro Mundim
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and publication rights over their works without restrictions.
Upon submitting their work, authors grant Estudos em Jornalismo e Mídia the exclusive right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International License. This license allows third parties to remix, adapt, and build upon the published work, provided that proper credit is given to the authorship and to the original publication in this journal.
Authors are also permitted to enter into additional contracts, separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work in this journal (for example: depositing it in an institutional repository, making it available on a personal website, publishing translations, or including it as a book chapter), provided that authorship and the initial publication in Estudos em Jornalismo e Mídia are acknowledged.
