Article: Elections, public opinion and media: reflections arising from Brazilian elections in 2002

Abstract

The electronic media play a central role in the contemporary electoral processes. They supply most of the information from which the voters make their choices - and they are also, more and more, the means through which candidates address the public. In the case of Brazil, the importance of the mass media is still larger, due to the enormous penetration of radio and television, the low education rate and the weak rooting of the political parties. The general elections in 2002 revealed modifications in the relationship pattern between the media and the candidates. lnstead of the alignment of the political broadcasting stations, mainly that of "Rede Globo", with a candidate, there was an effort to extract, of ali, commitments with conservative politics.