Media and Political Deliberation: the Model of the lnterpreting Citizen

Authors

  • Mauro Pereira Porto Tulane University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/%25x

Abstract

The article discusses the role of the media in democratic regimes and criticizes the dominant paradigm that defines this role as information transmission. To solve the "democratic dilemma" (the conflict between the expectations ofdemocratic theory of a well-informed citizenry and the reality oflow information levels in the mass publics), we need to go beyond the "wellinformed citizen" model. The artide presents the "interpretive citizen" model as a more appropriate path to solve the democratic dilemma, suggesting what the role of the media in a democracy should be. The conclusions stress the political role of the media in providing the public not only with information, but also "interpretive frames" that allow ordinary people to make sense of the world ofpolitics.

Author Biography

Mauro Pereira Porto, Tulane University

possui graduação em Comunicação pela Universidade de Brasília (1988), mestrado em Ciência Política pela Universidade de Brasília (1993) e doutorado em Comunicação - University of California, San Diego (2001). Atualmente é professor da Tulane University, Nova Orleans, Estados Unidos. Tem experiência na área da Comunicação Política, com ênfase na relação entre mídia e democracia, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: mídia e política no Brasil, jornalismo, telenovelas, propaganda política na televisão, sociedade civil e accountability, midia e consolidação democrática na América Latina.

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Published

2003-01-01

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2003)

Section

Artigos

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