“The Press Motivated Me”: Life Histories with the Media in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil, with commercial broadcasting and a political press, moved from dictatorship to democracy during the transition after Franco in Spain, with its noncommercial system. This coincidence creates a natural experiment in how political and media systems relate to citizens' subjective experiences. Comparing limited life histories from Brazil to previous American and Spanish narratives suggests two relationships: between market-oriented broadcasting and a postmodern consumer stance, and between a politically committed press and an engaged citizen stance.

The authors acknowledge the assistance of Liv Sovik, then Associate Professor of Communication, Federal University of Bahia, in gathering the second wave of life history documents in Bahia, Brazil. Thanks also to Michael Schudson, University of California, San Diego, and Paulo Vaz, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, for their close readings and helpful suggestions on an earlier draft.