How the portuguese media represented the first racialized female MP head of a political party
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2021
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This paper is part of an ongoing research that analyses the news coverage of the first six
months of the parliamentary term of Joacine Katar Moreira, the first racialized woman
head of the political party LIVRE (meaning ‘free’) in the general elections of 2019 in
Portugal. PhD in African Studies, black woman, feminist and anti-racism activist, the first
MP with a stutter, Joacine Katar Moreira arrived at the House with a renowned academic
career and a history of engagement in the social area. The starting question which guides
this research is: how did the national press – in both print and digital formats – represent
Joacine Katar Moreira from 6 October 2019 to 6 April 2020? This period of analysis
enables us to follow the two initial stages of her MP’s term - the debut as MP and the
exit from LIVRE following irreconcilable disagreements. In February 2020 she became an
independent MP and from this date onward, the media agenda was dominated by the
issue of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the aftermath of the 2019 parliamentary elections, three new political parties entered
the Portuguese Parliament: Chega! (meaning ‘Enough!’, far-right), Iniciativa Liberal
(meaning ‘Liberal Initiative’, right-wing) and LIVRE (left-wing). It was expected that after
the new parliamentary composition was settled, routine would set in which would dilute
the novelty conferred by the media to the presence of these three parties. This would
not be the case with LIVRE, as a result of the processes of Othering performed by the
media, vis-a-vis the social situatedness of Joacine Katar Moreira. Throughout nearly four
months, LIVRE and Joacine Katar Moreira would take up the media agenda, going from
the euphoria of victory and the focus on the MP’s differentiating features, to the
disputes between her and the party she was elected for. The process would come to a
head on 3 February 2020, when LIVRE withdrew its political trust in Katar Moreira, who
refused to leave the Parliament and became a non-attached member.
The research aims at understanding how the Portuguese national press represented,
framed and narrated the Joacine Katar Moreira case, not only the surprise of her
election but to which extent her political persona defied the established patterns of Portuguese political news coverage. This paper will share the first results of the study.
The corpus includes the front pages of newspapers, covers of magazines and homepages
of nine selected media, both quality and popular press with different political
approaches: Correio da Manhã, Diário de Notícias, Expresso, jornal I, Jornal de Notícias,
Observador, Público, Sábado and Visão. The news and opinion pieces of the selected
media are analysed using an intersectional approach, seeking to ascertain the
dimensions used by newspapers, magazines and websites to represent Joacine Katar
Moreira at their most important device as well as the implications of this social
construction.
Descrição
Working paper presented on IAMCR 2021 (https://iamcr.org/nairobi2021/online). Outout of the research project “Intersectionality Media Lab - The Joacine Katar Moreira Case Study” of CICANT - Lusófona University, with support from FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Project ID: COFAC/CICANT/PhDResearcher/2020 Website: https://jkm-project.ulusofona.pt/ More information: carla.cardoso@ulusofona.pt
Palavras-chave
COMUNICAÇÃO, MEIOS DE COMUNICAÇÃO, POLÍTICA, JORNALISMO, INTERSECCIONALIDADE, COMMUNICATION, MEDIA, POLITICS, JOURNALISM, INTERSECTIONALITY