Analysis of Journalistic Discourses about the Act 13.840 and the Changes in Drug Policy

• Autor(a) principal: Yuri Fontenelle Lima Montenegro
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Aline Veras Morais Brilhante, Christina César Praça Brasil
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.36367/ntqr.8.2021.53-60
• topic: Mass Media; Address; Politics; Drug and Narcotic Control; Public Policy; Meios de Comunicação de Massa; Discurso; Política; Controle de Drogas; Políticas Públicas

Introduction The analisys of the Act 13.840 on the National System for Public Drug Policy points to a discoursive change towards prohibition and asylum support. It threatens the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform principles. However, most of the population will access the Act by the media. Therefore, the questions that guide this study concern about the relation between the discourse of the Act and the one produced by the press.  Goals: To analyze the discourse of the news that reported the approval of the Act 13.840, on the National System for Public Drug Policy. Methods: Critical Discourse Analysis using Fairclough's three-dimensional framework. We analyzed online news about the Act 13.840 published on four mass media portals - CartaCapital, The Intercept Brasil, G1 e R7 - between may and august of 2019. Results: We found a shallow approach on the complexity and frailties of the psychosocial support network. It is worsened by the dispute between prohibition and anti-prohibition ideas and the increasing political division in Brazil since 2014. The abuse of affective language, although it may be reasonable for the ideal receiver, can jeopardize the transmitter's credibility in front of non-habitual readers. Conclusions: The eagerness for scoops and the abuse dramatization of the events may lead to a shallow approach on complex phenomenons. Hence, the media's legitimacy may be put in check.