revista_completaxi-n-2

Volumen

XI Numero II Mayo a Ago. de 2009 Revista Eletrónica Internacional de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación

ISSN 1518-2487 www.eptic.com.br

Periódico oficial

AUTORES Adilson Vaz Cabral Filho Anis Rahman Bruna Daniela Dias Rocchetti Santos Cassiano Ferreira Simões Daniela Monje Denis Gerson Simões Emerson Urizzi Cervi Eula Dantas Taveira Cabral Fernando Augusto Mansor de Mattos Jiangping Yuan Luiz Marcos de Oliveira Silva Pablo Ortellado Padmaja Shaw Peichi Chung Ricardo Nicola Sebnem Çaglar Seda Çakar-Mengü

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

Eptic On Line, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo-ago. 2009

1. Expediente 2. Presentación Artículos 3. What will be the face of citizen into the online world?

Ricardo Nicola

4. Evolução de alguns indicadores de inclusão digital no Brasil nos primeiros anos do século XXI Fernando Augusto Mansor de Mattos; Bruna Daniela Dias Rocchetti Santos; Luiz Marcos de Oliveira Silva

5. Considerações sobre a Rede Globo dos anos 2002 e 2003 através do contexto de produção da minissérie “A Casa das Sete Mulheres” Cassiano Ferreira Simões

Entrevista 6. “Political economic research continues to explore the concentration of media ownership and the consequences of commercialized media for a consumer society”: Interview with Janet Wasko Denis Gerson Simões

Especial "The Political Economy of the Television and Entertainment Industries"

7. A Political Economy of the Emerging Television News Industry in Bangladesh Anis Rahman

8. News Television and Democracy Padmaja Shaw

9. Media Groups and their Market Shares in Turkey during Globalization

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

Sebnem Çaglar; Seda Çakar-Mengü

10. Dinamics in the Online Game Industry of China: a Political Economic Analysis of its Competitiveness Peichi Chung; Jiangping Yuan

11. State as a Builder of Public Initiatives in Lula´s Government: an Analysis of Public System of Communication in Brazil Adilson Vaz Cabral Filho; Eula Dantas Taveira Cabral

Investigación 12. Eleições e variedades nas primeiras páginas de dois jornais regionais: análise dos critérios de visibilidade e temáticos em dois periódicos diários do Paraná Emerson Urizzi Cervi

13. La imposible región. Propuesta para el análisis comparativo de las políticas de radiodifusión diseñadas para los sectores privado comercial, social comunitario y público, entre los socios fundadores de la unión regional Mercosur Daniela Monje

Reseña/Nota de Lectura 14. Informação, conhecimento e valor Pablo Ortellado

Livros recentes da EPC

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

EXPEDIENTE Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación Volume XI, Numero 2, Mayo. a Ago. de 2009 http://www.eptic.com.br ISSN 1518-2487

Revista avaliada como “Nacional A” pelo Qualis/Capes Director César Bolaño (UFS - Brasil) Editor Valério Cruz Brittos (UNISINOS – Brasil) Editores Adjuntos Luis Alfonso Albornoz (Un. Carlos III de Madrid Espanha) Francisco Sierra (Un. Sevilla – España) Apoio Técnico Baruch Blumberg (UFS - Brasil) Danielle Azevedo Souza (UNB – Brasil) Elizabeth Azevêdo Souza (UFS - Brasil) Rafael Silva Bispo (UFS - Brasil) Consejo Editorial Abraham Sicsu (Fund. Joaquim Nabuco – Brasil) Alain Herscovicci (UFES – Brasil) Alain Rallet (Univ. Paris - Dalphine-França) Anita Simis (UNESP - Brasil) Cesare G. Galvan (UFPb - Brasil) Delia Crovi (UNAM - México) Dênis de Moraes (UFF - Brasil) Diego Portales (Univ. del Chile) Dominique Leroy (Un. Picardie – França) Edgar Rebouças (UFPE - Brasil) Enrique Bustamante (UCM – Espanha) Enrique Sánchez Ruiz (UG – México) Francisco Rui Cádima (UNL – Portugal) Gaëtan Tremblay (Un. de Québec - Canadá) Gilson Schwartz (USP - Brasil) Giovandro Marcus Ferreira (UFES - Brasil)

Graham Murdock (Loughbrough Univ. - UK) Guillermo Mastrini (UBA – Argentina) Hans - Jürgen Michalski (Univ. Bremen - Alemanha) Helenice Carvalho (UNISINOS – Brasil) Isabel Urioste (Un. Compiègne – França) Jean-Guy Lacroix (Un. de Québec - Canadá) Jorge Rubem Bitton Tapia (UNICAMP - Brasil) Joseph Straubhaar (Univ. Texas - EUA) Juan Carlos de Miguel (Un. Pais Vasco - Espanha) Luiz Guilherme Duarte (UOPHX - EUA) Manuel Jose Lopez da Silva (UNL - Portugal) Márcia Regina Tosta Dias (FESPSP - Brasil) Marcial Murciano Martinez (UAB – Espanha) Marcio Wohlers de Almeida (UNICAMP - Brasil) Murilo César Ramos (UnB – Brasil) Nicholas Garham (Westminster Unv. - UK) Othon Jambeiro (UFBa - Brasil) Pedro Jorge Braumann (UNL – Portugal) Peter Golding (Loughborough Univ. - UK) Philip R. Schlesinger (Stirling Univ. - UK) Pierre Fayard (Un. Poitiers – França) Ramón Zallo (Un. Pais Vasco – Espanha) Reynaldo R. Ferreira Jr. (UFAL – Brasil) Roque Faraone (Um. de la República - Uruguai) Sérgio Augusto Soares Mattos (UFBA - Brasil) Sergio Caparelli (UFRGS - Brasil) William Dias Braga (UFRJ - Brasil)

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Presentation

IAMCR’s Political Economy Section's EPTIC on Line special issue

By Janet Wasko, Vincent Mosco, César Bolaño and Valerio Brittos*

EPTIC on Line is an academic journal, based on the Observatory of Communication (OBSCOM) from the Sergipe University (UFS), in Brazil. Published since 1999, it is part of an extended network of scholars from different Latin American and European countries. It has strong links with different academic organizations of the Communication Sciences field, specially the Latin Union of Information, Communication and Culture Political Economy (ULEPICC), founded in 2002.

Articles can be published in all Latin languages and in English, but the majority are in Spanish or Portuguese. Each issue includes a special topic or discussions involving certain groups in the field. For example, in 2008 a special issue included selected papers presented in the ULEPICC-Spain section Conference. We are pleased to present this new special issue, organized jointly with the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)'s Political Economy Section.

IAMCR is the worldwide professional organization in the field of media and communication research. Its members promote global inclusiveness and excellence within the best traditions of critical research in the field. Its objectives include strengthening and encouraging the participation of new scholars, women, and those from economically disadvantaged regions.

The Political Economy Section is one of the active sections of the IAMCR. Its members examine the role of power in the production, distribution and exchange of mediated communication. Drawing from the rich history of political economic theory, section members study social relations in their totality, consider how they have developed historically, evaluate them according to standards of social justice, and intervene to bring about a more just and democratic world.

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The research interests of section members include developing a richer theoretical foundation in communication research by incorporating an understanding of how structures of power operate, particularly in the process of transforming messages into commodities.

Specifically, this means research on the global political economy, which is centrally dependent on communication for its growth and on transnational media companies, which are increasingly in control of communication systems. It also includes research on how this global political economy is constituted out of various national corporate and government institutions as well as class formations that mediate global and local power.

Research interests also include the conflicts that arise over who benefits from control over communication resources. This research documents the interventions of workers, particularly over the consequences of an increasingly sophisticated international division of communication labor, and of women and racial minorities who seek to redress fundamental imbalances in global communication power. Recently, this research has expanded to include social movements in the communication arena, the state of the public sphere in an increasingly privatized audio-visual space, and the status of citizenship in a world that addresses people primarily as consumers.

Political economy has an historic commitment to praxis or the unity of research and social intervention. As a result, it has attracted members with a wide range of commitments to social change. Over the years this has always included involvement in the movements to bring about a New World Information and Communication Order, now focused on the McBride Roundtable process. In addition, the section has attracted members with commitments to the rights of workers in the communication industries and of citizens to the fullest access to the means of communication.

In recent years the section has worked to support its commitment to multidisciplinary research by organizing joint sessions with other IAMCR sections on the topics of gender, race, ethnicity, community communications, and cultural studies. The section recognizes the need to engage questions about the relationship between social class, historically a central coordinate on the map of political economy, and gender, race, and nationality. It is also committed to examining how political economy, and its particular understanding of power as embedded in markets and institutions, relates to the field of cultural studies and its focus on the social construction of meaning in texts and of power at work in the micro relations of social life.

In Latin America, the Political Economy of Communication field has a long history,

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influenced by Marx, the Frankfurt School, and critical social theory, including especially the classics of Latin American thought such as CEPAL's development theory and the theories of cultural dependency. Latin American political economy of communication developed during the early 80's was born as an internal critic of these important schools, but was more articulated in the 90's, especially after the EPTIC network constitution in 1999. 1 Members from ULEPICC and from the EPTIC network have been increasingly active in the IAMCR Political Economy Section since the beginning of the 90's, when a new generation of Latin American critical thought in communication sciences started to replace the NOMIC generation. These new intellectuals recognized explicitly the importance of the old generation theoretically and, mainly, as academic activists - and assumed the condition of mediators between them and the totally new generation of students formed in the years of the so-called cultural or linguistic derive.

Developing critical thought, including a critical perspective in relation to the NOMIC generation, but recognizing the important of influencing the production of knowledge in communication in Latin America and in the world supposes a necessary relation with IAMCR. Within this organization, the home of Latin American critical thought is the Political Economy Section.

The section recognizes the need to take up the new challenges of recent years referred to above, even as it addresses its historic mission of research and social intervention on the manifold dimensions of a global political economy increasingly shaped by the power of transnational communication and information companies.

The growth of the section in recent years – when younger scholars have embraced the study of political economy of media and regularly present their work in the section’s conference programs – involves the same challenges faced by the intermediate generation of Latin American political economists, previously mentioned, that is, renewing the theory and research agenda, without forgetting the essential contributions of the previous generation.

This identity of, not only theoretical paradigms, but of historical challenges makes cooperation between IAMCR's PES, ULEPICC and EPTIC network a fundamental strategy in the communication field. Many initiatives have been started since a historical meeting of these 1

For more information see BOLAÑO, César; MASTRINI, Guillermo; SIERRA, Francisco. Global changes in the economic system and in communications. A Latin American perspective for the Political Economy of Communication. In: Journal of the European Institute for Communication and Culture. Ljubljana, Slovenia, vol. 11, n. 3, p. 47-58, 2004.

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groups in the Museum of Modern Arts of Porto Alegre in 2004. One important initiative involving the participation of political economists was the signature of an agreement between IAMCR and ALAIC, the Latin American Association of Communication Research.

This issue is yet another example of cooperation. The papers were presented at the IAMCR conference in Stockholm, Sweden, in July 2008. After the conference, a call for papers circulated among the participants of the Political Economy section’s program. Revised versions of papers were received and reviewed by a group of referees. The result is a good representation of the research being done in the political economy tradition by emerging communication scholars from around the world.

*Part of this text is adapted from the description of the Political Economy section written by Vincent Mosco, appearing on the IAMCR website at https://www.iamcr.org/content/blogcategory/115/357/.

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What will be the face of Citizen into the online world?

Ricardo Nicola 1 ABSTRACT Although the constitution of Internet could be a theme just enough explored by cyber social researches, the subject, however, have emerged and manifested itself as a vast terrain in order to generate a tense investigations from the applied social sciences, and, in special, the communication - which make it possible to reveal cyber citizenship concept. So, it intends to point out what are the main variables that help the comprehension of hypermedia phenomena from, and, nevertheless, present in the web. As presented before through my others articles, these variables are categorized as net in convergence that, nowadays, summed into six of it, which are net of symbols (signs), languages, nations, communities, markets, and machines; and in this article they will be highlighted and explored as important paths to verify and understand as online citizenship constitutes itself in the digital communication arena which it is no more identified as a result of the fragmented system, but the own system.

Key Words: internet; cyber citizenship; information society; digital media; cyber social behavior; virtual community.

RESUMO Ainda que a constituição da Internet possa parecer um tema já bastante explorado pelas pesquisas cibersociais, o assunto, contudo, tem emergido e se manifestado como um terreno vasto para gerar intensas investigações das ciências sociais aplicadas, e, em especial, da comunicação - tendo como papel de destaque, o jornalismo digital - e que vem possibilitando rever o conceito da cibercidadania. Assim, pretende-se apontar quais as principais variáveis que auxiliam na compreensão dos fenômenos hipermidiáticos oriundos e, todavia, presentes na web. Como outrora apresentadas em outros artigos de minha autoria, tais variáveis estão categorizadas como redes em convergência que, na atualidade, totalizam-se em seis, sendo elas: redes de símbolos (signos), línguas, nações, comunidades, mercados e máquinas; e, que neste artigo, serão mais bem destacadas e exploradas como importantes atalhos para averiguar e compreender como se constitui a cidadania on-line nas arenas da comunicação digital, nas quais ela não é mais apenas percebida como fruto de um sistema fragmentário, mas o próprio sistema.

Palavras-chave: Internet; cibercidadania; jornalismo digital; mídias digitais; comportamento cibersocial; comunidade virtual.

RESUMEN Aunque la constitución de Internet podría ser un tema explorado lo suficiente por investigaciones cibersociales, el tema, sin embargo, han surgido y se manifiesta como un extenso terreno, a fin de generar una tensión de las investigaciones de las ciencias sociales 1

Ricardo Nicola is professor at Sao Paulo State University, Unesp, Brazil. Ricardo obtained his Ph.D. in Multimedia from the Campinas State University and his Master in Communication and Visual Poetry from Unesp. During his residency at McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, UofT, Ricardo worked on project Cyber Citizenship and Its Transcultural Speech, funded by CAPES/Post-Doctoral Stage. He led discussions with the Media Ecology and New Democracy groups, and also presented to fellows highlights from a new book. His publications: 2004, Cyber society - who are you in the online world? In co-authorship: 2005, Public Opinion and its (im)possible relationship. email: ricardo.nicola@utoronto.ca

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aplicadas, y, en especial, la comunicación - que permitan revelar la ciudadanía en el concepto cibernético. Por lo tanto, tiene la intención de señalar, ¿cuáles son las principales variables que ayuden a la comprensión de los fenómenos de hipermedia, y, sin embargo, presente en la web. Tal como se presenta antes a través de mis otros artículos, estas variables se clasifican como rede en la convergencia que, en la actualidad, resume en seis de ella, que son redes de los símbolos (signos), lenguas, naciones, comunidades, mercados, y las máquinas, y en este artículo se destacó como importante y explorar caminos para verificar en línea y comprender como la ciudadanía se constituye en el ámbito de comunicación digital que no es más identificado como resultado de la fragmentación del sistema, pero el propio sistema.

Palabras claves: Internet, ciberciudadanía, la sociedad de la información, los medios de comunicación digitales; comportamiento cibersocial; comunidad virtual.

“Automation or cybernation deals with all the units and components of the industrial. […] since with electricity we extend our central nervous system globally, instantly interrelating every human experiences. […] We can now, by computer, deal with complex social needs with the same architectural certainty that we previously attempted in private housing. Industry as a whole has become the unit of reckoning, and so with society, politics, and education as wholes.”

Marshall McLuhan

1. INTRODUCTION The

concept of cyber citizenship is present everyday in our lives. We frequently access

online computer systems using them in both our professional and private lives. This article intends to describe how activities in the online world are changing the way we relate to technology and to ourselves. What is the social impact of this communicational process? In other words, are there rights and duties in the online world? And if so, how do they manifest in cyberspace?

I do not intend to examine this concept in terms of cyber law theory where it had been introduced. Rather I intend to discuss it by way of communication theory - as a cutting off in this complex theme (Morin, 2000) through of the applied social sciences, more specifically through online grassroots journalism activity and virtual community. I propose to study cyber citizenship as embedded in the fragmented media market (URL’s). I will consider the impact of cyber citizenship in cyber society with respect to the challenges it presents in the data tide – data smog on the web - and how this figures in Canadian and Brazilian.

To begin, it is necessary to understand the reason why I decided to return to the idea of cyber citizenship having done so on several occasions in the past. Being so, the research project “Cyber citizenship and its trans cultural speech – the nature of the digital ecosystem in

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question” (2006) has been elaborated from another project titled “Cyber citizen in the online world – challenges and (re) discoveries”(2004). Both projects were developed at the Sao Paulo State University (Unesp), Bauru campus, and University of Toronto (UofT), Toronto campus, at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, sponsored by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES - Brazilian Foundation).

On these projects, I could verify how difficult is to concept the online citizenship because of the gap between the studies and the reality of the online world.

Thanks to the technological experiences of the McLuhan Program and cybernetic action at the UofT campus - cities as Toronto, Calgary, and Ottawa - were the bases of my research too. Everything was investigated through the Community Access Program and Community Access Point (CAP) in order to identify the conflicts that arise from social and technological confrontation by the stirring up social-technical confront (Lévy, 2001) as a significant contribution to this issue.

The cyber citizenship theme could be large enough and excessively vast to explore the nature of this confrontation - through projects with this goal - otherwise, when you focus on it in the particular conception, which it is disengaged from the classic conception of citizenship.

The non-territorial and postmodern essence (Friedrich Jameson, 1997; Jean Lyotard, 2001) of cyber identity is addressed by Sherry Turkle, in her book, “Life on the screen – identity in the age of the Internet”: “the presence of surface over depth, of simulation over the ‘real’, of play over seriousness, many of the same qualities that characterize the new computer aesthetic (…) In simulation, identity can be fluid and multiple, a signifier no longer clearly points to a thing that is signified, and understanding is less likely to proceed through analysis than by navigation through virtual space.”

There is no doubt that cyber citizenship achieves meaning through the sociality of cyberspace while virtual communities within that space solidify cyber identity (Anderson, 1986; Rheingold, 2003). Going on this premise, the editorial conception could change it by the (re) orientation of the more conscious user about its played rules in the digital system and the relations which it establishes with the digital world: rules and relationships in the digital world can be changed according to the user.

When I started to investigate the concept of rights and duties in cyber society, I imagined that would be the same as those in the real world; I was mistaken and many studies

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on this subject had also misunderstood cyber citizenship. It is fundamentally different from real world conceptions precisely because the virtual world is different from the real world (Turkle, 1997). Although it should seem obvious, we always had the real life’s vision as a base of our considerations on the virtual life, and because of it its conception. It is a mistake to assume that the virtual world is simply a mirror of real life as this presumption has led to the dilemma facing the nature of cyber citizenship.

In my Master (1997) and Doctorate (2001) studies, I explored cybernetic information and the pathways of cybernetic formation. The following is a discussion of new projects founded on the notion of online community journalism also known as grassroots journalism.

My researches and I will try to define the nature of the digital ecosystem so as to “control, to adopt the mechanism of info inclusion” (Valle, 2005), and to legitimize and maintain cyber democracy.

Cyber democracy, info-inclusion, and cyber citizenship etc. are not synonymous.

There are many interrelationships between each term that necessitates definition and even redefinition. The first item, “cyber citizenship and its (re) evaluation” will evaluate these issue.

1.1 Transcultural space as a beginning of the new frontier During my stay in Toronto, I have found many projects about Internet in Canada involved direct or indirectly by this deep debate and as example of that is located at the UofT, campus Toronto: the Citizen Lab (www.citizenlab.org) coordinated and supervised by professor Ronald Dieper. Others similar projects exist in Canada and some of them are available and supported by Canadian government in different provinces. Projects as Community

Access

Program,

School

Net

-

Community

Access

Program

at

st

http://cap.ic.gc.ca/index.htm. [Accessed the 1 of March 2007] - and more that I will try to quote. By the way, these projects are working actively.

To understand how these digital services are working, it is necessary to check out the basis of their projects’ conceptions. It is believed that the transcultural experiences can be one of their roots. What means transcultural experiences in this world that frontiers are always in crisis? In observing the communication revolution, it is evident that transculturality is present in the digital universe. Claude Grunitziky (2006), defines this phenomenon explaining that some individuals find ways to transcend their initial culture, in order to explore, examine and

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infiltrate foreign culture. These people are ‘transculturalists’ and their experiences.

When we say experiences, it means that they are involved in new modes of expression in the media. They are creating language tools to identifying themselves into these systems, or rather, digital ecosystems. In concert with this mosaic of new language structures, cyber society is enriched by new ideas and information processes. Therefore, new frontiers have been created on the online world where boundaries are disappearing with space and time. This complex world demands tools that are similarly complex and able to analyze the hybrid nature (virtual and real).

1.2 Challenges and (re) discoveries Cyberspace society faces challenges to its evolution. One of them is the inability to define the process to solve online problems like information exclusion, the digital divide, security issues, censorship… etc (Wilhelm, 2004). Diverse groups such as researchers, governments, markets and corporations around the world have provided different frameworks to analyze these issues. However, these groups remain isolated in their respective networks instead of being integrated into a hybrid network. For example, six networks mainly form Internet content: “the network of symbols (signs), languages, markets, machines, peoples and communities” (LÉVY, Paper presented at the Congresso Educação e Tecnologia, 2002).

Solutions would arise from integration of their networks not their relative isolation.

I will try during this article to explain how the culture of emergence and language (Logan, 2000) can offer important insights into finding the integrated solution.

Software as Second Lifer, iPodr, Spyper, MSN Messengerr, Orkutr, MySpacer etc, has united communities from different cultures and like a mirror reflects our own geographic space. Users are able to build and rebuild their cyber society creating a space that mimics the manners and values of real life.

At the beginning, these software programs were only kids’ games or instantaneous communicators because they have based on the Role Player Games (RPG). Now they are no longer kids’ games: these programs go above and beyond the limits of games creating spaces of virtual environments, media, texts, transtexts, hypertexts, etc. It is virtual life with virtual virtual rules (Turkle, Marshal McLuhan lectures with Sherry Turkle, 28th of March 2007) and this is where virtual duties and rights come into play.

First of all, - in relation to the meaning of the meaning in cyber world – are there new

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challenges facing?

We have to deal with the problems of frontiers when discussing cyberspace otherwise we would be obfuscating the discussion of rules in cyberspace.

The third item exposes this complex mosaic of cyber relationships in order that we are able to examine how the conditions of life are reformulated in the digital space. Would the semantic web be used as a tool in the virtual life?

We can formulate and reformulate many questions regarding the impact of virtual technologies in social life, but they should address the need for an integration of various social networks.

1.3. McLuhan’s Legacy: a portrait of Cyber Glocal Village.

For decades, researchers, marketers, and social scientists have written about the impact of the technology in culture and society. Many of their comments on this topic are present in their impressions about the future of our communities. Global Village, for example, is a term coined by Wyndhan Lewis in his book America and Cosmic Man (1948).

Herbert Marshall McLuhan used this term to explore the idea of how electronic mass media would change the ways we communicate globally. As a result of this shift in technology and media affecting how the tribe lives, McLuhan (1962) was inspired to write The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (McLuhan, 1962) and War and Peace in the Global Village (McLuhan, 1968). In these works, he described the impact of technology on the global community and the media: “the world of visual perspective is one of unified and homogeneous space.

Such a world is alien to the resonating diversity of spoken words. So language was the last art to accept the visual logic of Gutenberg technology, and the first to rebound in the electric age” (McLuhan, 1968).

McLuhan’s observations allow us to rethinking what is happening to the world in terms of communication. McLuhan did not see the World Wide Web arises but certainly, he predicted it. There is no doubt that his vision in this social field is a good example of communication phenomenon.

In this fourth item, I will try to outline this prediction as a matrix to figure out our cyber communities that I blend as “cyber glocal village”.

During the media evolution, it has been very difficult differentiating the term globalization from glocalization as a tool for understanding the impact of media in the

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ecology of meaning. However, I do enjoy quoting McLuhan and using the term media ecology that looks at the media as a media environment.

1.4 New face We will at least be able to comprehend the new face of cyber citizen and his/her place within the digital ecosystem. The virtual physionognomy of the present user is constructed from information from cyberspace…

This article draws largely on my own empirical and theory-based arguments and positions in a number of institutions in Canada and Brazil. I have focused most of my research on transdisciplinary studies such as that have extensive cybernetic bibliography; I identified large gaps between theory and practice in the social-technological field; substantial but unequally distributed ICT resources; and a myriad of local and national programs attempting to use technology to promote social inclusion and cyber citizenship.

But, at this point, this article will intend to identify that communicational researches – based only in theories (cyber philosophy) despite the technical/practical aspects – can generate a gap between the real rights and duties of cyber citizen, that justifies in our times the increase of info-exclusion and aggressive nuances in countries especially of the third world. Online life or virtual life exemplifies McLuhan’s well known quote “in the electricity age, we wear all mankind as our skin” (Ibid, 1964).

2. CYBER CITIZENSHIP AND ITS EVALUATION If we are in the Web, automatically we are in cyberspace. Evidently, beings in cyberspace is not radically new as we have experienced growing up in this post-industrial territory and facing challenges that arise from the post industrial condition.

By the way, what kind of challenges we talking about? These challenges construct and reconstruct the concept of rights and duties in the information agora.

Before we embark on this question, it is necessary to define cyber citizenship otherwise it would be difficult to identify its effects on cyber society.

First of all, cyber citizenship is a dense concept. It defines our approaches to real life relationships and underscores how complex those relationships are. Therefore, I will analyze the concept using postulates of postmodern life that is built on a matrix of the signifier and the signified, etc (Jameson, 1998; Lyotard et al.,1999).

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In general, Howard Rheingold has introduced the concept of cyber citizenship as “a social and representation contract in an informal character and non-writing” (Rheingold, 2000:19). Well, that introduction to outline the online world just will make sense when we are involved in cyber social context.

2.1 Concept: Context or / and TransText When we are immersed in the digital agora, many information structures from the online environment justify the user’s behavior. From this phenomenon, cyber society has found a new social paradigm.

By evoking the analogy of virtual life, Lévy describes how this behavior influences the basis of cyber citizenship as a set of techniques, of practices, of attitude, of way of thinking and value in cyberspace” (Lévy, 1995:128-9).

If you considerate the classical definition, citizenship expresses a set of rights, which give the individual the possibility of actively participating in government and people’s live.

Those who do not have citizenship are on the edge or excluded from social life and decision, maintained in a position of inferiority inside the social group (Dallari, 1998:14).

Jean Jacque Rousseau defines it as an accord between individuals that concede some of their rights to become citizen. The basis of the accord would be acceding to a desire, identified with the collectivity, and therefore sovereignty where the significant mark of the citizenship is between the desire of all and general desire (Rousseau, 53:1973).

In terms of information marketplace, Detouzos explains cyber citizenship as a new manufacturing ethic, and presents it through different conceptions in some cultures: “With its emphasis on people, was so prevalent around the world that the various national teams independently invoked a special name for it. The Swedes talked about the development of human capital. The Japanese dubbed it human ware. The French called it Toyotism. And the Americans called it new economic citizenship (Dertouzos, 213:1997)”.

Apart from the market concept, cyber citizenship is implicated in the simulated spectrum. In the realm of the simulation (Baudrillard, 1983), many structures of language have changed considerably.

The ways in which the user expresses by texts and images would be redefined itself in every single moment into the virtual agora. We can partially justify this redefinition by the impact of the postmodern world that Jameson delineates it in his famous book “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” (Jameson, 53-92: 1998).

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Although a more than two decade ago, according to his conception, the postmodern world needs a new “aesthetic of cognitive mapping” (Ibid, 89;1998) and computers offer a sum of simulated matrix where this reality allows identifying.

We are looking for this cognitive mapping not only in the aesthetic field but also in the social aspects. After that aesthetic reason, now there is a survival reason; would be the digital ecosystem damaged by the market, or would not? How can cognitive mapping be applied to the online system?

In general, it is difficult to separate cyberspace into different categories 2 . (Jones, 31:1999). Cyberspace is full of hybrids data and it cannot be analyzed in fragments but only as a whole. Due to its diverse nature, cyber identities must be studied using a holistic approach.

By accepting this fact, cyber citizenship is defined a mosaic of relationships focused on locating cyber identity in the market of symbols (sign) too, or rather transtext.

Transtext consists of two words in fusion: trans comes from transdisciplinarity, and text refers to the signified and the signifier, object and subject… etc. Transtext represents dozens of automatic hypertext connections that create “a brave new world” (Huxley, 1983), or brave new online world… On contrary, that world is neither so brave nor new but in reality, this idealized online world is far from the perfect.

In the online world, the situation is not different. Metaphorically speaking, these six aspects of online identities are unique and diverse fragments that travel through the virtual space. These fragments, a digital vortex has created by the interrelationship’s users. It is not an easy task to understand it.

The seeds of this vortex are sown throughout the digital system creating agoras in which the classical definition of citizenship ceases to be relevant. This realm is not fantasy but a form of hyperreality: video games, Multi-user domains, MOO etc.

In order to comprehend the no spatial and/or global society and their social and environment results, Kingwell emphasized: “The lesson of the Arcades, whether we are discussing the ones Benjamin depicted so lovingly in his unfinished Project or the global and even no spatial ones we occupy today, points to this: we keep thinking that we can get home by going more quickly forward or by retreating more decisively 2

According to the author’s conception of cyberspace, these questions emerge: “Should we consider the Internet an environment in itself or should we consider it a complementary part or and extension of our own environment?”

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back. And yet, the truth is that neither course will really take us where we want to go. So what will?” (Id, 174:1983)

.

Perhaps this observation implies in a fresh analyze focused on the problem of boundaries and frontiers and their distinctions delineated by the border of user’s speech because in the online world words are actions (Turkle, 2005), words are bricks of this info highway.

The perfect cyber citizenship utilizes difference as a contribution to the collective cyber consciousness. This aspect has not been readily discussed in most studies.

The online user profile is not a stranger, but its vulnerabilities and volatile content are obscured by media market therefore research is necessary to uncover the virtual nature of the subject.

I believe that understanding the convergence of networks will be a first step in constructing cyber social id.

3. NETWORKS OF NETWORKS It does not have been easy to understand how the impact of networks represents to the internet. Many investigations exist around this issue, but in general, - as I just described before - they have been considerate separately from the context of the networks’ relationships.

Pierre Lévy pointed out six different networks involved into the Internet’s constitution (Lévy, 2002). According to this author, its background has based mainly on the networks of symbols (signs), languages, peoples, communities, markets, and machine and theirs constant interactions amongst themselves. So, in other words, what is the importance and what is exactly new of these distinctions to this study?

First, it is necessary to define what kind characteristic of each network are affecting not only the constitution of the Internet but also the conception of right and duty in the technological world; we know that it is vast theirs attributes, however I will call attention exclusively to their most significant qualities on cyber citizenship.

3.1 Symbols (signs) & languages As theorists of postmodern life, they re-created a new spectrum of ways of seeing the Internet through the theory of the signs, or Semiotics. Turkle called them as philosophers of the Culture of Simulation. At this point, Saussure has considered the idea of the conception of

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cyberspace where there are not connection between the sign and its meaning… Therefore, we have constantly accessed a series of icons into cybernetic world which connection between them does not make presence at all. And the author continues explaining that “Saussure's insistence on the arbitrariness of the sign has also greatly influenced later philosophers, especially postmodern theorists such as Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, and Jean Baudrillard” (Id, 2002) As a network of symbols, the kingdom of postmodernist arises and became itself its most significant representative’s notion. We cannot separate the idea of icon and the net. It is the base of its space… Through these theories about signs, we can comprehend when the symbols dominated the ways in which we communicate into the virtual world. There are much more studies about the impact of this theories in this communicational phenomenon and they are applied on cyber citizenship too. In other words, to maintain the technological citizenship is necessary to understand this symbols’ system; how it works, how it organizes itself. In general line, we need to know that our tools to try to (re)define cyber citizenship initiates with the introduction to this postmodern system, otherwise the virtual world will become a perfect stranger and its relationships to the meaning will be judged by researchers, governments, etc. an enigma.

Virtual world demands postmodern tools witch background has focused on philosophy of language and it also should being based on sign ecology. But, how I just told before, the Internet is a complex network of other networks and to apprehend its conception it is necessary to identify the structure of languages involved in it and it will be the next step towards the characterization of cyber citizenship.

Concerns about language on the internet is not new and everybody knows that English is dominant among others languages into the ecosystem digital. Although “within three years of this study [bellow], the percentage of English Web sites had fallen to 68%, according to Pastore, 2000” (Waschauer, 2004), but this does not represent a huge diminishing.

There is a rank of speakers of a language to the web pages, its percentage recently is changing, and, obviously, it has demonstrating the impact of economic in its uses by languages. Certainly, this is influencing the concept of cyber citizenship and its process of construction and reconstruction. Therefore, through the language the nation also creates the idea of nationality (Anderson, 1983); would be possible the English is the language of cyber citizenship?

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In his speech, Darin Barney (2007) called attention to the constitution of the “One Nation under Google - Citizenship in the Technological Republic” - which I intend to explore more in the item 3.3 Markets and Machines – when he explored the growing of English’s uses by the markets.

To Carvim (2001), this is the table about the presence of languages on internet and its unfolding:

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Table 1 Rank of Speakers of a Language to Web Pages in That Language, 2001 Rank

Language

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

English Icelandic Sweden Danish Norwegian Finnish German Dutch Estonian Japanese Italian French Catalan Czech Basque Slovenian Korean Latvian Russian Hungarian Portuguese Greek Spanish Lithuanian Polish Hebrew Chinese Turkish Bulgarian Romanian Arabic

No. of Web Pages 214,250,996 136,788 2,929,241 1,374,886 1,259,189 1,198,956 18,069,744 3,161,844 173,265 18,335,739 4,883,497 9,262,663 443,301 991,075 36,321 134,454 4,046,530 60,959 5,900,956 498,625 4,291,237 287,980 7,573,064 82,829 848,672 198,030 12,113,803 430,996 51,336 141,587 127,565,000

No. of Speakers (thousands) 322,000 250 9,000 5,292 5,000 6,000 98,000 20,000 1,100 125,000 37,000 72,000 4,353 12,000 588 2,218 75,000 1,550 170,000 14,500 170,000 12,000 332,000 4,000 44,000 12,000 885,000 59,000 9,000 26,000 202,000

Speakers/ Web. Page 1.5 1.8 3.1 3.9 3.9 5.0 5.4 6.3 6.4 6.8 7.6 7.8 9.8 12.1 16.2 16.5 18.5 25.4 28.8 29.1 39.6 41.7 43.8 48.3 51.8 60.6 73.1 136.9 175.3 183.6 1,583.5

Source: Adapted from Carvim (2001)

If we analyze the marked languages in the table as English (1), Russian (19), Portuguese (21), Spanish (23), Chinese (27), and Arabic (31), many market reasons explain these positions.

At this moment, English is at this position (1) for reasons that we already defined but Warschauer demonstrates its diminishing in the next decade to Graddol, 1997 (Warschauer, 2004).

Amongst these 31 chosen languages by this study, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Chinese have identified and appointed the new well-known emergent countries as Russian (ex-URSS), Brazil, Mexico, and China respectively.

Arabic is on the last position, surely it is because of non-Roman scripts which is the base of all Web pages available in the digital ecosystem until now and for political reasons as cyber censorship, cyber terrorism, etc identified by the Citizen Lab (Munk Centre – UofT).

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After all, English – as nominated - is a language of cyber citizenship, however, into cyber world, its characterization is changing… it suffers hybridization. If we consider English non-speaker, instead, we will find in the virtual world “English writer” blended into the number of speakers at the first position. Nowadays, it refers to the English non-speaker users and they are creating a new facet of English, the Globish: mix of English and Global language/non-speaker English (Pagon, 2007).

Perhaps, the Globish is cyber citizen’s language in which particularities has been a result of non-speaker English and codices of international expression brought it by the language’s hybridization of the media market: emoticons, avatars, computational slang, etc.; in addition, it is under construction, and the net’s relationships are confirming it.

3.2 Peoples & Communities Since 80’s we are living in the Global Village predicted by McLuhan and this concept underlines the well-known globalization of the markets, of the media, and telecommunication, etc. As we know, after this period, the societies have faced the concept of non-territorial space and this really represents the basis of their challenges; unquestionable, technology is a societies’ product and it has been responsible for this transformation and along with it, peoples are adapting themselves to this information age, and others are not. Meanwhile, the digital ecosystem has creating the notion of digital nation as Anthony G. Wilhelm described enthusiastically (Wilhelm, 2004).

Maybe, the author magnifies the advantage of technology into society. However, others countries are excluded from this context and they are nations that make part of the digital divide, what will be discussed later.

On the other hand, many governments migrate to the Web; there is a list of countries and most of them are in the first world (Crapton, 2003), which their services have been available in the online system.

In 2008, a map of peoples’ Internet access been elaborated by Miniwatts Marketing Group and it is available on http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm [Accessed the 18th of April, 2007] and it has showed the internet access stats; it demonstrates an interesting preview about this issue These stats have shown us a big picture about the online reality and they pointed out a user’s recent access profile around the world in an unbalanced way. This unfair distribution is

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an overcome of bunch political decisions, among of them such their specific priorities: selling, media market, info-inclusion, political party, political technologies, etc.

When we are investigating why peoples are transferring their activities to cyberspace, the first concept that comes to our minds is about the nationality; its function, and its characteristics in this virtual space...

In his famous book “Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism”, Benedict Anderson (1983) tries to explain the main reason the mind has also became itself seeds to the nationalism.

Around these plural and cultural attempts, another concept of virtual peoples has grown witch decentralization of territoriality toward the non-territoriality is a matter of time… And we know that is the big challenge of our times. What kind nationality cyberspace is creating in our minds, or rather, user’s minds?

Making part to cyberspace is not necessarily transferring the peoples to the web…

Would we be transferring the countries’ economic differences to this new space, would not be?

Is the online world a real mirror to the peoples, or is not? On the other hand, is the Internet mirrors (or windows?) to the super powers show their communicational apparatus and to legitimate them into this Cyber Global Village?

We may be most effective today if we do not let our sense of perspective flow unchecked into the cyber world in order to construct the digital nation.

Rational communication – supported by the network of machines - works in our favor; we can always express our plans into the web not only locally but also in a glocal sphere.

To conduct our sense of direction toward the digital nation, Crampton adverts: “Cyberspace is a classic case of a space which is produced, and which in turn produces (spatialized) subjectivity. Thus not only can cyberspace be mapped, but in tracing out its contours we are tracing out the lines on our own faces. Cyberspace is an area of geographic knowledge that sits equally between society and technology. It invites the ‘fieldwork’ for a critical politics of spatial representation and from that a critical politics of geography and space” (Crapton, 6:2003).

We can infer that there are many territorial aspects that we should not despite as a background to understand the virtual world. One of them are the digital crimes occurred in the web, witch geographical dimension is its main characteristic as Citizen Lab, at UofT, has explained so far.

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On a larger scale, a significant number of virtual communities (VCs) have recreated the division between individual and collective space on the Web. Howard Rheingold, Manuel Castells, Píerre Lévy, Marshall McLuhan and others cyber philosopher, and social scientist, introduced their definition, and importance. Tim Jordan explains the definition of cyber communities through the creation of avatars: “Communities emerge in cyberspace when a number of users create avatars that return again and again to the same informational space (...)Virtual communities can be of many different types, from newsgroup discussions about a limited topic to MUDs that allow virtual versions of all offline social relations (Jordan, 100:1999)”

Certainly, cyber citizen exists thanks to the communities on the net because VCs are the most important set of networks in it; they are always reuniting users through the ecosystem digital. Example of that is the number of links to them in any kind of website we occasionally access. About Smart Mobs, Benkler (Benkler, 231: 2006) emphasized that Rheingold describes, “how citizens of the Philippines used SMS to organize real-time movements and action to over throw their governments in a complex modern society”.

Throughout the digital ecosystem, this movement is growing and cyberspace’s characteristics explain it partially. To Benkler, in this modern space “things matter can happen any where and at any time, the capacities of people armed with the means of recording, rendering, and communicating their observatory change their relationship to the events that surround them”(Id., 2006).

Significantly, VCs have represented a new step to the political movement’s growth in cyber society. Besides this political reason, cyber communities are identifying as cyber segmentation on the web.

In other words, Saassen specifies the limits of cyberspace to bring about changes in existing hierarchies of power and structures of privilege also may be inferred from the fact that existing cyber segmentations can trump women-oriented agendas (Saassen, 111: 2002).

In addition, she emphasized that there is no doubt that cyberspace brings new opportunities for women both in business domains and in larger civic as well as home setting (Id, 2002).

Therefore, VCs are fragmented spaces which degrees of cyber segmentation are their main characteristics. In the chapter “Technopower and its cyberfutures”, Tim Jordan has nominated the communities on the web to begin by assuming the sovereign individual primary soon come to realize that collective responsibilities and rules appear, create by many

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over which no one person has control. In it, he pointed out the two forms of cyberpower (individual and social) is not a simple opposition between individuals and collectives but an inversion of the relationship between them. (Armitage and Roberts, 123-124:2002).

Considering Rheingold’s enthusiasms on VCs, his positions have changed themselves.

According to Warschauer, Rheingold himself came to moderate his views, partly because of his participation in bitter social conflicts that emerged in and around the Well (Warschauer, 161:2004). And he continues: “his critique rests on two key points. First, any technology emerges from and responds to existing social relations and social contexts. (…) Second, and related to the first point, the division between virtual and traditional communities is spurious.” (Id, 2004).

Indeed, this division between virtual and traditional communities related by Warschauer really does not exist. There are many communicational bridges among them by sharing virtual and real data. As examples of it are letters, fax, telephone, books, and other media.

All members of different communities have shared information in a range of geographic space by indistinct ways and this exchanging data does not happen only into the virtual agora; in this case, the real word works as an important tool to the virtual ones.

Maybe the recreation of the space by the users has implied in the existence of virtual worlds where the words on the screen replace themselves to the action as Turkle very well defined in her studies (Turkle, 2007).

Besides the words, the language is another explanation to the VCs’ connection to the real life. When we enter into the SECOND LIFER - a famous hybrid game-community, designed

by Philip Rosedale - we will meet users from all over the real world under a multiple avatars and theirs masks. Traveling through each virtual space on the SECOND LIFER(SL) we will be able to realize the perfect separation among cultural islands of the game. At certain degree, we will distinguish what the digital space our online identification will be metaphorically accepted: Brazilian, Spanish, Lover, Investor, Musician, Warriors, and many others communities. Which of them our virtual participation will be more constant? SL will tend to be only a “postmodern fever” and it will soon expire?

The discussion has been one of a series of SL impacts, which are open to the public and held just outside the confines of the exclusive Academia, though they are co-sponsored by the company involved in the project.

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Packages, including million of dollars severance agreement have served to stoke virtual money- or SL’s money among investor users and ordinary cybercitizens around the world.

When news surfaced that SL will be attending a huge number of users this year as planned, there is a speculation that this virtual community will plan the event following its abrupt growth, and it will promote more access from a great number of users that are located in different countries. This so-called three-dimensional virtual world round has grown since its inception four years ago, launched in 2003.

No matter how complicated SL might seem, its success can be justified mainly by the three-dimension conception of space; it is seducing users into the system. After all, many efforts have been demonstrating by the SL’s designer, Philip Rosedale, in order to fascinate its virtual people. Added by texts, SL offers also interactive images; on contrary from the regular VCs spread throughout the digital ecosystem, it opened a new relationship to the users for using game language not only by word but by images too.

It represents a successful interface between games and VC, which redefines a new step toward a multimediatic trans-society. As I told in my book “Cybersociety – who are you in online world?” (Cibersociedade – quem é você no mundo online? – Portuguese version), the VCs would become themselves the most important media product in the net, and they really did. Now VCs are the real grassroots journals into the web, called by the community journalism (Nicola, 2004).

Within SL, the users opened the possibility for living their avatar. To Jones avatar is derived from the Sanskrit avatara and is meant to suggest “the idea of a kind of transubstantiation, the incarnation of life in a different form” (Tofts, 56:2003). And he describes its importance into the SL when the term “avatar is the common for representations, either textual or visual, of people’s presence in a digital environment. In Second Life, avatars are three-dimensional and user constructed in almost every detail” (Id., 2003) The participation into the SL is greater and greater day by day and we can infer that this behavior is rapidly changing the public space. Scola has been emphasizing this recent political space promoted by SL. Other example of well-succeed communities into the web has been OrkutR, with an expressive number of interactive tools. This relationship website – OrkutR – has been considerate the most popular websites among others. Its creator, Orkut

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Büyükkökten, a young Stanford’s PhD student and engineering, has decided to develop a social network project during his 20% of free time at the Google Company.

Recently, OrkutR informs that each user is automatically connected to around 50,565,193 users into the system. Into the rank, Brazil is the first country where its success is more evident, followed by The United States and India. OrkutR is involved in many problems with the justice of these countries. Recently, Brazilian government prosecutes it by accusing the website of invasion of user’s privacy, and others reasons (Ibid, 2003) Following the website of relationship’s path, another one was born around 2003, which name is MySpace. Its success was instantaneous and it was elected one of the best social networks. According to Alexa Internet (www.alexa.com), MySpace is currently the world's fifth most popular English-language website and the fifth most popular website in any language, and the third most popular website in the United States, though it has topped the chart on various weeks.(Id., 2003) The price of a successful and ambitious of social networks’ enterprises has demonstrated an intense effort to conquer the users; package of their services are available into these websites, and the everyday a new company dot.com buys each other, and successively.

Besides SL, Orkut, MySpace, others exist in the web as YouTube, Facebook, etc, and always-new ones will come up as a media market’s product. After all, are the social network’s programmers, web designers, editors really thinking about the impact of these “social” services on cyber society, or is it only media market? Where is the border between media and market into this digital ecosystem?

It is not easy to answer these questions, and more will come… Otherwise, will we be able to see how these websites can manipulate “the idea of socialization” on the web to the users? For example, is it possible to count the number of friends we have and show off it in front-page? Is this the real expression of friendship on social networks? What kind relationship we are constructing on the web? Not only the idea of being is fragmented on the screen (Turkle, 1995) but also how we build it?

Some of these questions, and obviously others, were the bases of many studies about the impact of technology in the real communities. Although seven years ago - one of the most known researches was the Netville at Toronto, Canada, conducted by Hampton & Wellman (Isbister and Ishida, 194-208:2000): “Can supportive, sociable and meaningful relations be maintained online?

Will life online replace, complement, or supplement life in the flesh?

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Netville is a residential development located in suburban Toronto equipped with a high-speed network as part of its design (…).”

Remarkable as pioneer study, Netville was an example of how to investigate the impact of technology in the border between real and virtual in the community. The results of this study have shown that the pessimist visions about online community are in vain, or rather, who belongs to VCs, in general, read more newspaper, has more access to the classical media, and has more social relationships, etc. (Castells, 103:2003).

Researchers through companies or institutions on VCs are making more and more studies, and the results have addressed to the conflicting visions. In other words, to understand the impact of VCs in the online life is necessary living into these fractal worlds where the volatile dada changes everything in every single moments.

So, there is no doubt that VCs are the Internet basis, and they represent one of the most important network where the rights and duties keep its flame stirred up as described and published in the book “Rights and responsibilities of participants in networked communities”, and edited by Dorothy E. Denning & Herbert S. Lin since 1994.

These distinctions help us to visualize the attempt to organize the life on VCs and they have been working during this time but rights and responsibilities will evaluate in many others directions, and certainly, the online world will redefine them constantly.

3.3 Markets and Machines Market has been defined as an important factor to comprehend the increase of access to the web by pushing its success. Everybody has just tried to sell or to buy things through the net and this is not new. However, the way we are selling or buying is changing. Today their collaborative forms are involving users’ relationship as Tapscott & Williams (2007) justified recently: “Due to deep change in technology, demographics, business, the economy, and the world, we are entering a new age where people participate in the economy like never before. This new participation has reached a tipping point where new forms of mass collaboration are changing how goods and services are invented, produced, marketered, and distributed on a global basis. This change presents far-reaching opportunities for every company and for every person who gets connected”. (Tapscott and Williams, 10:2007)

These authors are calling as Wikinomics these new forms of commercial relationship and their background has four principles: being open, peering, sharing, and acting globally (Id., 20:2007).

Beyond this structure, collaborative activities represent an emphatic

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explanation to the cyber citizenship’s conceptual basis. Have our online rights and duties been constructed by this way? As we detected by this Tapscott & Williams’ studies, it is truth that the networking of market and machines on the web has being processing its goods funded in a sharing ideas, and participation. They called attention to the “platforms for participation”, “Ideagoras”, and others considerations (Ibid.30:2007). And that pace, the collaborative journalism on the net, - wiki -, is finding new shortcuts with the RSS, feeds etc.

4. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS In relation to convergence of networks, many of the phenomena of online media may be better understood; however, it still needs the tools from the applied social sciences, and - in special - the communication - through cyber social researches - to leverage new theoretical and practical directions in the online media.

It is clear that an article could not be enough to expose totally the characteristics of the gap that separates the practices from the theories presented, but it arises them to promote more discussions, in order to search for instruments designed at the light of the convergence between networks – introduced so far – that can outline the profile of this new digital ecosystem. Perhaps the triad, highlighted by Kerchkhove, has further emphasized the borderline between the classical and online citizenship, where their constant interactions build the new cyber citizen and their online journalism production.

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Evolução de alguns indicadores de Inclusão Digital no Brasil nos primeiros anos do século XXI Fernando Augusto Mansor de Mattos 1 Bruna Daniela Dias Rocchetti Santos 2 Luiz Marcos de Oliveira Silva 3 RESUMO O objetivo do presente trabalho é, em primeiro lugar, avaliar quantitativamente o fenômeno da inclusão digital no Brasil nos primeiros anos do século XXI, quando houve sem dúvida uma forte expansão não somente do número de pessoas com acesso à internet, mas também do número de hosts na internet e também um aumento expressivo de uso da tecnologia da informação pelas empresas. Em segundo lugar, pretende-se arrolar alguns argumentos que chamem a atenção para o fato de que a inclusão digital não deve ser avaliada apenas por seus aspectos quantitativos, sendo importante levar em conta também aspectos qualitativos. Para isso, defende-se a idéia de que a elaboração de políticas públicas de inclusão digital – embora extremamente necessária – não é suficiente para promover mudanças na qualidade de vida e ascensão social da população digitalmente incluída caso não sejam também acompanhadas de outras políticas estruturantes que conduzam a melhorias do padrão distributivo brasileiro e democratização dos meios de comunicação.

Palavras-chave: inclusão digital; exclusão digital; desigualdades regionais.

ABSTRACT This paper, first of all, intends to assess quantitatively in the first years of XXI century the phenomenon of digital inclusion in Brazil, when there was a strong expansion not only in the number of people with internet access, but also in the number of internet hosts and a significant increase in use of information technology by businesses. Second, it is intended to list some arguments that focus on the fact that digital inclusion should not be judged only by its quantitative aspects, it is also important to take into consideration qualitative aspects, not forgetting quantitative aspects as well. For that purpose, stands up for the idea that the development of public policies of digital inclusion - although very necessary – is not sufficient to promote changes in quality of life and social rise of the digitally included, unless accompanied by other policies that lead to structural improvements to the standard distribution and democratization of the Brazilian media.

Key-words: digital inclusion; digital divide; regional inequalities.

1

Professor/pesquisador do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação da PUC de Campinas. Professor também no CEA da PUC de Campinas. Mestre d Doutor em Economia pelo Instituto de Economia da UNICAMP. Email: fermatt@uol.com.br 2 Aluna pesquisadora em Iniciação Científica, com bolsa do CNPQ. Discente na Faculdade de Direito da PUC de Campinas.

3 Economista pela Universidade Federal de Sergipe. Mestre em Desenvolvimento Econômico pela UNICAMP. Atualmente responde pela Coordenação de Controle de Custos da UFS (lmarcosoliveira@gmail.com).

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RESUMEN El objetivo del presente trabajo es, en primer lugar, evaluar cuantitativamente el fenómeno de la inclusión digital en Brasil en los primeros años del siglo XXI, cuando hubo sin duda, una fuerte expansión no solo en el numero de personas con acceso a la Internet, pero también del numero de hosts en la Internet, y también un aumento expresivo del uso la tecnología de la información en las empresas. En segundo lugar, se quiere enumerar algunos argumentos que llamen la atención para el hecho de que la inclusión digital no debe ser evaluada solo por sus aspectos cuantitativos, siendo importante llevar en cuenta también aspectos cualitativos. Para ello, defendiese la idea de que la elaboración de políticas publicas de inclusión digital – siendo sí extremamente necesarias – no son suficientes para desollar cambios en la calidad de vida y ascensión social de la población digitalmente incluida si no son también acompañadas de otras políticas estructurantes que conduzcan a mejorías del padrón distributivo brasileño y la democratización de los medios de comunicación.

Palabras llave: inclusión digital, exclusión digital, desigualdades regionales.

APRESENTAÇÃO A publicação do “Mapa da Exclusão Digital”, em 2001, pela FGV do Rio de Janeiro, representou um primeiro esforço articulado no sentido de descrever estatisticamente o fenômeno da exclusão digital no Brasil. A ele se sucederam alguns outros trabalhos com essa preocupação quantitativa, procurando criar indicadores para descrever o fenômeno da expansão da chamada “sociedade da informação” no país.

A descrição e a análise do fenômeno da inclusão digital, notadamente em um país como o Brasil, guardam diversas dificuldades, devidas não apenas à complexidade do fenômeno, que não se restringe apenas a questões qualitativas do tipo “ter ou não ter acesso à internet”, mas também às características da sociedade brasileira, marcada por profundas desigualdades pessoais e regionais de renda.

Conforme já tivemos a oportunidade de salientar em outros trabalhos (Mattos, 2003; Mattos e Chagas, 2007), entendemos – assim como diversos outros autores 4 - que a questão da inclusão digital não pode e não deve ser analisada apenas pelos seus aspectos quantitativos.

Mesmo se nos ativermos apenas a esses aspectos quantitativos, é importante sempre discutir metodologicamente como estes dados são apresentados (por exemplo: em um país marcadamente desigual como o Brasil, muitas vezes a mesma pessoa tem mais de um acesso e isso pode, muitas vezes, superestimar os dados de inclusão digital, por eventualmente contar mais de uma vez a 4

Cf. , entre outros, Brito (2005); Aun e Ângelo (2007); Pires (2002); Rondelli (2003).

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mesma pessoa) para evitar superestimação do fenômeno da inclusão digital. De qualquer forma, deve-se destacar que há aspectos cognitivos, de difícil medição quantitativa, que caracterizam a qualidade do acesso das pessoas não apenas à internet e a maneira pela qual o mesmo pode mudar a vida dessas pessoas.

Em uma sociedade profunda e estruturalmente desigual é preciso sempre levar em consideração esses fatores qualitativos e cognitivos quando da análise quantitativa dos dados.

O objetivo deste artigo, face ao que foi comentado acima, é, em primeiro lugar, avaliar quantitativamente – segundo diversos indicadores escolhidos e tabelas organizadas – o fenômeno da inclusão digital no Brasil nos primeiros anos do século XXI, quando houve sem dúvida uma forte expansão não somente do número de pessoas com acesso à internet, mas também do número de hosts na internet e também um aumento expressivo de uso da tecnologia da informação pelas empresas. Em segundo lugar, pretende-se arrolar alguns argumentos que chamem a atenção para o fato de que a inclusão digital não deve ser avaliada apenas por seus aspectos quantitativos, sendo importante levar em conta também aspectos qualitativos. Para isso, defende-se a idéia de que a elaboração de políticas públicas de inclusão digital – embora extremamente necessárias não são suficientes para promover mudanças na qualidade de vida e ascensão social da população digitalmente incluída caso não sejam também acompanhadas de outras políticas estruturantes que conduzam a melhorias do padrão distributivos brasileiro e democratização dos meios de comunicação.

Deve-se destacar que, para cumprir com os objetivos desse artigo, pretende-se organizar dados e estatísticas de inclusão digital a partir da constatação de que a sociedade brasileira é estruturalmente desigual, tanto do ponto de vista das diferenças pessoais de renda, quanto também do ponto de vista das diferenças regionais de renda. Pode-se considerar que a economia brasileira herdou, de seu processo de industrialização (assim como de seu passado colonial e escravista), uma pronunciada heterogeneidade estrutural (Pinto,1979), típica de países de capitalismo tardio.

O artigo está dividido em duas partes. Em uma primeira seção, são apresentados e analisados dados sobre o processo de inclusão digital no Brasil, procurando explorar as desigualdades regionais de renda do país. Em uma segunda seção, de caráter também conclusivo, são feitos alguns comentários a respeito da realidade retratada na seção empírica (primeira seção), ao mesmo tempo em que se alerta para a necessidade de incorporar, na discussão sobre

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inclusão digital, uma reflexão acerca de aspectos qualitativos da mesma, bem como da necessidade de políticas públicas que possam de fato promover uma efetiva inclusão digital na sociedade brasileira, o que significaria melhorar as condições de vida da população.

PERFIL DO PROCESSO DE INCLUSÃO DIGITAL NO BRASIL ENTRE 2001 E 2004 A tabela 1 revela dados ainda bastante agregados, mas que nos fornecem um panorama da evolução da inclusão digital brasileira entre 2001 e 2004. Seus resultados explicitam uma ampliação acelerada tanto na posse de microcomputadores quanto no acesso à internet.

Implicitamente, percebe-se que a relação entre os que têm acesso à internet e os que têm computador aumentou, o que deve ser uma tendência nos últimos anos. Os quase 12% que tinham acesso à internet em 2004 representam cerca de 74% dos possuidores de computador, enquanto que os 8,31% que tinham acesso à internet em 2001 representavam cerca de 67% dos possuidores de computador 5 .

Tabela 1 Inclusão Digital no Brasil Percentual da população com posse de microcomputadores e com acesso à internet 2001 e 2004 Indicador 2001 % 2004 Possuem Microcomputador 21.105.925 12,46 29.540.375 Têm acesso à Internet 14.082.602 8,31 21.783.297 Total da População 169.369.557 100,00 181.829.172

% 16,25 11,98 100,00

Fonte: PNAD's (IBGE), 2001 e 2004. Elaboração própria.

Na tabela 2, confirma-se algo que estudos estatísticos sobre o tema já haviam adiantado: a renda média dos incluídos digitais é bem maior do que a dos excluídos. Essa diferença era menor em 2004 do que em 2001, provavelmente porque o recente processo de inclusão digital brasileiro tenha incorporado pessoas de mais baixa renda ao grupo dos que têm acesso à internet 6 .

5

Nessas e nas tabelas seguintes, o critério para que se possa considerar a pessoa como digitalmente incluída, segundo os critérios do IBGE, captados nas pesquisas das PNAD’s, é que ela tenha tido algum acesso à internet nos últimos 90 dias anteriores à entrevista.

6 Essa entrada gradativa de pessoas de renda mais baixa ao seleto grupo dos incluídos digitais será mais detidamente analisada a seguir.

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Tabela 2 Renda média dos excluídos e dos incluídos digitais (*) Brasil 2001 e 2004 Renda média Renda média dos dos INCLUÍDOS EXCLUÍDOS 2001 1.074,37 227,65 2004

911,36

217,83

(em reais de outubro de 2001)

relação (**) 4,72 4,18

Fonte: PNAD's de 2001 e de 2004. Elaboração própria. (*) renda média dos incluídos digitais significa a renda domiciliar per capita média dos domicílios que têm acesso à internet.

Os valores de 2004 são deflacionados pelo IPCA acumulado entre a PNAD de 2001 e a de 2004. (**) relação: quantas vezes a renda dos incluídos é maior que a dos excluídos digitais.

Na tabela 3, apresenta-se o percentual de pessoas que têm microcomputador em casa, por Estados da Federação. Em quase todos os estados pode-se constatar um aumento da posse de computadores entre 2001 e 2004. Além desse movimento geral mais importante, pode-se constatar que o grau de inclusão digital em cada estado reflete o nível de desenvolvimento econômico de cada um deles e também o grau de urbanização dos mesmos. De todo modo, este quadro também se presta a descrever, de alguma maneira, a heterogeneidade regional brasileira e seu impacto sobre a chamada inclusão digital no conjunto do país.

Tabela 3 Percentual de pessoas que habitam em domicílios que têm microcomputador Por Estado da Federação Brasil - 2001 e 2004 ESTADO 2001 2004 Rondônia 6,90 8,09 Acre 9,12 5,95 Amazonas 8,54 7,09 Roraima 3,82 6,67 Pará 5,83 5,67 Amapá 3,11 9,04 Tocantins 3,62 6,10 Maranhão 2,38 3,66 Piauí 3,53 5,08 Ceará 5,03 6,21 Rio Grande do Norte 6,24 8,07 Paraíba 5,52 6,52 Pernambuco 6,58 7,90

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Alagoas Sergipe Bahia Minas Gerais Espírito Santo Rio de Janeiro São Paulo Paraná Santa Catarina Rio Grande do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso Goiás Distrito Federal Total - BRASIL

5,23 6,61 5,03 10,50 11,38 17,93 21,77 14,14 16,22 13,48 9,69 7,49 7,36 25,41 12,48

5,26 8,34 7,02 15,26 17,26 23,54 26,79 21,76 22,79 19,14 13,07 10,18 11,76 33,89 16,25

Fonte: PNAD's (IBGE), anos selecionados. Elaboração própria.

Os dados da tabela 4, por sua vez, revelam qual a contribuição de cada estado da Federação para o conjunto dos incluídos digitais no Brasil. Nesta tabela, a inclusão digital é medida não mais pela posse de computador, mas pelo acesso à internet. Percebe-se que os dados de inclusão digital e de participação do respectivo estado da Federação na renda nacional praticamente se repetem. Essa realidade, deve-se destacar, sugere que a inclusão digital, ao contrário do que apregoam muitos estudiosos e ONG’s, é muito mais um resultado de uma realidade socioeconômica específica do que um instrumento de desenvolvimento social e econômico – pelo menos enquanto estiverem predominando, para a ampliação da inclusão digital, os mecanismos de mercado e não as políticas públicas específicas de inclusão digital da população.

TABELA 4 Participação de cada estado na renda nacional e na inclusão digital Brasil 2005 Contribuição do Estados Participação do estado estado da na renda nacional no total de incluídos digitais do Brasil (em Federação (em %) %) SP 31,8 31,9 RJ 12,2 11,0 MG 9,3 9,5 RS 8,2 6,7 PR 6,4 6,9 BA 4,7 4,5

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SC PE GO DF ES PA CE AM MT MS PB MA RN SE AL RO PI TO AP AC RR

4,0 2,7 2,4 2,4 1,9 1,9 1,8 1,8 1,5 1,2 0,9 0,9 0,9 0,8 0,7 0,5 0,5 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,1

4,6 2,9 2,7 2,5 2,1 1,9 2,7 0,8 1,3 1,3 1,2 1,2 1,0 0,6 0,5 0,5 0,7 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1

Fonte: IBGE. Dados de inclusão digital: PNAD, 2005. Elaboração própria.

Dados de PIB estadual: Contas Regionais do Brasil (IBGE).

Elaboração própria. (*) as somas das respectivas colunas podem diferir um pouco de 100 por causa de arredondamentos.

A tabela 5 mostra o percentual de pessoas que habitam em domicílios que possuem acesso à internet em cada estado da federação. Os dados também refletem a elevada desigualdade regional brasileira. Também aqui, fica demonstrado que o grau de desenvolvimento econômico delimita o grau de inclusão digital da população. Ou seja, fica patente que, em estados da federação de maior grau de desenvolvimento econômico é também maior o percentual de pessoas consideradas digitalmente incluídas.

Tabela 5 Inclusão digital por estados (*) Brasil - 2001 e 2004 ESTADOS Rondônia Acre Amazonas Roraima Pará Amapá Tocantins Maranhão

2.001 4,16 6,68 4,98 2,30 3,37 2,29 1,80 1,44

2.004 5,20 4,16 4,25 4,64 3,22 4,68 3,63 2,55

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Piauí Ceará Rio Grande do Norte Paraíba Pernambuco Alagoas Sergipe Bahia Minas Gerais Espírito Santo Rio de Janeiro São Paulo Paraná Santa Catarina Rio Grande do Sul Mato Grosso do sul Mato Grosso Goiás Distrito Federal Total - BRASIL

2,02 3,31 4,45 3,84 4,37 2,97 4,46 3,51 6,16 7,55 12,81 15,14 8,75 10,09 8,22 6,60 4,84 4,52 19,28 8,32

3,96 4,12 6,13 5,16 5,63 4,26 6,11 4,93 10,32 12,45 18,05 20,59 16,05 16,34 13,94 9,16 7,01 7,87 27,24 11,98

Fonte: PNAD's dos anos selecionados.

Elaboração própria. (*) pessoas que habitam em domicílios que possuem acesso à internet

A tabela 6 (assim como as seguintes) revela a relação entre acesso à internet e renda do indivíduo. A tabela organiza os dados de tal forma que se possa quantificar qual o percentual de pessoas digitalmente incluídas em cada um dos seis estratos de renda definidos.

Tomando-se um perfil bastante estratificado da população brasileira segundo os diferentes intervalos de renda definidos, percebe-se uma forte diferenciação em termos de inclusão digital segundo os estratos de rendimentos. Considerando-se os dois grupos de renda mais alta, percebese que houve, entre 2001 e 2004, uma redução da diferença entre os respectivos percentuais de incluídos digitais: em 2001, havia cerca de 63% de incluídos digitais no estrato do 1% mais rico e de cerca de 55% no estrato definido a seguir (95% a 99%), enquanto em 2004 o percentual de incluídos era de cerca de 70% no primeiro percentil e de 65% nos 4% seguintes – uma diferença, portanto, bem menor do que a existente três anos antes. Nos demais estratos também houve aumento da inclusão digital, mas de forma menos expressiva. Isso chama a atenção para o que já foi percebido por outros autores 7 : parece que, apesar de certos esforços do setor público e de

7

Cf., especialmente, Aun et alli (2007); Martini (2005); Silveira (2003).

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algumas organizações não-governamentais, a inclusão digital no país tem sido muito mais o resultado de “mecanismos de mercado”, que naturalmente incluem e geram maiores possibilidades justamente para aquelas pessoas que já estão incluídas socialmente e que também – por isso mesmo – já possuem renda para pagar um provedor, comprar um computador, gastar com energia elétrica, fazer ursos de computação etc. Isso é extremamente preocupante, pois revela que as políticas de inclusão digital têm sido insuficientes para promover mudanças expressivas no grau de inclusão digital 8 . A chamada “sociedade da informação”, no Brasil, tem se prestado apenas a reproduzir e promover as já impregnadas marcas da desigualdade e da injustiça social que caracterizam a sociedade brasileira.

Tabela 6 Proporção de Incluídos Digitais por Classes de Renda Brasil 2001 e 2004 CLASSE DE RENDA 2001 2004 63,54 69,88 (1% mais Rico) (De 95% a 99%)

54,88

64,87

(de 90% a 95%)

35,81

48,19

(20% seguintes)

13,18

21,24

(30% seguintes)

1,98

4,58

(40% mais Pobres)

0,28

0,64

100,00

100,00

Total

Fonte: PNAD's (IBGE), anos selecionados.

Elaboração própria.

A tabela 7, ao contrário da imediatamente anterior, distribui as pessoas digitalmente incluídas segundo as seis classes de renda anteriormente definidas. A tabela 7 reforça o que foi afirmado acima, embora de todo modo revele certa (mas ainda insuficiente) melhoria no grau de inclusão digital do país entre 2001 e 2004, pois pelo menos dos estratos médios para cima da pirâmide distributiva há uma evidente ampliação do grau de acesso à internet. Os dados da tabela 7 revelam que, entre 2001 e 2004, passou de 8% para 6% a parcela dos chamados incluídos

8

Está por ser mais bem analisado o suposto potencial de inclusão digital pra promover a inclusão social, notadamente em sociedades desiguais, conforme se comenta mais à frente, neste artigo.

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digitais brasileiros que fazia parte do primeiro decil da pirâmide distributiva 9 . Essa redução revela, na verdade, uma ampliação da presença de incluídos digitais nos extratos médios da pirâmide distributiva, conforme se observa nos estratos dos 20% seguintes aos 5% mais ricos e também no dos 30% seguintes. Na base da pirâmide, embora também se possa detectar uma ampliação da participação desses indivíduos no conjunto dos incluídos digitais do país, percebese ainda uma modesta contribuição para esse total. Dessa forma, conclui-se, pelos dados da tabela 7, que existe ainda um expressivo fosso digital na sociedade brasileira, manifestado pela íntima relação entre renda baixa e exclusão digital. Ou seja, o perfil de inclusão digital reproduz o desigual perfil de distribuição da renda da sociedade brasileira.

Tabela 7 Total de incluídos digitais por classe de renda e distribuição dos incluídos digitais por classes de renda Brasil 2001 e 2004 CLASSES DE RENDA 2001 Incluídos digitais % do total 1.046.752 8,01 (1% mais Rico)

2004 Incluídos digitais % do total 1.235.512 6,04

(De 95% a 99%)

3.561.285

27,26

4.587.505

22,43

(de 90% a 95%)

2.988.313

22,88

4.213.620

20,60

(20% seguintes)

4.303.916

32,95

7.523.591

36,78

(30% seguintes)

979.483

7,50

2.437.238

11,92

(40% mais Pobres)

183.182

1,40

456.849

2,23

13.062.931

100,00

20.560.087

100,00

Total

Fonte: PNAD's (IBGE), anos selecionados. Elaboração própria.

A tabela 8 reúne dados de rendimentos das pessoas digitalmente incluídas. Os dados mostram que houve uma pequena melhoria no perfil de distribuição da renda dos incluídos digitais, ao mesmo tempo em que houve a acima comentada melhoria nos indicadores de inclusão digital.

9

O total de pessoas consideradas digitalmente incluídas na tabela 7 difere um pouco do total da tabela 1, pois na primeira tabela estão computadas algumas pessoas que, embora digitalmente incluídas, não têm renda, mas habitam em residências com acesso à internet. E a tabela 7 considera apenas as pessoas que têm renda entre as digitalmente incluídas.

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A melhoria do perfil distributivo dentro do grupo de pessoas digitalmente incluídas pode ser atestada pelo fato de que a renda mediana desse grupo de pessoas cresceu mais do que a renda média 10 . De todo modo, ainda se pode observar uma expressiva desigualdade na distribuição da renda dentro do seleto grupo de pessoas digitalmente incluídas no Brasil.

Tabela 8 Renda domiciliar per capita no Brasil por classes de renda Variação da renda média, da renda mediana e dos valores por classes de renda (*) variação da massa de rendimentos (**) Em valores equivalentes a setembro de 2004 2001 2004 variação (1) massa de rendimentos (2) 100,00 108,49 entre 2001 e 2004 média 390,53 393,74 0,27 mediana 198,75 210,25 1,93 classe 6 154,59 164,57 2,15 classe 5 344,50 353,50 0,87 classe 4 840,43 833,33 -0,28 classe 3 1325,00 1300,00 -0,63 classe 2 3276,06 3000,00 -2,81 classe 1 acima de 3.276,06 acima de 3000,00 Fonte: PNAD's (IBGE), vários anos. Elaboração própria. (*)as classes de renda foram definidas da seguinte forma: classe 6 - os 40% mais pobres; classe 5 - os 30% mais pobres seguintes; classe 4 - os 20 % seguintes; classe 3 - entre o nonagésimo e o nonagésimo quinto percentil classe 2 - entre o nonagésimo quinto e o nonagésimo nono percentil classe 1 - o 1% mais rico.

Portanto, em 2004, os dados mostram que o 1% mais rico da população recebia mais de R$ 3000, assim como se pode afirmar que, em 2004, os 40% mais pobres no Brasil recebiam até R$ 164,57.

(1) variação média anual em % de cada classe de renda.

(2) significa o produto da renda média pelo total de pessoas. A massa de rendimentos teve crescimento acumulado, entre 2001 e 2004, de cerca de 8,49%.

Finalmente, na tabela 9 apresenta-se a evolução, entre 2001 e 2004, da distribuição dos incluídos digitais brasileiros segundo os estados da federação. Os dados revelam como estão distribuídas regionalmente as pessoas que têm acesso à internet levando-se em conta as que têm

10 A evolução diferenciada desses indicadores (média e mediana), ao longo do tempo, em uma amostragem de dados, revela se houve ou não maior dispersão dos dados da referida amostra. A mediana representa o valor acima do qual está a metade dos dados da distribuição. Ou seja, a mediana divide o conjunto de dados em duas partes iguais. A média, por seu turno, representa a soma dos valores dividida pelo número total de dados. Dessa forma, a mediana tende a ser mais sensível a alterações de renda na base da pirâmide de distribuição dos dados. A média pode aumentar muito quando alguns dados do topo da pirâmide aumentam expressivamente. Mas isso não necessariamente alteraria a mediana. Ou seja, quando a mediana varia mais do que a média, significa que houve uma melhoria do perfil distributivo, ou seja, os dados de base subiram mais do que os do topo.

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computador. Tome-se o caso do estado de São Paulo, por exemplo. Os dados de 2001 revelam que, naquele ano, o estado de São Paulo reunia 40,57% das pessoas no país que tinham computador e que também tinham acesso à internet.

Esse percentual caiu, em 2004, para

37,72%, o que revela um acerta redução da concentração regional de inclusão digital do país no período. Os dados dos demais estados que possuem relativamente altos índices de posse de computadores e também de acesso à internet (RJ, DF, MG, SC, PR, RS) demonstram um aumento da participação no conjunto dos incluídos digitais do país, exceto nos casos de RJ e DF, nos quais a posse de computadores e o acesso à internet também – assim como em SP – já eram relativamente elevados em 2001. Esses indicadores revelam um processo de relativa melhoria no perfil regional brasileiro de inclusão digital. Diz-se “relativo”, pois, além do fato de que esse processo não tem sido muito acelerado, mantendo-se, portanto, o quadro de elevada desigualdade regional no país também no tocante a este indicador 11 , pode-se observar que a extensão e o alcance da melhor participação regional nos indicadores de inclusão digital limita-se a um pequeno grupo de estados da Federação. Os dados da tabela 9 mostram que em vários estados do norte e do nordeste (além do MS) houve uma redução do percentual de contribuição desses estados para o conjunto de indivíduos que têm acesso à internet entre os que já têm computador 12 .

Tabela 9 Acesso à internet entre as pessoas que têm computador Estados da

2001 Sim

Não

Total

Sim

Não

Total

Números absolutos

38009

24931

62940

78.640

43.651

122.291

% dentro da UF

60,39

39,61

100,00

64,31

35,69

100,00

Federação Rondônia

% entre Internet Acre

0,27

0,36

0,30

0,36

0,56

0,41

Números absolutos

25748

9401

35149

26.324

11.304

37.628

% dentro da UF

73,25

26,75

100,00

69,96

30,04

100,00

% entre Internet

0,18

0,13

0,17

0,12

0,15

0,13

109099

77751

186850

135.422

90.673

226.095

Números absolutos Amazonas

11

2004

% dentro da UF

58,39

41,61

100,00

59,90

40,10

100,00

% entre Internet

0,77

1,12

0,88

0,62

1,17

0,77

Números absolutos

6006

3946

9952

17.218

7.562

24.780

Assim como acontece quando se tomam indicadores de renda, por exemplo, conforme já demonstraram diversos trabalhos de economia regional, como por exemplo: Mattos (1995); Martine e Diniz (1991); Diniz (1993).

12 Excetuando-se os casos de Estados que contribuíam, em 2001, com pouco expressivas parcelas (abaixo de 0,5%) do total de incluídos digitais do país.

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Roraima

% dentro da UF

60,35

39,65

100,00

69,48

30,52

100,00

% entre Internet

0,04

0,06

0,05

0,08

0,10

0,08

145479

106496

251975

220.591

167.334

387.925

57,74

42,26

100,00

56,86

43,14

100,00

Números absolutos Pará

% dentro da UF % entre Internet

Amapá

Tocantins

Maranhão

Piauí

1,03

1,53

1,19

1,01

2,16

1,31

Números absolutos

10241

3657

13898

27.520

24.619

53.181

% dentro da UF

73,69

26,31

100,00

51,75

46,29

100,00

% entre Internet

0,07

0,05

0,07

0,13

0,32

0,18

Números absolutos

21287

21486

42773

46.507

31.658

78.165

% dentro da UF

49,77

50,23

100,00

59,50

40,50

100,00

% entre Internet

0,15

0,31

0,20

0,21

0,41

0,26

Números absolutos

83006

54067

137073

153.824

66.950

220.774

% dentro da UF

60,56

39,44

100,00

69,67

30,33

100,00

% entre Internet

0,59

0,78

0,65

0,71

0,86

0,75

Números absolutos

58050

43407

101457

118.077

33.436

151.513

% dentro da UF

57,22

42,78

100,00

77,93

22,07

100,00

% entre Internet

0,41

0,62

0,48

0,54

0,43

0,51

253185

126136

385001

329.256

165.493

496.261

% dentro da UF

65,76

32,76

100,00

66,35

33,35

100,00

% entre Internet

1,80

1,81

1,82

1,51

2,14

1,68

125886

50444

176330

182.095

57.580

239.675

% dentro da UF

71,39

28,61

100,00

75,98

24,02

100,00

% entre Internet

0,89

0,72

0,83

0,84

0,74

0,81

133275

58103

191378

183.985

48.372

232.357

69,64

30,36

100,00

79,18

20,82

100,00

Números absolutos Ceará

Números absolutos Rio Grande do Norte

Números absolutos Paraíba

% dentro da UF % entre Internet

0,95

0,83

0,91

0,84

0,62

0,79

349922

176515

526437

468.392

189.538

657.930

% dentro da UF

66,47

33,53

100,00

71,19

28,81

100,00

% entre Internet

2,48

2,53

2,49

2,15

2,45

2,23

Números absolutos

85142

64697

149839

127.215

29.985

157.200

% dentro da UF

56,82

43,18

100,00

80,93

19,07

100,00

% entre Internet

0,60

0,93

0,71

0,58

0,39

0,53

Números absolutos

81113

39043

120156

118.430

43.174

161.604

% dentro da UF

67,51

32,49

100,00

73,28

26,72

100,00

% entre Internet

0,58

0,56

0,57

0,54

0,56

0,55

Números absolutos Pernambuco

Alagoas

Sergipe

Números absolutos Bahia

462688

200670

663358

675.008

283.871

960.858

% dentro da UF

69,75

30,25

100,00

70,25

29,54

100,00

% entre Internet

3,29

2,88

3,14

3,10

3,66

3,25

1123419

760226

1915214

1.963.219

936.849

2.901.804

Números absolutos Minas Gerais

% dentro da UF

58,66

39,69

100,00

67,66

32,29

100,00

% entre Internet

7,98

10,91

9,07

9,01

12,09

9,82

238571

120647

359670

417.723

161.158

578.881

Números absolutos

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Espírito Santo

% dentro da UF

66,33

33,54

100,00

72,16

27,84

100,00

% entre Internet

1,69

1,73

1,70

1,92

2,08

1,96

1870831

717336

2618935

2.751.292

834.460

3.587.706

71,43

27,39

100,00

76,69

23,26

100,00

Números absolutos Rio de Janeiro

% dentro da UF % entre Internet

13,28

10,29

12,40

12,63

10,77

12,14

5713472

2502175

8215647

8.216.783

2.473.257

10.690.040

% dentro da UF

69,54

30,46

100,00

76,86

23,14

100,00

% entre Internet

40,57

35,90

38,90

37,72

31,92

36,18

849230

523502

1372732

1.628.644

579.193

2.207.837

% dentro da UF

61,86

38,14

100,00

73,77

26,23

100,00

% entre Internet

6,03

7,51

6,50

7,48

7,47

7,47

551090

334535

885625

945.239

372.994

1.318.233

% dentro da UF

62,23

37,77

100,00

71,71

28,29

100,00

% entre Internet

3,91

4,80

4,19

4,34

4,81

4,46

Números absolutos São Paulo

Números absolutos Paraná

Números absolutos Santa Catarina

Números absolutos Rio Grande do Sul

848141

543121

1391262

1.497.358

555.261

2.055.530

% dentro da UF

60,96

39,04

100,00

72,85

27,01

100,00

% entre Internet

6,02

7,79

6,59

6,87

7,17

6,96

138254

64813

203067

204.190

86.985

291.175

% dentro da UF

68,08

31,92

100,00

70,13

29,87

100,00

% entre Internet

0,98

0,93

0,96

0,94

1,12

0,99

124148

68105

192253

191.707

86.777

278.484

% dentro da UF

64,58

35,42

100,00

68,84

31,16

100,00

% entre Internet

0,88

0,98

0,91

0,88

1,12

0,94

Números absolutos Mato Grosso do sul

Números absolutos Mato Grosso

Números absolutos Goiás

231336

145531

376867

434.573

214.522

649.095

% dentro da UF

61,38

38,62

100,00

66,95

33,05

100,00

% entre Internet

1,64

2,09

1,78

1,99

2,77

2,20

405974

128969

534943

624.065

152.284

776.349

75,89

24,11

100,00

80,38

19,62

100,00

Números absolutos Distrito Federal

% dentro da UF % entre Internet

2,88

1,85

2,53

2,86

1,97

2,63

14082602

6969710

21120781

21.783.297

7.748.940

29.543.371

% dentro da UF

66,68

33,00

100,00

73,73

26,23

100,00

% entre Internet

100,00

100,00

100,00

100,00

100,00

100,00

Números absolutos Total

Fonte: PNAD (IBGE), 2001 e 2004. Elaboração própria.

Portanto, pode-se afirmar que houve uma desconcentração do indicador de inclusão digital do país entre 2001 e 2004, conforme se atesta pelo fato de que diminuiu a contribuição de SP, RJ e DF, para o conjunto das pessoas digitalmente incluídas do país, embora, em cada um desses estados, tenha aumentado o percentual de pessoas com acesso à internet entre aqueles que já têm computador. Essa redução relativa da participação de SP, RJ e DF no conjunto dos incluídos digitais do país foi acompanhada de expressiva ampliação da contribuição de outros

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estados da federação, destacando-se, por exemplo, MG, ES e os estados da região Sul do país (além de Goiás, também). Dessa forma, observou-se que essa ampliação da contribuição regional não ocorreu de forma equânime em termos espaciais. A contribuição da maioria dos estados das regiões Norte e Nordeste, para o conjunto dos incluídos digitais do país caiu, entre 2001 e 2004, embora, dentro de quase todos eles, tenha aumentado, em termos absolutos e em termos relativos, o número de pessoas que, tendo um computador, também têm acesso à internet.

Pode-se concluir, assim, que, embora tenha ocorrido, também nesses estados mais pobres do país, uma ampliação do grau de inclusão digital da sua população (sempre segundo os critérios do IBGE), nessas regiões o ritmo de expansão da inclusão digital foi inferior ao ritmo de aumento da inclusão digital na média do país (entre 2001 e 2004, conforme mostra a tabela, aumentou de 66,68% para 73,73% a parcela de brasileiros que, já tendo computador, também possuíam acesso à internet). Sendo assim, pode-se concluir que a desconcentração da inclusão digital no país deuse de forma restrita regionalmente, tendo ocorrido principalmente em Estados da Federação cuja renda está entre as mais elevadas do país. Houve de fato uma redução da participação relativa do estado de São Paulo no conjunto dos incluídos digitais do país; entretanto, essa redução relativa de São Paulo não representou uma homogênea expansão da inclusão digital nos demais Estados da Federação. Essa expansão ocorreu de forma restrita a alguns estados cujas rendas estão entre as mais elevadas do país. Parece ter ocorrido, em relação à distribuição regional dos acessos à internet, fenômeno semelhante ao descrito pioneiramente por Diniz (1993), um dos estudiosos mais importantes de economia regional do Brasil, em relação à distribuição regional da renda no país. Ou seja, uma desconcentração da renda para fora do estado mais rico da Nação, mas de forma tal que os novos pólos de expansão desses acessos situam-se em um polígono em volta da região Metropolitana de São Paulo e do Estado de São Paulo. Na seguinte passagem, anunciando os principais resultados de seu trabalho, Diniz (1993) afirma: “é mais apropriado considerar o Brasil como um caso de desenvolvimento poligonal, onde um limitado número de novos pólos de crescimento ou regiões têm capturado a maior parte das atividades econômicas. O resultado está longe de ser uma verdadeira desconcentração, especialmente porque os novos centros estão no próprio estado de São Paulo ou relativamente próximos a ele” (p. 35)

Diniz (1993) batiza esse processo de “aglomeração poligonal”, pois as atividades econômicas, até os anos 1960, fortemente concentradas no estado de São Paulo, passaram a se espalhar por uma região mais ampla, num polígono que engloba ampla parcela da região Sul do

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país e também áreas de Minas Gerais (especialmente o sul do estado e a região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte) e também o estado do Espírito Santo.

Os dados demonstrados neste artigo permitem avaliar que o processo de desconcentração regional da inclusão digital, no Brasil, segue, de forma um pouco defasada, no tempo, a trajetória da desconcentração regional da renda, o que sugere que são os “mecanismos de mercado” e não as políticas públicas, que têm moldado o processo de inclusão digital no país. Para explicar aquele processo de desconcentração restrita da renda, um dos argumentos utilizados por Diniz (1993) era de que os anos 80 e o início dos anos 90 tinham sido marcados pelo “relativo declínio e fracasso das políticas regionais e do investimento estatal” (p. 54).

Ou seja, Diniz (1993) reitera que as políticas públicas relacionadas à distribuição regional da renda ou haviam fracassado (especialmente nos anos 1980) ou mesmo (especialmente depois de 1990, quando o país entrou abertamente em uma era de implementação de políticas neoliberais) tinham sido abandonadas, o que significa dizer que os mecanismos de mercado haviam prevalecido e que aqueles dados eram o resultado desse fato.

Apenas para breve efeito comparativo em relação ao processo recente de desconcentração da distribuição regional de acessos à internet no Brasil , a tabela 10, com dados retirados da International Telecommunication Union (ITU), mostra, para período semelhante ao analisado neste artigo para o caso do Brasil, uma pronunciada desconcentração mundial da inclusão digital, com queda da participação relativa da região pioneira no acesso à internet (EUA/Canadá) entre 1997 e 2002; de 48% para 29% do total mundial. Essa queda relativa (pois, obviamente, o número absoluto de pessoas com acesso à internet subiu expressivamente no período, nos EUA e Canadá) foi compensada especialmente pelo continente asiático (exceto o Japão – ver tabela), que foi, não por acaso, a região do mundo que ostentou os maiores índices de crescimento no período, especialmente por causa do desempenho de China e Índia (ver Economic Outlook – OCDE).

Note-se que a contribuição relativa do Japão na distribuição dos incluídos digitais no mundo caiu entre 1997 e 2002, provavelmente por causa do desempenho relativamente ruim da economia japonesa no período. Nos demais continentes, em que pese ter havido ampliação do número absoluto de pessoas com acesso à internet, esse movimento não teve ritmo comparável ao ocorrido no bloco de países que compõem o continente asiático. Dessa forma, embora seja inegável que até mesmo na África, no Caribe e na América do Sul o fenômeno da ampliação da inclusão digital seja notório, a contribuição desses continentes para o conjunto dos incluídos

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digitais do planeta não aumentou de forma tão expressiva quanto a contribuição do continente asiático, que vivenciou e tem vivenciado um extraordinário processo de desenvolvimento econômico nos últimos anos, conforme mostram os dados de compêndios estatísticos da OCDE Economic Outlook em vários anos recentes.

Tabela 10 Estimativa de acessos à Internet Países e continentes selecionados Em milhões de usuários 1997-2002 1997 EUA e Canadá 44,5 Europa 23,7 Japão 11,6 Oceania 2,2 Ásia (exceto 6,8 Japão) Am. Latina e 2,9 Caribe

1998 67,5 42,8 16,9 4,8

1999 113,0 77,7 27,1 6,4

2000 137,0 110,8 38,0 8,2

2001 156,8 143,9 48,9 9,1

2002 170,2 166,4 57,2 10,5

15,5

38,5

71,3

101,6

143,9

6,5

11,1

17,7

26,2

35,5

África

0,9

1,6

2,8

4,6

6,5

7,9

TOTAL

92,6

155,6

276,6

387,6

493,0

591,6

1997 48,1 25,6 12,5 2,4

1998 43,4 27,5 10,9 3,1

1999 40,9 28,1 9,8 2,3

2000 35,3 28,6 9,8 2,1

2001 31,8 29,2 9,9 1,8

2002 28,8 28,1 9,7 1,8

7,3

10,0

13,9

18,4

20,6

24,3

participação em % EUA e Canadá Europa Japão Oceania Ásia (exceto Japão) Am. Latina e Caribe África

3,1

4,2

4,0

4,6

5,3

6,0

1,0

1,0

1,0

1,2

1,3

1,3

Fonte: International Telecommunications Union(ICT).

COMENTÁRIOS CONCLUSIVOS ACERCA DA IMPORTÂNCIA DOS FATORES QUALITATIVOS E COGNITIVOS DA INCLUSÃO DIGTIAL Em boa medida, a distribuição regional dos acessos à internet no Brasil reflete o processo de desconcentração regional da renda ocorrido no país nas últimas décadas, bem como o tipo da desconcentração havida nos gastos públicos e privados em pesquisa e desenvolvimento nas empresas. Essa desconcentração da renda e dos gastos com pesquisa e desenvolvimento contemplou um polígono, segundo Diniz (1993), que passa pelo norte do Paraná, por Porto

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Alegre (RS), Florianópolis (SC), Belo Horizonte (MG) e São José dos Campos (SP) (Diniz, 1993), incluindo dentro de si o estado de São Paulo.

Esse processo peculiar (pois não nacionalmente homogêneo) de desconcentração da renda parece ter se repetido, embora com certa defasagem de tempo, na distribuição do acesso à internet no país.

O aumento da oferta de equipamentos de TIC”s representa um elemento importante de desenvolvimento econômico por causa do potencial de geração de empregos e renda desse próprio setor de atividade; ademais, a expansão das TIC’s promove um aumento da produtividade média na economia e colabora para a expansão de diversas outras atividades econômicas. É preciso, porém, discutir com mais cuidado os efeitos mais específicos que o acesso às TIC’s promove na inserção social das pessoas que passam ser consideradas socialmente incluídas. Neste artigo, procurou-se descrever expansão da inclusão digital no país nos primeiros anos da primeira década do atual século, buscando também avaliar o perfil regional dessa expansão. Tal opção de descrever o processo de inclusão digital brasileiro com base em aspectos regionais justifica-se pelo fato de a sociedade brasileira ser profundamente desigual em termos regionais. Essa opção pela análise regional deve-se também à necessidade de reunir argumentos para mostrar que, ao contrário do que supõe certa literatura de caráter ufanista (conforme também destaca Lopes, 2007) 13 , entendemos que os indicadores de inclusão digital servem mais para descrever a realidade social e econômica existente do que para alterá-la.

A propalada inclusão social por intermédio da inclusão digital é uma falácia, um mito. Os dados existentes sobre inclusão digital – ademais de serem metodologicamente questionáveis, por superestimarem o fenômeno da expansão da mesma – apenas revelam uma faceta já sobejamente conhecida e descrita pelos dados de distribuição de renda e de riqueza presentes nos melhores trabalhos de Economia Regional e de Economia do Trabalho. Conforme procuramos demonstrar neste artigo, não se pode negar que tenha havido uma rápida expansão da inclusão digital na sociedade brasileira, assim como também é incontroverso de que a mesma ocorreu em todas as regiões do país, embora certamente com mais ênfase nas regiões cujos rendimentos médios das pessoas estão entre os mais elevados do país.

13

Lopes (2007) abre seu artigo afirmando que: “a bibliografia recente é farta de exemplos de esforços para se entender o impacto econômico e social da adoção massiva das Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação (TICs).

Mas, em contraste com esses esforços, pouco se avançou no estudo das metodologias necessárias para a avaliação desse impacto. (...) De fato, uma espécie de euforia tecnológica se disseminou rapidamente, em uma abordagem determinista na qual as TIC’s levariam, naturalmente, ao progresso”.

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Em termos comparativos internacionais, essa expansão também pode ser considerada significativa, conforme atestam dados recentes divulgados pelo Internet World Series (2007), que revelam que, entre 2000 e dezembro de 2007, aumentou 752% o acesso e uso da Internet no Brasil.

O questionamento metodológico que se pode fazer aos indicadores de inclusão digital – tal qual o fenômeno é medido pelo IBGE, ou seja, considerando como digitalmente incluídos os indivíduos que tenham acessado a internet, pelo menos uma vez, nos últimos 90 dias antes da entrevista da PNAD – deve-se ao fato de que a qualidade desse acesso digital não pode ser aferida. Isso é fato notadamente quando se lembra que o processo de inovação das TIC’s é contínuo e acelerado, gerando “novas” formas de exclusão digital a cada momento. Em país de nível de renda baixo e elevada concentração da renda e da riqueza, esse aspecto desfavorável gerado pela acelerada expansão tecnológica se amplifica, pois os mecanismos de exclusão de acesso às TIC’s pela renda se sobrepõem aos já graves problemas sociais enfrentados pelos cidadãos, a saber: baixa qualidade da Educação, o que permite baixa capacidade cognitiva à população em geral; baixo padrão de consumo; dificuldade de acesso à cultura e ao conhecimento científico.

Nem mesmo a existência e a inegável proliferação de políticas públicas especificamente voltadas à expansão da inclusão digital parecem dar conta dos desafios que se sobrepõem em sociedades profundamente desiguais como a brasileira. Conforme Mattos e Chagas (2007) destacam, a adoção de políticas públicas é fundamental para que continue a ocorrer expansão da inclusão digital na sociedade brasileira, ainda mais a partir do momento em que a inclusão digital via “mecanismos de mercado” (ou seja, acesso digital para o elevado número absoluto de pessoas localizadas no topo da pirâmide distributiva brasileira) parece ter se completado. Está ainda por ser provada a suposta capacidade de a inclusão digital promover melhorias na inclusão social.

Embora não se possa negar que o acesso às TIC’s e suas diversas modalidades de inclusão digital deva ser cada vez mais universalizado – e, para que isso ocorra, a existência de políticas públicas é fundamental – é preciso lembrar que a qualidade desses acessos são muito diferenciadas, e essa diferenciação as estatísticas mais usuais de inclusão digital não costumam captar.

Essa diferenciação da qualidade do acesso não se deve apenas à diferenciada composição técnica existente nos diversos equipamentos de TIC’s (por exemplo: acesso por linhas discada versus acesso por banda larga, para registrar apenas um exemplo), mas também à capacidade

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cognitiva dos cidadãos envolvidos nesse processo, o que define o seu efetivo uso das TIC’s e não uma mera estatística a mais de acesso. Conforme alertam Sorj e Guedes (2005), a capacidade de leitura e de interpretação das informações por parte dos usuários dos equipamentos de TIC’s (notadamente, no acesso aos conteúdos da internet) são aspectos que definem a qualidade da inclusão digital e de fato delimitam o potencial de transformações sociais que a expansão da oferta de TIC’s pode promover.

Os dados reunidos e interpretados neste artigo, assim como a literatura crítica que trata do tema da inclusão digital, sugerem que o Brasil necessita de uma contínua expansão das políticas públicas das políticas públicas de inclusão digital, mas as mesmas só efetivamente se tornarão suficientemente abrangentes caso sejam acompanhadas de outras diversas transformações estruturais, tanto de caráter econômico quanto de caráter social, a saber: melhoria da distribuição de renda; crescimento econômico sustentado, com conseqüente ampliação da renda média da população; inclusão de parcelas crescentes da população no padrão de consumo baseados em bens de consumo de elevado conteúdo tecnológico etc. Além disso, é imperioso que também ocorra uma revolução da qualidade da Educação Básica no país e, não menos importante, uma efetiva democratização dos meios de geração de conteúdo de informações, que envolva não apenas os provedores de acesso à internet como também as TIC’s relacionadas com TV a cabo e TV’s abertas que atuam no país.

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HUSSON, M. (1999). Miséria do Capital: uma crítica do neoliberalismo. (Edição portuguesa).

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MARTINE, G. e DINIZ, C.C. Concentração econômica e demográfica no Brasil: recente inversão do padrão histórico. Revista de Economia Política. Vol. 11, n.3 (43), julho-setembro 1991.

MARTINI, R. Inclusão digital & inclusão social. IBICT. Revista Inclusão Social. Vol. 1, n.1 , 2005. Publicado em convênio com o Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia. Acesso em 23/04/2007, no endereço: www.ibict.br/revistainclusaosocial/viewarticle.php?id=7&layout=html MARX, K. (1968). O Capital - crítica da economia política. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Civilização Brasileira.

MATTOS, F. A. M. Distribuição regional da renda no Brasil: determinantes históricos e perspectivas. Cadernos da FACECA (8), publicação semestral da Faculdade de Ciências Econômicas, Contábeis e Administrativas da PUC de Campinas, vol. 5, no.1, p. 23-55, jan./jul.1996. ________. Transformações nos mercados de trabalho dos países capitalistas desenvolvidos a partir da retomada da hegemonia americana. Tese de Doutoramento. Campinas: Instituto de Economia da UNICAMP. 2001. ________. Exclusão Digital e Exclusão Social: elementos para uma discussão. Transinformação.

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MATTOS, F.A.M. e CHAGAS, G.J.N. Desafios para a inclusão digital no Brasil. IN: Anais do VIII ENANCIB (Encontro Nacional de Pesquisa em Ciência da Informação). Salvador (BA).

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SILVEIRA, S. A. (2003). Inclusão digital, software livre e globalização contra-hegemônica. In: SILVEIRA, S. A . e CASSINO, J. (org.) (2003). Software Livre e Inclusão Digital. São Paulo: Conrad Editora do Brasil.

SORJ, B.; GUEDES, L. E. (2005). Exclusão Digital – problemas conceituais, evidências empíricas e políticas públicas. In: Novos Estudos, nº 72, julho de 2005.

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Considerações sobre a Rede Globo dos anos 2002 e 2003 através do contexto de produção da minissérie “A Casa das Sete Mulheres” Cassiano Ferreira Simões 1 RESUMO O presente texto busca refletir a Rede Globo de Televisão dos anos 2002 e 2003, através do contexto de produção da minissérie A Casa das Sete Mulheres. O período foi marcado por uma grave crise financeira na organização e o fim de uma fase expansionista, ao tempo em que a minissérie foi concebida e realizada em prazo reduzido. O período é emblemático e a troca de temas pode elucidar um pouco as estratégias políticas de então: afinal, foi um momento em que uma emissora grande e organizada se aventurou em uma mudança de curso de última hora, com uma história de uma escritora ainda desconhecida. De forma completar, o fato pode estar implicado com a necessidade de realização de um produto relacionado ao Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A hipótese presente é de que a opção pelo conteúdo gaúcho pode ter sido determinante para a mudança de planos.

Palavras-chave: Rede Globo – Televisão – Crise financeira – Rio Grande do Sul ABSTRACT This text seeks to reflect Globo Television Network about the years 2002 and 2003, through the context of production of the TV series A Casa das Sete Mulheres (The House of Seven Women). The Period was marked by a severe financial crisis in the organization and the end of an expansionary moment, by the time the TV series was conceived and carried out in reduced time. The period is symbolized and the issues exchange can elucidate political strategies: after all, it was a moment that a huge and organized station ventured into an abruptly change, with a story of a unknown writer. So complete, the fact may be involved with the need to hold to a product related to the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The hypothesis is that the option by the gaucho content may have been decisive for the change of plans.

Key-words: Rede Globo – Television – Financial crisis – Rio Grande do Sul RESUMEN Este texto trata de reflejar la Red Globo de Televisión de los años 2002 y 2003, por medio del contexto de producción de la miniserie A Casa das Sete Mulheres (La Casa de las Siete Mujeres). El período se caracterizó por una grave crisis financiera en la organización y el final de un período de expansión, momento en que la miniserie fue concebida y llevada a cabo en corto plazo. El período es emblemático y el intercambio de los temas puede aclarar un poco las estrategias políticas de la época: después de todo, fue un momento en que una estación grande y organizada se aventuró en un cambio de rumbo a última hora, con una historia de una escritora aún desconocida. Complementar mente, el hecho puede estar involucrado con la necesidad de elaborar un producto relacionado con el estado de Rio Grande do Sul. La hipótesis es que esta opción por contenido gaucho puede haber sido decisiva para el cambio de planes.

Palabras-clave: Rede Globo – Televisión – Crisis financiera – Rio Grande do Sul 1

Publicitário, radialista e mestre em Comunicação e Cultura Contemporâneas. Professor de Administração e Comunicação da Fundação Universidade do Tocantins e Centro Universitário Luterano de Palmas (ULBRA).

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INTRODUÇÃO Qualquer produto televisivo cumpre sempre um determinado papel em uma grade de programação. A uma primeira análise, este papel se restringe à conquista de audiência.

Entretanto, a história de cada produção traz a luz seus fatos motivadores e revelações que complementam os motivos inicialmente observáveis. Algumas vezes, essas finalidades – eventualmente denominadas “secundárias“ – são tão ou mais importantes do que as finalidades principais.

No caso da minissérie A Casa Das Sete Mulheres, advém a constatação de que foi produzida em tempo recorde: lançado o livro em abril de 2002 pela praticamente desconhecida escritora gaúcha Letícia Wierzchowiski, foi identificado pela autora global Maria Adelaide Amaral casualmente (segundo a própria) em junho e produzida ainda em 2002, para ser levada ao ar em janeiro de 2003.

Por que motivo uma emissora organizada se aventura em uma mudança de curso de última hora, com uma história de uma escritora ainda desconhecida? De forma completar, estaria o fato implicado com a necessidade de realização de um produto que se passasse especificamente no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul? Segundo a autora, em entrevista concedida à produção do DVD lançado em 2004: Acho que o mais engraçado dessa história das ‘Sete Mulheres’ é que na verdade eu sugeri o livro antes de ter lido. Marluce (Dias da Silva, então diretora geral da TV Globo) me ligou e falou “o Jaiminho (Jaime Monjardim, diretor) tá querendo dirigir uma minissérie assim, assim”; eu falei: “ah (gaguejando um pouco), porque não A Casa das Sete Mulheres?”.

Porque na verdade eu estava com o telefone sem fio olhando para a estante e vi o livro. Esse livro me tinha sido dado em abril, ou seja, dois meses antes, no Rio de Janeiro, com a seguinte recomendação da editora: “este livro daria uma ótima minissérie”. Evidentemente, eu recebo pelo menos uns cinco livros por mês com essa recomendação. Mas... casualmente, porque foi absolutamente casual. Eu estava com o telefone sem fio... eu olhei e falei assim: “por que é que a gente não faz A Casa das Sete Mulheres?” Aí ele(a) falou: “gostei do título. Sobre o que é?” Aí eu peguei o livro e fui ver na orelha e na contra-capa sobre o que se tratava. Eu falei “olha, é interessante... são as mulheres de Bento Gonçalves e tal”. Quer dizer, no início, na base do ‘chutômetro’... total, né. Ele(a) falou: “ah, gostei. Faz uma sinopse”. Ele(a) falou: “o Walter Negrão há dois anos está pesquisando sobre o Rio Grande do Sul”. Eu falei: “por que é que ele não se incorpora a mim?” (...) Aí eu liguei imediatamente para o Walter Negrão e falei: “Negrão, você corre pra livraria mais próxima e compra A Casa das Sete Mulheres”. Ele falou “o que que é isso?”. Eu falei: “é a próxima minissérie.

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Nós temos uma semana para fazer a sinopse. Você corre porque nós vamos trabalhar juntos” (rindo). E foi assim que aconteceu 2 .

Os trabalhos de gravação tiveram início na segunda semana de outubro de 2002 3 . Isto significa que os trabalhos de pré-produção foram realizados em um intervalo de aproximadamente quatro meses. Prazo extremamente curto para os objetivos, uma vez que deveriam estar neste período incluídas atividades como a definição do estilo literário e da obra a ser adaptada, a necessária a leitura e o projeto de adaptação, a elaboração de uma sinopse (e sua aprovação) e o desenvolvimento do roteiro. Para a operacionalização seriam necessários ainda a definição do elenco e das locações e o treinamento dos atores nas diversas habilidades: montaria, lutas, lanças, espadas, facas, garruchas, técnicas de guerra etc., além de particularidades da cultura gaúcha, como os sotaques e o churrasco e chimarrão. Tudo, antes de serem iniciadas as gravações.

Grandes organizações industriais, como a Rede Globo de Televisão, operam de forma planificada, com um cronograma de produções muito organizado. Os chamados planos estratégicos são anuais e, em geral, atualizam outros planos bi-anuais ou qüinqüenais.

Um cronograma ideal precisaria de mais tempo. A Minissérie “Amazônia – De Galvez a Chico Mendes”, exibida de janeiro a abril de 2007, teve suas gravações iniciadas em setembro do ano anterior.

Segundo SILVA, em seu trabalho sobre gestão de cinema, o desenvolvimento de um roteiro para um longa-metragem (que é uma obra menor do que uma minissérie, mas com perfil de produção mais artesanal) leva, no Brasil, de 6 a 8 meses, afirmativa baseada em informações da produtora Conspiração Filmes, responsável pela produção de obras como “Casseta & Planeta: A Taça do Mundo é Nossa”, de Lula B. de Hollanda, “Redentor”, de Claudio Torres e “Dois Filhos de Francisco”, de Breno Silveira. Segundo o mesmo autor, o desenvolvimento de um filme, desde o projeto inicial, levaria de dois a três anos 4 , muito embora se saiba que fatores internos e externos à organização possam relativizar enormemente esse prazo, tanto para maior quanto para menor.

2

Entrevista de Maria Adelaide Amaral concedida a Globo Vídeo por ocasião do lançamento do DVD “A Casa das Sete Mulheres”, em janeiro de 2004.

3 BRASIL, Roberta. Os homens da casa. Correio Brasiliense, 29/09/2002. Apud CorreioWeb, 29/09/2002. >.

Disponível em <http://www2.correioweb.com.br/cw/EDICAO_20020929/sup_ctv_290902_108.htm Acessado em 17/11/2007. Ver também IstoÉ Gente & TV, edição de 16/11/2002. Disponível em < http://www.terra.com.br/exclusivo/noticias/2002/10/16/024.htm >. Acessado em 17/11/2007.

4 SILVA, Everton R da. A sofisticação da gestão e o direcionamento estratégico no setor de cinema: um estudo exploratório no segmento produtor. Dissertação (Mestrado em Administração) – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Instituto COPPEAD de Administração, 2005. “o tempo médio para o desenvolvimento do roteiro, a partir de uma idéia original, é cerca de 18 a 24 meses e, para o segundo caso (adaptação), este prazo reduz para 6 a 8 meses”. pág. 172.

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A uma primeira análise, o motivo para esta mudança de rumos poderia estar relacionado a uma mudança estrutural no comportamento da audiência. Segundo noticiado por um articulista da Folha de São Paulo, a Globo estaria então propensa a suspender a produção de minisséries, entre os anos de 2000 e 2001: Apesar de a segunda edição de "No Limite" não ter sido o fenômeno de audiência que foi a primeira, a Globo planeja fazer uma terceira versão do programa, a ser exibida provavelmente em setembro ou outubro deste ano. (...) Já a produção de minisséries está suspensa pela emissora, após os relativos fracassos de audiência das últimas duas, "Aquarela do Brasil" e "Os Maias" 5 .

No entanto, entre 07 e 31 de agosto de 2001, foi ao ar a minissérie “Presença de Anita”, produção com apenas 16 capítulos que teve boa receptividade de público e crítica. Em seguida, foi exibida em janeiro de 2002 a minissérie “O quinto dos infernos”, uma das de maior sucesso de audiência de todos os tempos 6 . Estas duas peças teledramatúrgicas podem ser consideradas como o dispositivo de retorno das minisséries na grade da emissora. Trata-se, então, de uma transformação de rumos que precisa ser observada.

Tal deixa claro que a emissora já possuía em junho de 2002 um plano de programação para o início de 2003 que, de uma hora para outra, precisou ser modificado. Tratava-se da minissérie "O Capitão Mouro", sobre Zumbi de Palmares 7 . Por algum motivo que se pretende investigar, o projeto teve que ser substituído por outro, mais interessante política ou economicamente, devido a algum fato contextual (ou a alguns fatos contextuais) à Rede Globo dos anos 2002 e 2003.

O ano de 2002 foi visto por parte dos observadores como um ano expansionista para a TV Globo. Por outro lado, o ano de 2003 foi considerado um ano recessivo. A julgar por essa visão objetivista, a minissérie ACDSM poderia ter sido introduzida na grade de programas para o início do ano de 2003 por principalmente dois motivos diferentes. Estas hipóteses nos dizem que os motivos podem tanto ter sido relacionados à expansão dos domínios de mercado quanto ao seu posicionamento em relação aos parceiros (e eventuais concorrentes) brasileiros no Mercosul.

5

CASTRO, Daniel. Globo suspende séries, mas mantém "No Limite". Folha de S.Paulo. 27/03/2001 – Disponível em < http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u12093.shtml >. Acessado em 25/06/2007.

6 Ainda em 2002, iria ao ar pela primeira vez e até o ano de 2005 a série “Cidade dos Homens” e os somente quatro capítulos de “Pastores da noite”, produções de teledramaturgia pouco caracterizadas como ‘minissérie’.

7 CASTRO, Daniel. "Globo faz ‘concorrência’ para minissérie". Folha de S. Paulo, 17/06/02. Apud Observatório da Imprensa, s/d. Disponível em < http://observatorio.ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/artigos/asp2606200296.htm >.

Acessado em 04/10/2007.

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FUNÇÃO ECONÔMICA DE EXPANSÃO DE MERCADO A produção de ACDSM pode ter cumprido uma função econômica expansionista, de tentativa de ampliação do poder de atuação da Rede Globo, uma das maiores produtoras de produtos audiovisuais em língua latina do mundo, no mercado televisivo latino-americano.

Sua capacidade de penetração em mercados internacionais tem sido irregular, com fases de maior fluxo exportador, como aconteceu durante os anos iniciais do Século XXI, quando chegou a exportar novelas para os Estados Unidos da América e países centrais europeus.

Sobre este assunto, STRAUBHAAR analisou a transformação da Globo de consumidora de produtos audiovisuais estrangeiros em produtora para exportação, além de apontá-la como a maior emissora de produtos audiovisuais em língua portuguesa do mundo, com potencial para se transformar em uma emissora regional segmentada por idioma (2002) 8 .

Notícia do jornal A Folha de São Paulo de abril de 2003, intitulada “Globo negocia fazer novela com TV do Chile”, informa negociação em curso para produções conjuntas entre Rede Globo e TV Universidade Católica, onde já havia trabalhado Herval Rossano durante parte da década de 1980 e que voltou à Rede Globo nos anos 2000 9 .

Os anos finais da década de 1990 foram de expansão internacional dos grandes conglomerados de telecomunicações e de Mídia. Apoiada em seus projetos de TV a cabo, telefonia celular e internet, a Rede Globo também se expandiu. Depois da tentativa frustrada da Tele Montecarlo na década de 80, a febre de privatização e re-regulamentação da década seguinte proporcionou novas oportunidades de internacionalização ao conglomerado, com a sociedade com a TV SIC, canal aberto português (de 1991 a 2003), uma nova tentativa pouco duradoura de penetrar no mercado norteamericano (em parceria com a emissora hispânica Telemundo nos anos 2000) e a criação em 1999 da Globo Internacional, canal pago que distribui por satélite ou cabo os programas da Globo por grande parte do mundo 10 (BRITTOS : 2005, Pág. 131).

São anos que trouxeram notícias do sucesso de programas da Rede Globo junto aos assinantes de TV a cabo na Argentina, mais especificamente o programa da apresentadora infantil Xuxa. O aparente sucesso não se manteve, mas a Globo nunca se distanciou demais da expectativa de se tornar hegemônica na América do Sul, grande mercado de teledramaturgia, 8

STRAUBHAAR, Joseph. Refocusing from global to regional homogenization of television: production and programming in the latino U.S. market, Mexico and Venezuela. Paper submitted to ALAIC : Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolívia, 2002.

9 CASTRO, Daniel. Globo negocia fazer novela com TV do Chile. In Folha de são Paulo de 23/04/2003.

Disponível em < http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u32319.shtml >. Acessado em 25/06/2007.

10 BRITTOS, Valério C. Globo, Transnacionalização e Capitalismo. In BRITTOS, Valério C., BOLAÑO, César R. S. Rede Globo: 40 anos de poder e hegemonia. São Paulo : Paulus, 2005.

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praticamente dominado pelas produções mexicanas. Ainda na década de 1990, “o Chile incrementava a compra de know-how brasileiro com textos de nossos novelistas e buscava na produção brasileira da Globo o modelo para suas novelas” 11 . Alguns relatos dão conta dessa aproximação, como o caso da telenovela O Clone (entre os anos de 2001 e 2002), exibida no Chile, no Equador e em Portugal, quase simultaneamente à exibição brasileira. Aliás, os anos de 2002 e 2003 foram anos de grande penetração dos teledramas brasileiros no exterior.

Assim foi relatado pelos articulistas do Estado de São Paulo: A Globo, que começou tímida nesse negócio - exportando de uma a três novelas por ano -, hoje vende seus produtos para 130 países - cerca de 100 deles exibem atualmente um título da emissora. A Europa/Oriente Médio são nossos melhores clientes, representando, na distribuição geográfica de vendas em 2002, 74,2% do negócio, na frente da América Latina, com 13,5%, América do Norte, com 9,5 % e Ásia, com 2,4%.

‘O poder de nossa telenovela é tanto, que, como no Brasil, acaba lançando modas, músicas, costumes no exterior’, fala Geraldo Casé. ‘O Clone, por exemplo, deixou rastros por onde passou. Em Portugal, maquiadores aprenderam a fazer a maquiagem da Jade (Giovanna Antonelli) de tanto que as clientes pediam. Nos EUA, as lojas de bijuteria passaram a vender as réplicas das usadas por Jade, para atender a clientela’, conta. ‘Sem contar o turismo, que é incentivado a cada vez que uma novela brasileira retrata lá fora a beleza de nossas paisagens. A procura dos russos por pacotes de viagem para o Brasil, depois que nossas novelas chegaram lá, cresceu muito.’

A influência é tanta, conta Casé, que nossos atores acabam virando galãs internacionais. ‘Fagundes não pode andar tranqüilo pelas ruas do Chile. A mulherada pula no pescoço dele mais do que aqui’, continua, rindo. ‘A Giovanna (Antonelli) foi muito reconhecida pelo público nos Estados Unidos na época de O Clone e Lucélia Santos, até hoje, é personalidade na China, por causa de Escrava Isaura.’ 12

Da mesma forma, assim foi relatado o sucesso de “O Clone” na Argentina: A novela ‘O Clone’ está fazendo tanto sucesso na Argentina, uma raridade para produções brasileiras, que irá mudar de horário de exibição. A partir de segunda, a trama, um dos dez programas mais vistos no país, deixa a faixa das 15h e passa para a das 19h 13 .

Em termos de política de Estado, é importante contextualizar que uma das mais importantes realizações do Mercosul, a zona aduaneira denominada Tarifa Externa Comum, 11

ALENCAR, Mauro. A Telenovela como Paradigma Ficcional da América Latina (trabalho apresentado ao XXVIII Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação).

S/d.

Disponível em <http://sec.adaltech.com.br/intercom/2005/resumos/R0543-1.pdf > Acessado em 05/10/2007.

12 JIMENEZ, Keila. "O Brasil que o mundo conhece pela TV". O Estado de S. Paulo, 25/05/03. Apud Observatório da Imprensa, 27/05/2003.

Disponível em <http://observatorio.ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/artigos/asp27052003991.htm>. Acessado em 04/10/2004.

13 BUCCI, Eugênio. "A miséria do espetáculo". Folha de S. Paulo, 29/11/02, apud Observatório da Imprensa, s/d.

Disponível em <http://observatorio.ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/artigos/asp0412200298.htm>. Acessado em 04/10/2004.

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entrou em vigor junto com a posse do presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso em seu primeiro mandato, em primeiro de janeiro de 1995. Por ela, os países signatários do bloco regional poderiam cobrar as mesmas quotas nas importações uns dos outros, promovendo circulação de riqueza e de mercadorias, em uma política economicamente vantajosa para os seus integrantes.

Não sendo considerado uma prioridade para aquele governo, o Mercosul sofreu um intenso esvaziamento ao longo dos anos, se agravando em 2002, motivado pela crise cambial Argentina. Porém, com a eleição do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, no segundo semestre de 2002, era previsto que o projeto voltasse a receber atenção. Tendo sido eleito pelo principal partido de oposição, o Mercosul era um dos pontos da plataforma de governo do Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), em contraposição às preferências liberais do seu antecessor.

Ao que parece, o período em questão passa a mostrar o que seria uma nova postura do Estado brasileiro em relação aos países vizinhos, inspirando a Globo 14 a um novo olhar nessa direção. O momento parecia propício, tanto pelas políticas de Estado quanto pelos rumos que vinham tomando os processos político-econômicos em escala global, em que a tecnologia fez aproximar a emissora brasileira dos irmãos latinoamericanos.

FUNÇÃO POLÍTICA DE POSICIONAMENTO ACDSM foi produzida em 2002 e exibida em 2003. Estes foram anos problemáticos para a Rede Globo. É quando ela percebe que os altos investimentos feitos nos últimos dez anos foram na maior parte equivocados:

15

na telefonia celular, malogrou com investimentos

na NEC (Nippon Eletric Company), indústria japonesa de tecnologia de telefonia celular e telecomunicações. Equivocou-se nos enormes investimentos destinados à Globocabo, ante a percepção de que haveria uma definitiva migração da audiência da TV aberta para a TV paga, projeto que tratou de esvaziar a partir do momento que percebeu ser despropositado. Na internet, o portal globo.com teve muitas mudanças de rumo desde o seu lançamento, gerando prejuízos e um rompimento de parceria com a Telecom Itália. Dos importantes investimentos 14

Alguns autores acreditam, entretanto, que teriam sido raras e tímidas estas investidas da Rede Globo, por faltar a convicção de que seria capaz de conquistar os corações hispânicos, modelados culturalmente a outra gramática de dramaturgia. Para REBOUÇAS (2005), “se o principal grupo de mídia regional mantiver a opção de não ocupar espaços geográficos além das fronteiras do país, em breve terá vizinhos tão fortalecidos por parcerias com corporações transnacionais que perderá até mesmo a hegemonia nacional adquirida ao longo dos últimos 40 anos”.

15 “Desde o dia 28 de outubro de 2002 a Globo entrou em processo de default, ou seja, não paga suas dívidas e tenta renegociar novos prazos, condições e garantias. (...) No dia 11 de dezembro de 2003, três fundos de investimentos ligados ao mesmo grupo gestor ( Huff ) pediram, nos Estados Unidos, a falência da GloboPar”.

Fonte: Boletim Prometheus - Instituto de Estudos e Projetos em Comunicação e Cultura. Documento datado de 09/03/2004. Disponível em < http://aptc.org.br/biblioteca/bol-pro10.htm >. Acessado em 08/11/2007.

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da década, o mais acertado pareceu ser o Projeto Jacarepaguá, mais conhecido como PROJAC, uma grande estrutura própria de produção de audiovisual.

Todas essas investidas só colaboraram para um enorme endividamento em moeda estrangeira, que tornou a Globo momentaneamente inviável entre os anos de 2002 e 2003.

Sobre os temas que dão origem a esta dívida, merecem destaque a questão da TV a cabo e o caso da NEC que, juntos, representam expressiva parte do endividamento da época 16 .

O caso da NEC, de uma forma indireta, acabou por desfechar uma crise institucional envolvendo a Rede Brasil Sul, afiliada da Globo nos estados da Região Sul do País, objeto de coincidência com o tema proposto e que se pretende analisar. A NEC foi uma grande aposta da Globo no promissor setor de telecomunicações que, comprada em 1986, depois de muita polêmica e de uma Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito (CPI), foi vendida em 1999 de volta à matriz japonesa.

ACDSM pode ter sido programada com a finalidade de resolver problemas relacionados ao momento de fragilidade financeira que se acumulava e para o qual a Globo começaria a despertar. E nesse sentido parece razoável imaginar uma configuração política que envolvesse a sua operadora de telefonia celular, a NEC, e a Rede Brasil Sul, a RBS, grande rede regional de televisão (a maior do Brasil), de grande influência na região Sul do país. Os motivos serão expostos a seguir.

Se a Globo definiu mal os seus caminhos em direção às novas tecnologias, não se pode dizer o mesmo da RBS, que não fracassou no seu projeto de TV a cabo (que só não foi melhor porque a Globocabo fracassou no seu, do qual era subsidiária) e nem no seu projeto de internet, que foi obrigada a vender por fidelidade à própria Globo. De seu projeto inicial, o ZAZ, nasceu o portal Terra, hoje considerado um dos mais importantes do Brasil. Enquanto a crise financeira se estabelecia de forma cruel no Rio de Janeiro, em Porto Alegre, tudo caminhava bem. Naquele momento, diversos projetos do grupo estavam sendo alavancados: Em 1996 o Canal Rural é criado, com conteúdo dirigido ao setor agrícola.

Também neste ano foi feita uma associação com a Nutecnet para o desenvolvimento do primeiro portal de Internet brasileiro, o ZAZ (atual portal Terra, pertencente à Telefônica, da Espanha). Em 2000, há um grande crescimento nos segmentos de atuação do Grupo RBS, com o lançamento do jornal popular em formato de tablóide Diário Gaúcho, circulando 16

Segundo notícias da época, “a principal dívida é da própria holding Globopar, cuja valor é de aproximadamente 1,3 bilhão de dólares. Seguem-se a ela a Globo Cabo S/A, com 650 milhões de dólares, a NEC do Brasil com 645 milhões de dólares, a Net Sat S/A com dívida de 513 milhões de dólares e a Globo Cabo Holding, com 127 milhões de dólares”. Fonte: CURY, Wady, repórter investigativo apud TOGNOLLI, Claudio Julio, Pensamento Comunicacional Latino Americano - Volume 4 - número 2: janeiro / fevereiro/ março 2003.

Disponível em < http://www2.metodista.br/unesco/PCLA > Acessado em 08/11/2007.

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inicialmente na região metropolitana de Porto Alegre, hoje em dia em todo o estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A RBS Interativa é lançada com dois serviços: a RBS Direct (hoje em dia Direkt) de marketing direto e o clicRBS, portal de Internet. A TVCOM é inaugurada em Florianópolis e Joinville. A NET Sul associa-se com a Globocabo e a RBS torna-se sócia da plataforma nacional de televisão por assinatura. A RBS Publicações é inaugurada, sendo responsável pelo lançamento de livros e colecionáveis. Em 2001 é criado a viaLOG, uma empresa de logística que atua na região Sul do Brasil. A gravadora Orbeat Music é lançada, voltada para a cena musical da região Sul. Em 2002, o Diário de Santa Maria é lançado, sendo o sexto jornal do Grupo RBS e o quarto no Rio Grande do Sul 17 .

Na eminência da privatização, tanto os grupos de comunicação brasileiros quanto os estrangeiros firmaram acordos estratégicos para participar dos leilões e adquirirem partes do mercado de telefonia. A emissora do sul associou-se principalmente à Telefónica, operadora espanhola, enquanto a carioca, de posse da NEC, associou-se ao Banco Bradesco e à Telecom Itália.

Afirmava-se à época, fato registrado por observadores como SANTOS e CAPPARELLI 18 , ter a Globo um acordo de não agressão com o grupo RBS que impedia os gaúchos de entrarem no mercado do sudeste do país. Como contrapartida, haveria o respeito à primazia da RBS na Região Sul (o que não deve incluir o Mercosul, uma vez serem a Globo e a RBS emissoras de naturezas diferentes - a Globo, nacional e transnacional e a RBS, regional). No ano de 1999, a privatização dos sistemas brasileiros de telefonia - divisões da Telebrás 19 - acabou gerando um grande mal-estar nos parceiros, devido a uma inadvertida traição da RBS ao acordo assumido. Segundo relatos, a holding Tele Brasil Sul, da Telesp, foi adquirida pelo grupo Telefónica por R$ 5,78 bilhões, contra os R$ 3,965 bilhões oferecidos pelo consórcio formado pela Globopar, o Banco Bradesco e a Telecom Itália, sendo que a oferta da Telefónica teria sido apresentada sem o conhecimento da RBS. Depois do mal-estar gerado pela confusão, a RBS se desvencilhou da empresa espanhola e a Rede Globo vendeu a NEC de volta para a matriz japonesa.

CONCLUSÕES

17

Fonte: Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre. Verbete RBS. Disponível em < http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBS >.

Acessado em 25/06/2007.

18 SANTOS, Suzy e CAPPARELLI, Sérgio. Disponível em <http://www.angelfire.com/linux/kurtdennis/rbs.htm >. Acessado em 25/06/2007.

19 Para atuação no setor de telecomunicações, a RBS se concentraria na região sul e a Globo no centro do país.

Nos limites desse acordo, na divisão do Sistema Telebrás em três empresas de telefonia fixa, uma de longa distância e oito de telefonia celular, interessava à RBS, a aquisição da Tele Centro Sul e à Globo, a Telesp, a Telesp Celular ou a Tele Sudeste Celular, dos Estados de Rio de Janeiro e Espírito Santo.

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Os anos de 2002 e 2003 foram anos de grandes transformações na Rede Globo, em que a reorganização da sua dívida, contraída com credores externos, foi o tema central. Para viabilizar a sua continuidade, muitas mudanças foram realizadas. No cenário econômico, a tônica foi a renegociação da dívida. Mas, simultaneamente, o modelo de negócios traçado em cima da TV paga deveria ser revisado para viabilizar o pagamento das dívidas renegociadas.

Ou seja, a emissora deveria ser reestruturada para se tornar viável a partir de então.

No nível operacional, o centro das ações ficou por conta do abandono da TV paga nas mãos das classes AB, abdicando de sua popularização. Tendo novamente a TV aberta como seu maior negócio, a retomada da Rede Globo se dá em diversas frentes. A partir da assunção de que a TV aberta ainda seria o melhor negócio da Globo por muitos anos, a casa seria rearrumada. Em um contexto como este, mudanças de última hora, como se viu com a produção de A Casa das Sete Mulheres, podem ser consideradas normais.

No entanto, a escolha de um produto teledramatúrgico de autor ainda desconhecido pode realmente sugerir que houvesse, à época, uma necessidade de aproximação com o tema escolhido. A aproximação da Rede Globo com a América Latina e com o Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, como demonstram os fatos, pode efetivamente ter ocorrido por uma necessidade estratégica, como as sugeridas acima. Desta forma, as mudanças na estrutura dos negócios e no dia-a-dia da produção podem ter favorecido as mudanças de planos, levando as atenções para aquele que poderia ser o lado política e economicamente mais vantajoso. No caso, o lado do povo gaúcho, dos pampas e da latinidade sul-americana, em geral.

REFERÊNCIAS ALENCAR, Mauro. A Telenovela como Paradigma Ficcional da América Latina (trabalho apresentado ao XXVIII Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação). S/d. Disponível em < http://sec.adaltech.com.br/intercom/2005/resumos/R0543-1.pdf > Acessado em 05/10/2007.

AMARAL, Maria Adelaide. A Casa das Sete Mulheres (DVD) - Entrevista. Rio de Janeiro : Globo Vídeo, 2004.

BRITTOS, Valério C. Globo: Transnacionalização e Capitalismo. In BRITTOS, Valério C., BOLAÑO, César R. S. Rede Globo: 40 anos de poder e hegemonia. São Paulo : Paulus, 2005.

CORREIO BRASILIENSE, 29/09/2002. Os homens da casa. Apud CorreioWeb, 29/09/2002.

Disponível em < http://www2.correioweb.com.br/cw/EDICAO_20020929/sup_ctv_290902_108.htm >.

Acessado em 17/11/2007.

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CURY, Wady. Repórter investigativo. Apud TOGNOLLI, Claudio Julio. Pensamento Comunicacional Latino Americano - Volume 4 - número 2: janeiro / fevereiro/ março 2003.

Disponível em < http://www2.metodista.br/unesco/PCLA > Acessado em 08/11/2007.

FOLHA DE S. PAULO (online). 17/06/02. Globo faz ‘concorrência’ para minissérie. Apud Observatório da Imprensa, s/d.

Disponível em < http://observatorio.ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/artigos/asp2606200296.htm >. Acessado em 04/10/2007.

------. 29/11/02. A miséria do espetáculo. Apud Observatório da Imprensa, s/d. Disponível em < http://observatorio.ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/artigos/asp0412200298.htm >. Acessado em 04/10/2004.

------. 27/03/2001. Globo suspende séries, mas mantém "No Limite". Disponível em < http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u12093.shtml >. Acessado em 25/06/2007.

------. 23/04/2003. Globo negocia fazer novela com TV do Chile. Disponível em < http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u32319.shtml >. Acessado em 25/06/2007.

GLOBO (online), 07/05/2007. TV Globo cancela minissérie 'Nassau', de Maria Adelaide Amaral.

Disponível em < http://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/revistadatv/mat/2007/05/07/295650817.asp >. Acessado em 17/11/2007.

ISTO É GENTE & TV (online), edição de 16/11/2002. Disponível em < http://www.terra.com.br/exclusivo/noticias/2002/10/16/024.htm >. Acessado em 17/11/2007.

O ESTADO DE S. PAULO (online), 25/05/03. O Brasil que o mundo conhece pela TV. Apud Observatório da Imprensa, 27/05/2003.

Disponível em < http://observatorio.ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/artigos/asp27052003991.htm >. Acessado em 04/10/2004.

PROMETHEUS - Boletim do Instituto de Estudos e Projetos em Comunicação e Cultura.

Documento datado de 09/03/2004. Disponível em < http://aptc.org.br/biblioteca/bolpro10.htm >. Acessado em 08/11/2007.

REBOUÇAS, Edgard. América Latina: um território pouco explorado e ameaçador para a TV Globo. In BRITTOS, Valério C., BOLAÑO, César R. S. Rede Globo: 40 anos de poder e hegemonia. São Paulo : Paulus, 2005.

SANTOS, Suzy e CAPPARELLI, Sérgio.

Disponível em < http://www.angelfire.com/linux/kurtdennis/rbs.htm >. Acessado em 25/06/2007.

SILVA, Everton R da. A sofisticação da gestão e o direcionamento estratégico no setor de cinema: um estudo exploratório no segmento produtor (Dissertação - Mestrado em Administração). Rio de Janeiro : UFRJ/Instituto COPPEAD de Administração, 2005.

STRAUBHAAR, Joseph. Refocusing from global to regional homogenization of television: production and programming in the latino U.S. market, Mexico and Venezuela. Paper submitted to ALAIC : Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolívia, 2002.

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WIKIPÉDIA. Verbete RBS. Disponível em < http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBS >. Acessado em 25/06/2007.

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“Political economic research continues to explore the concentration of media ownership and the consequences of commercialized media for a consumer society”: Interview with Janet Wasko Por Denis Gerson Simões 1

Eptic: How do you observe the context of the research focus of the Political Economy of Communication within the U.S. academic community in the XXI century? In what direction are the main researches in the U.S. currently heading?

Janet Wasko: The study of the political economy of communications in the US continues to provide an important and essential analysis for media studies. While mostly ignored by mainstream media economists and rejected by many cultural theorists, the tradition is continuing to grow, especially among new communication scholars. Political economic esearch continues to explore the concentration of media ownership and the consequences of commercialized media for a consumer society. US and Canadian scholars also are developing an even more sophisticated theoretical foundation, as evidenced by a number of new books relating to theories of political economy and media. An interesting development is the tendency for younger scholars to integrate political economic analysis with cultural theories, thus providing an even more compelling explanation of role in contemporary society.

Eptic: How do you see the impact of the recent crisis of capitalism upon the media in the U.S. and in Latin America in general? How did the film and television industries react to the crisis?

Janet Wasko: US-based entertainment conglomerates are experiencing a range of problems because of the current economic crisis. Just today Viacom and Sony have reported losses, while other companies have made adjustments in their operations, mostly, by eliminating workers, but also cutting back on their business investments. Some television and film companies have combined operations or split apart their business in various ways. Other adjustments are being made to digital distribution offered by the Internet and other digital technologies, however, most of this activity involves trying to determine how to make additional profits by recycling products.

1

Mestrando em Ciências da Comunicação na UNISINOS, membro do Grupo de Pesquisa CEPOS

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Eptic: Is the crisis changing the consumption habits of the American people? Does the same apply to the products of cultural industries?

Janet Wasko: We hear everyday about how Americans are reevaluating their consumption habits, in light of the present economic crisis. However, we also experience the same push to consume, which is said to be the way out of the crisis. And while some cultural industries remain healthy (motion pictures, for instance, are claimed to be profiting), others are experiencing difficult times. Some of this situation, however, can be blamed on the appeal of new forms of media such as the Internet and other digital media, which are attracting a good deal of attention even though they currently may not be contributing to new profit sources.

Eptic: How does the U.S. market see Latin American audiovisual production?

Janet Wasko: One tendency is to takeover successful media companies that produce and distribute Latin American audiovisual products in the US. Telemundo is a Spanish-language television network in the US that is owned by NBC/Universal, and reaches most of the Hispanic audience in the US through television stations or cable affiliations. More recently, another Spanish-language media company, Univision, was purchased by a consortium of US investors including Saban Entertainment, although it was rumored that some of the larger USbased transnational entertainment conglomerates were interested in the company. As the Hispanic population grows in the US, it is possible more moves of this type may occur.

Meanwhile, the major companies continue to produce media products for the Latin American market, and own outlets in the Latin American market (for instance, Fox Sports En Espanol).

Generally, then it is not difficult to argue that US media companies see the Latin America and the Hispanic market in the US as desirable markets.

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A Political Economy of the Emerging Television News Industry in Bangladesh Anis Rahman 1 ABSTRACT This article aims to critically examine how the unprecedented expansion of television industry in Bangladesh became possible over the past decade, and how the increasingly marketliberalization trend of this country constitutes the structure, content and process of news production amongst the TV channels. This is the first time South Asia has experienced the phenomenon of a TV media 'boom' in Bangladesh, in spite of the background of politically violent and prospective new democracy. However, the escalating commercialization is triggering a divide between the actual role of television and the potential role it could play in a progressive society. Since the government permitted private broadcasting satellite TV channels in 1997, a massive investment in the production and advertisement sector has been systematically facilitated by the dominant political and commercial elites of the country. The number of television networks has increased by 19 over last 11 years. In this perspective, this article traces the answers to the questions - why and how a country with $440 per capita GNP should need 19 television channels? What is the power-structure behind the abnormal growth of TV industry? Who invests and what are the sources of asset? Aiming what profit? What backing keeps these channels running? How are the owners’ political and business networks affecting the fate of news content? The paper also highlights a contradiction between the television industry of Bangladesh and the international economic powers. On the one hand, the reformation pressures from many donor agencies indirectly influenced the recent Caretaker government to eliminate corruption, and ensure an untroubled access for the international corporation’s investment and business. As a part of this operation, Ministry of Information has shut down several corrupt-licensed TV channels. On the other hand, this article explores, advertisement and investment supports from the translational corporations have ultimately encouraged the political tycoons to expand their television outlets, and now these channels have been used as local and global business-lobbying-corruption-powerhouse.

Subsequently, this paper also argues with evidence that the alarming drift of corporate takeover of news-slots through 'Corporate-Branding' and 'advertiser-media-partnership' inexorably shapes the selection and production of news. Finally, an empirical analysis of this article reveals a power-exercise-web between government, corporations, media owners and newsmakers which is radically dividing the most popular mass media of Bangladesh and transforming it into a market-oriented class media.

Introduction This paper aims to examine how an unprecedented expansion of the television industry in Bangladesh became possible over the past decade, and how the increasing trend towards market-liberalization in this country has affected the structure, content and process of news production. The paper seeks to investigate the case of Bangladesh through a political 1

MA Television Journalism, Goldsmiths University of London. Junior Project Manager Atticmedia (English in Action Project Bangladesh) 34 Waterside, 44-48 Wharf Rd, London N1 7UX, UK. www.atticmedia.com / email: mcanis2003@yahoo.com / anis@atticmedia.com

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economy analysis. This analysis follows Golding and Murdoch (2000), Mosco (1996) and Curran (2000, 2002). On their analysis they emphasized four criteria, such as the growth of the media industry; the extension of corporate reach; the impact of commodification; and the changing role of the state and government intervention. Taking NTV as a case study this article articulates the recent commercialization trends amongst the TV channels. Given this context, this article seeks to discuss the following research questions:

-

When and how an unprecedented expansion of private television channels took place in the media landscape of Bangladesh.

-

How the increase of viewers and advertising fuelled the growth of television channels?

-

How do owners’ political and business networks affect the fate of news content and journalism?

-

What techniques are being used to make news production processes more and more market-oriented? In fact, how are newsmakers selling the air?

Bangladesh and the TV media boom Bangladesh is a country of 56000 square miles, a bit more than the size of England.

The estimated population of the country is 160 million making it the seventh most populous nation in the world. Its per capita GDP is very low, at only $2053 2 . Bangladesh gained its independence from Pakistan in 1971, following a 9-month armed struggle. The country has a deep cultural heritage, including a rich tradition of language. Freedom to use Bangla began as a language movement in 1952, and continued as the cultural-political base for the War of Liberation. 3 With an impulsive response from the mass people, the country has moved away from the dictatorship of the 1990’s towards a more democratic form of political rule.

Regardless of much poverty, corruption and political instability, Bangladesh is the first case in South Asia of the ‘TV media boom’ trend. Phenomenally, the number of television viewers in Bangladesh is more than 40 million, which is a big number of viewers for a country with merely $440 per capita GNP. Despite a huge expansion of print and 2

http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId=121&IF_Language=eng&BR_Countr y=500 3 Based on the 1952 Bangla language movement, UNESCO has declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day, recognizing the rights of all peoples to use their indigenous language.

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electronic media in the country, media experts (Khan, 2007; Ferdous, 2007) argue that ‘due to lack of a proper broadcasting policy’ there has been deepening commercialization within the media industry and a growing information divide between urban and rural people. There is also a dispute that the TV media boom costs the country of a political disparity, and a market orientation trend has undercut the independence and impartiality of the media. Moreover, the escalating commercialization is creating a divide between the actual role of television channels and the role it could playing a progressive society.

In the last decade, a great deal of support of local and transnational corporations in the way of advertising revenues and investment endorsement has encouraged the political and business tycoons of Bangladesh to expand their television outlets, leading to media conglomeration. Consequently, ‘the diagonal concentrations of ownership’ (Doyle, 2002) are being resulted in the development of a political monopoly and the growth of business lobbying powerhouses (Rahman, 2007: 231-250). This power network led marketliberalization has made an impact on the content and process of news production within every TV channels, more or less.

Growth of the television industry There is currently only one terrestrial television station in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Television (BTV). This channel has emerged as a powerful and effective mass medium since its inception in 1964. BTV is a state-owned channel that stepped into the arena of electronic media with objectives like dissemination of information and expansion of educational and motivational programs to expedite development works and entertainment (MPG Study Report, 2007).

At present, BTV is the only television station that the overwhelming majority of Bangladeshis can watch, because only 1.8% of the adult rural population has a cable connection or satellite dish in their home. 4 The media sector in Dhaka regards BTV’s programming as dull and of poor quality – they claim people watch it only because they have no access to cable or satellite channels and thus have no choice. 5 While BTV is owned by the state, it sells advertising. Advertising on BTV is the most expensive television ad space in Bangladesh (because the station has by far the greatest reach) – up to 75,000 Taka (1088

4

AC Nielsen 2006 Demographic Media Survey, carried out in June and July of 2006 Daily Star City Editor, Sharier Khan and Staff Correspondent, Ashfaq Wares Kahan, (EiA, 2007) Television & Related Output, English in Action Project Bangladesh, BBC World Service Trust, 7 Sept 2007.

5

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USD) per minute. 6 Even though it has produced many award-winning programs (including the most popular drama serial ever - Ettiyady) it has often been criticized for being the mouthpiece of the ruling government. With politicisation of artiste recruitment for different programmes, the quality of BTV as an entertainment media has also diminished (Roy, 2006).

Bangladesh entered the era of satellite broadcasting in 1992, by giving access to CNN and the BBC to broadcast on the government-regulated channel – BTV. After this, it was long expected that broadcast media would bring down the barriers stopping poor and marginalised groups accessing information 7 . In the context of a dominance of foreign satellite channels in the country, ATN Bangla came into being on July 15, 1997. The first Bangla private satellite channel, ATN Bangla aimed at telecasting programmes in Bangla for viewers in more than a hundred countries across the world. Channel-i, established in 1999, is the first-ever digital Bangla television channel in Bangladesh. Ekushey Television (ETV), the first private terrestrial channel in Bangladesh, began transmission on 2000. ETV changed all traditional approaches to TV media and set a new standard in a short span of time 8 . Thus, the TV viewers found a relief from and a better alternative to the monotonous and monopolised news presentation on the BTV. Since then, television has indeed become the most popular medium in Bangladesh (Figure 1).

6

Mahbub Rahim Udoy, General Manager of Marketing, Channel I (EiA, 2007) http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-southasia.asp?parentid=51962 8 However, under a court order, ETV was closed down on August 29, 2002. The government once again gave ETV a permission to continue satellite transmission on April 14, 2005, and the channel resumed its transmission on December 1, 2006. Its official transmission started on March 29, 2007 and became a 24-hour channel on June 1 (MPG Study Report, 2007).

7

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Figure 1: Audience reach of different media in Bangladesh (2006-2007).

65.00%

Summery Media habit is changing, compared to recent years-TV viewership increasing faster than any other media vehicles

70.00%

60.00%

50.00%

40.00% 23.80% 30.00%

20.80%

20.00%

10.80% 2.90%

10.00%

0.00% Reach of TV

Radio Listenership

Newspaper Readership

Magazine Readership

Cinema Viewer-ship Base: 14,800

AC Nielsen ‘Bangladesh Media & Demographic Survey 2006’

According to AC Nielsen’s 2006 Demographic Media Survey, 64.6% of adults in Bangladesh watch TV (approximately 61.37 million people). 9 Television ownership has increased dramatically during the last decade. Forty-one per cent of households now have a television, whereas only 8% owned a television in 1995. 10

Increase of viewership and popularity It can be argued that television has altered the entire media industry of Bangladesh within a decade. It has also changed the habit of audience how they get information. People in rural areas like to watch television, even if it means going to a neighbour’ home because they do not have a TV set. More people in rural areas watch TV than have access to electricity or own a television because 32.2% watch television at a neighbour’s home; 8.7% watch television in a shop; 4.4% watch television in a relative’s home and 3.3% watch television in the market (bazaar). 11 Due to limited access to electricity and television ownership, watching TV is a communal activity in Bangladesh. In rural areas, more than eight people typically watch 9

AC Nielsen 2006 Demographic Media Survey, carried out in June and July of 2006 – this data is based on the question – “Have you watched TV in the last 7-10 days” 10 Dr Khalid Hasan, Managing Director of ACNielsen Bangladesh of AC Nielsen in survey launch press release 11 AC Nielsen 2006 Demographic Media Survey, carried out in June and July of 2006

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television together. In urban areas this number decreases to five people and in the metropolitan cities, four people typically watch television together. 12 This communal nature of the audience attracts the advertisers to use television as a most effective means to reach their target consumers.

Not only is television popular, but access to the medium has increased significantly between 1995 and 2006. While in 1995, television has reached to the 31 percent of the total population, the access to television has increased to 65 percent in 2006 (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Growth of access to television media in Bangladesh 13

61%

65%

42% 31%

1995

1998

2002

2006

The growth in television viewership is largely being driven by satellite television. The upward trend in cable and satellite viewing is likely to increase. Connections are relatively cheap by international standards and there is anecdotal evidence that cable and satellite penetration follows electrification (EiA, 2007).

According to a Buddecomm report (2008), Bangladesh’s television households are served by more than 2000 cable operators. With the development of studios, digital video editing technology, producers and journalists - news has become a more popular genre of programme (66%) among all; followed by drama (60%), report based program (47%), magazine programs (46%), cinema (35%), talk shows (16%) or other programs (Figure 3).

12 13

AC Nielsen 2006 Demographic Media Survey, carried out in June and July of 2006 Source: National Media Survey 2002; National Media & Demographic Survey 2006, AC Nielsen

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Figure 3: Popularity of television programs in Bangladesh 14

70%

66% 60%

60%

46%

47%

50% 35% 40%

30%

30%

16%

20% 10% 0% News

Magazine Drama program

Cinema

Talk show

Report based program

Others

Increase of advertising Growth in the cable and satellite television industry has been in turn driven by massive growth in the telecommunications sector. 15 According to the head of an ad agency Adcom, “Television viewership is growing at a rate of 15-20 percent a year. Because of the huge spending by telecom companies and some local and multinational companies, the advertisement market has also doubled in five years.” 16 The Katalyst survey found that television commercials are largely dominated by multinational companies’ consumer products, mobile telecom services and products of leading local business houses (Figure 4). Multinational company Unilever (33 per cent) topped the list of top 10 advertisers in television, followed by local corporate houses–Square, Kohinoor, Partex, Pran, Basundhora, Transcom and Meghna Group–with 56 per cent together, and then mobile phone operators (11 per cent). Private television channels earn most of their revenue from the peak time commercials (Roy, 2006).

14

Source: Massline Media Centre (MMC) Survey: 2001.

Nawazish Ali Khan, Senior Vice President, Programmes; Mahbub Rahim Udoy, Assistant General Manager, Marketing, Channel I 16 Radio netherlands website (EiA, 2007) 15

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Figure 4: Top 10 multinational and local advertisers of Bangladeshi TV channels

Unilever, 33% Square, Kohinoor, Partex, Pran, Basundhora, Transcom and Meghna Group, 56%

Mobile phone operators, 11%

Advertisements or commercials are lifeline of the media industry. It is one of the continuing financial sources of running the media organisations. There are 110 active advertising agencies in the country. Among the leading players are Unitrend Ltd, Asiatic MCL, Ad Com Ltd, Grey Advertising Bangladesh Ltd, Interspeed, Bitopi Advertising, Matra, Creative Media Ltd, Expressions and Bindu. Most of the commercials in Bangladesh media, both print and broadcasting, are on mobile phone companies, real estate, private universities, perfumery and toiletries industries, home appliance selling organisations, government and private banks, and beverages.

Ad agencies usually have some fixed clients. New clients need to come to them with their proposals. Ad agencies conduct promotional as well as publicity campaign on behalf of their clients. Different ad agencies take commissions at various rates from the media organisations in exchange of giving advertisements on behalf of their clients. Clients give money to ad agencies for putting up the advertisement. Ad agencies also take money from the client for any publicity campaign. As part of the publicity campaign, ad agencies also get commission from the media (newspaper or television or radio). Most of the ad agencies get 15

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per cent commission from the media. Through this process, a pact has developed between the media and ad agencies (Roy, 2006) 17 .

Political influence and growth of TV channels From the previous discussions, it becomes clear that since the government of Bangladesh permitted private satellite TV channels a decade ago, a massive investment in the TV production and advertisement sectors has been systematically facilitated by the dominant political and commercial elites of the country, similar to the ‘Clientalism’ relationship noted

by Hallin and Mancini (2004).

Popularity of television, increase of viewership, and growth of advertising sector – these important factors have influenced the TV industries to become ‘increasingly big business’ (Curran, 2002: 149). It has stimulated ‘market-oriented journalism’ (Curran, 2000: 128-129) 18 , on the basis that the government is ‘retreating from regulation’ (Cuilenburg and McQuail, 2000: 126).

Figure 4: Growth of private TV channels in Bangladesh in a decade (1997-2007)

Private TV channel in Bangladesh has tremendously increased in 11 years, picked-up from 1 to 19

Number of TV channel

25 20

18

19

2007

2008

15 15 7

10 5

1

2

3

4

5

1999

2000

2003

2004

0 1997

2005

2006

Year

17

Media Professionals Group (MPG) has carried out several researches regarding this issue. One of them is Roy, Samar (2006) Media Map and Value Chain of Media Industry in Bangladesh: Special Focus on SMEs, Media Professionals Group: Dhaka.

18 Scholars argue that market-oriented journalism tends to generate news that is simplified, personalised, decontextualised, with a stress on action rather than process, visualization rather than abstraction, stereotypicality rather than human complexity (Epstein, 1973; Inglis, 1990; Iyenger, 1991; Giltin 1990 and 1994; Hallin, 1994, in Curran, 2000: 120-154).

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The number of television channels has increased sharply, by 19 over the last 11 years (Figure 4). Not surprisingly, most of the owners of Bangladesh’s private TV channels are extremely rich people - some are connected with the two most dominant political parties – the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Awami League 19 , while most of the channels are backed by the politicians and industrialists of the BNP. As a result, ‘the diagonal concentrations of ownership’ (Doyle, 2002) are ensuing in the development of a political monopoly and the growth of business lobbying powerhouses (Rahman, 2007: 231-250).

Table 1: Television channels in Bangladesh 1997-2008 Channel

19

Launching year

1

ATN Bangla

1997

Present status (2008) On air

2

Channel i

1999

On air

3

Ekushey TV (ETV)

2000

On air

4

NTV

2003

On air

5

Ruposhi Bangla

2004

Defunct

6

RTV

2005

Defunct

7

2005

On air

8

BTV World (state owned) Channel 1

2006

On air

9

Banglavision

2006

On air

10

Boishakhi

2006

On air

11

Channel S

2006

Defunct

12

STV US

2006

Defunct

13

My TV

2006

Defunct

14

Bijoy TV

2006

Defunct

15

Sonar Bangla

2006

Defunct

16

CSB News

2007

On air (temporarily defunct)

Since the Caretaker government is in power, the Ministry of Information has shut down several accused to be politically corruptly licensed TV channels among these 18.

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Table 1: Television channels in Bangladesh 1997-2008 Channel

Launching year

17

Diganta TV

2007

Present status (2008) On air

18

Islamic TV

2007

On air

19

Desh TV

2008

On air

Apart from the existing 19, now, more than 20 channels have been waiting to get license by the year 2009 (Rahman, 2007a). This growth is comparatively fast compared to media expansion in other South Asian countries. Astonishingly, it is happening in Bangladesh against a background of poverty and political violence, and in the frame of an emerging democracy. In the meantime, the relatively new military-backed caretaker government has attempted to escalate privatization through more market-friendly policies. This is despite the fact that this emerging media industry is supposed to have an obligation to build and maintain a wall between editorial decisions and advertising influence, as suggested by McAllister (2000: 102). However, the turn towards marketization has paved the way for ‘substantial external pressure’ (Boyd-Barrett, 1977: 117) from developed countries and transnational corporations.

Caretaker Government and decline of TV industry There have been some significant changes in the satellite industry during the last two years. The fortunes of NTV have steadily declined since the owner of the station was arrested on corruption charges and a fire destroyed a major portion of the station’s offices, including its studios. 20 The interim Caretaker Government’s anti-corruption campaign has resulted in the arrest of numerous high profile figures associated with the previous BNP government, including the owners and/or majority shareholders of the mainstream satellite TV channels, including: NTV, RTV, Channel 1, Bokshakhi and Bangla Vision. 21 The grounds for these arrests are generally regarded as legitimate. According to Daily Star City Editor, Sharier Khan, “the entire satellite TV industry, with a few exceptions, is friends and family of the BNP. The BNP government decided that they would run the media sector – every minister got 20

Daily Star City Editor, Sharier Khan and Staff Correspondent, Ashfaq Wares Kahan and SIRIUS Marketing and Social Research weekly television viewing survey 7-13 July 2007 (EiA, 2007) 21 Daily Star City Editor, Sharier Khan and Staff Correspondent, Ashfaq Wares Kahan

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a channel.” Channel 1, Bangla Vision and Boishakhi, all with links to the BNP, received their licences on the same day: January 31, 2005. They were also allocated their broadcasting frequency from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) within a week (Daily Star 16 March 2007). Focus TV (now called CSB) also received a license in the final week of the BNP government. In comparison to the speedy issuing of licences and frequencies, other applicants have had to undergo detailed examinations of their proposals, which in some cases have taken years, and are still not completed. “Channel i and Ekushey Television (ETV), had to wait for over a year to receive their licences from the information ministry before the BNP came to power." 22 Although apparently legitimate, the arrest of many leading media figures has caused a great deal of instability in the Bangladeshi media sector. Several satellite stations went defunct, and staffs are abandoning those channels with jailed leadership in droves. 23

Market orientation of the news production: Case Study NTV As a practical part of a Masters level research in Bangladesh, the author has carried out this research for six months in NTV, as it was the country’s most popular channel according to the AC Nielsen National Media & Demographic Survey 2006. The NTV has been selected as a case study because the trend in Bangladesh – in keeping with the trend of global dominant corporate TV channels – is that the most popular channel is the most expert at selling its audience to advertisers. The sell means to the channels not only broadcasting advertisements but also airing advertisements from within the fabric of news.

Therefore, in order to find out the market orientation trend, the author has applied ‘Participatory Observation’ (Fishman, 1980), ‘In-depth Interview’ and ‘Source-media analysis’ (Schlesinger and Tumber, 1994; and Manning, 2001) research methods to NTV output. These methods allowed the author to undertake the practical observation of newsselection and newsgathering and the processing dynamics, which take place inside this channel’s newsroom.

NTV was founded in 2003 by Mosaddeq Ali Falu, a politician and former Member of Parliament and the political adviser of the former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). After the closure of ETV in 2002, a group of private entrepreneurs having close link with the four-party alliance BNP government in mid 2003

22 23

Daily Star article, written by Staff Correspondent, Ashfaq Wares Kahan (EiA, 2007) Daily Star City Editor, Sharier Khan and Staff Correspondent, Ashfaq Wares Kahan (EiA, 2007)

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started the operation of NTV. It has over 190 employees working full time, making it the biggest satellite channel of the country (Roy, 2006).

NTV is a model that tells how the owners’ political and business network influences the news selection, treatment and production in the most of the television channels in Bangladesh.

The Daily Star describes NTV as “the jewel in the crown of BNP linked TV

empire” (16 March 2007). According to the Daily Star: “Falu's NTV showed the way for others on how to exert political influence to acquire TV licences and then flex his political muscles to gain advertising. Eighteen days is all it took for Falu to push through NTV’s licence at the information ministry, without any necessary meetings, inquiries or interviews by the ministry to check whether NTV met the criteria outlined in the government's private television channel guidelines. The channel was also allocated a frequency within a week by BTRC.

Hybrid news-advertisement technologies Findings from the research suggest that the second licence to run a TV channel comes from local and multinational advertisers. Their marketing pressures have instigated an alarming drift towards corporate takeover of news-slots through cross-promotional ‘Corporate-branding’ and ‘advertiser-media-joint program partnership’, all of which inexorably shape the selection and production of news. Like much global corporate media, television channels in Bangladesh are “carpet-bombing people with advertising and commercialization, whether they like it or not” (McChesney, 2001:17). News is the most popular program among all features, and so it is bent to suit the needs of market elites, not poor people. In the research, author has analyzed the daily reporting assignment schedules as document study. These schedules show evidence of direct gatekeeping within the preproduction, selection and treatment of news. Bangladesh has similarities in its journalism to that seen in the Unites States and Britain, in the sense of editorial pressure and risk reduction “story selection is influenced by calculations based on what editors will accept and what is more likely to produce a ‘newsworthy’ story” (Davis, 2007: 45).

It is irrefutable that the organization of so called ‘beats’ within the assignment schedules is such that journalists dig up stories largely from corporate and official government agencies. There is no easy escape from this network, and “there are not only varieties of political-economic structures of news production, but each gives rise to own characteristic evasions, collusion and corruption” (Schudson, 2000: 180). The research outcomes indicate

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that among 1653 reporting assignments at NTV, 68 per cent were biased to a political and/or market agenda; comparatively only 16 per cent of assignments were related to public good (Rahman, 2007a). Thus, the government, political parties, corporations and television channels are better seen as partner, advancing towards the global voyage of market liberalization. In terms of news-production, the first three filters of Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model – are perfectly prevalent in Bangladesh 24 . Few examples gathered from the participatory observation during the field work have been presented here.

Video Clip 1 shows how the owner of a TV channel uses the station for manufacturing mass consent in favour of his own political party. The owner of NTV – who was the Member of Parliament and Chief Political Advisor of the Former Prime Minister of BNP leaded government - was a regular chief element of news.

Video Clip 1: The Owner of NTV is desperately doing public serving work – (so please remember this footage while you vote in next parliament election) - it is the main element of news (19 September 2006, 7.30pm primetime News Bulletin).

Video Clip 2 exemplifies a hybrid news-advertisement technology - how advertisers become an embedded part of news slots in a poor excuse for corporate-branding. Corporate branding is the most profitable means to sell the news for the TV channel, and it is the most sophisticated way to brand the news in favour of corporatism and consumerism for the advertisers.

Video Clip 2: Banglalink – a cell phone company – successfully branded the sports news slot of NTV with own logo, slogan and trademark – so that if you are sports news viewer you must should be a prestigious Banglalink customer. Therefore, the reality we are watching in this news – is through the ‘Banglalink spectacle’ (Sept – Oct 2006, primetime News Bulletins).

As Corporate-branding is not enough – newsmakers needed to show more gratitude to the advertisers in a more explicit way. Video clip 3 demonstrates what the newsmakers can do the best to satisfy market-orientation, producing ‘newsvertisement’.

Video Clip 3: Now, Banglalink is not only advertiser. It is now news of NTV. They are launching new cell phone package. Hence, the nation should be aware of this “newsworthy event” (27 May 2006, Dindarpan News program). Sometime the Reporting Assignment Schedule clearly indicates to the reporters that this kind of promotional news from high-

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Harman and Chomsky elaborated the first filter as size, ownership, and profit orientation of the mass media; the second filter as the advertisement – license to do business; and the third filter as sourcing mass-media news (Harman and Chomsky, 2002).

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profile advertisers must be covered, even if it is needed a cameraman can be send to collect the video footage which would supplement a press release.

Market-oriented journalism tends to generate news that is simplified, decontextualised and sensationalised. Video Clip 4 epitomizes how the news-production of NTV can involve juicy elements to divert the attention of the audience towards indulgence rather than critical engagement.

Video Clip 4: Can you see any ‘children’ in this clip? It is coverage of Grameenphone-NTV jointly organised ‘Concert for Children’ program. Grameenphone is the largest cell phone corporation of the country, and of course, the largest advertiser and joint-program sponsor.

Consequently, you cannot imagine of any investigative story against the exorbitantly pricing calling rate of Grameenphone in NTV news - actually nor in any television channel, neither in mainstream newspaper (13 September 2006, 2pm News Bulletin).

Conclusion It is safe to assert this article does not represent the entire news coverage trends in the television industry of Bangladesh. Neither NTV could represent as the most popular TV channels as in 2008 the popularity of NTV have declined and the ATN Bangla, Channel I, and Ekushe TV placed the top popularity. These three channels which are less connected to the former BNP leaded political power network have succeed to gain public trust for the eminent parliament election 2008.

NTV has aired many reports that have been acclaimed for its objectivity and political insights. However, apart form judging the whole contents of news, this article has mainly attempted to illustrate its market orientation trends. The video clip examples additionally helped us to understand is how and why in NTV news we see the coverage of CocaCola Fun Island Raffle Draw, Babool Toothpaste product Launching Ceremony, and Unilever Fair & Lovely scholarship program. Due to this media-advertiser joint program and sponsorship, the interdependency of media and corporations is burgeoning in Bangladesh, which is directly and indirectly affecting the objectivity and impartiality of news.

Corporate branding of news slots, advertisement inside the news bulletins, mediaadvertiser joint program - these trends are almost similar to the global media marketization around the world according to studies of political economy, comparative media systems and

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policies, and typologies of media systems. 25 Therefore, this trends signals that it is now time to propose detailed regulatory rationales for ‘balancing economic justification and public service’ (Feintuck, 1999: 43) within the web of power involving government, media corporations, and newsmakers.

Broadcasting is the field where the struggle for cultural hegemony becomes most visible and acute, not only for competing corporate interests within national economies but also among policy-makers at an international level (Chakravartty and Sarikakis, 2006: 87).

Bangladesh still has no broadcasting regulation policy. Moreover, in spite of growing commercialization and the decline of public service broadcasting, research regarding the political economy of the television industry is still underdeveloped within the history of media research in Bangladesh. This research, of course in a limited way, suggests the following features that should be implemented immediately: -

An Independent and high profile Media Monitoring Commission

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Public service oriented broadcasting policy

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Full autonomy of government regulated radio and television

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Licensing restriction for member of parliaments

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Banning corporate-branding

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No advertisement inside news

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No media-corporate joint-venture news

Evidently, a larger phase of nationwide media research is immediately needed that might contribute towards mapping a much-needed broadcasting policy and regulatory framework for the nation’s television industry. This policy should be collated with a broader framework of socio-economic contextualization and coherent with print media, radio and other media industry constituents.

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Boyd-Barrett, O (1997) ‘Media Imperialism’ in J. Curran et al (eds) Mass Communication and Society, Open University Press.

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Hallin D. and Mancini P. (2004) Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics, Cambridge University Press.

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News Television and Democracy 1 Dr Padmaja Shaw 2 ABSTRACT The paper uses aspects of Paul Baran’s analysis of surplus utilisation to argue that diversion of resources into media industries as a strategy for surplus utilization may be a common strategy in monopoly capitalism. But surplus from speculative sectors, driven by lumpen political power, when invested for commercial expansion of media, could lead to depoliticization rather than greater democratisation in societies where certain forms of accumulation dominate and regulatory regimes are weak.

After closer examination, the paper concludes • The growth in the media sector in Andhra Pradesh appears to be a consequence of the sudden spurt in the speculative capital and a decline or stagnation of the real sectors of the economy.

• The democratic practice is defined on media in a limited sense to mean success in electoral politics and not in the daily practice of responsible citizenship • The localised expansion has severely localised the content. For the first time, small time leaders, faction leaders are getting extensive coverage over media channels • The excessive coverage rendered to lumpen politics could lead to deep dissentions and fragmentation of society. The uncritical exposure to lumpen politics also legitimises the lumpen leadership, fulfilling in a sense, the primary purpose of the owners in entering the media business.

Whether Indian economy can be defined as monopoly capitalist or not, the financialisation process has unleashed newer forces whose economic/political goals run contrary to the democratic aspirations of the people.

If media are under the direct control of these forces, can they be considered instruments of democracy? Should the very fact of newer, non-elite’s dominance in media be celebrated as democratisation or should it be seen as a threat to democracy and productive forces of society?

Since this trend parallels the decline in ethical and professional standards of journalistic practice, it raises important questions about not just ‘the role of media in fostering democracy’, but what kind of media in which kind of democracy.

KEYWORDS: television industry, democracy, political economy, Paul Baran, onopoly capital

1

Revised version of paper presented at the political economy section of the IAMCR conference on ‘Media and Global Divides’ held at Stockholm, Sweden, 20-25 July 2008.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Communication & Journalism, Osmania University Hyderabad 500 044, India Ph (o): 91 40 27098422, 91 40 27682258 Mobile: 9109348610948 - padmajashaw@gmail.com

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Television is a political force in any democracy. Few would deny the significance of television industry in calibrating the political process in modern times. In the multi-lingual media market that is India, each state has its own vibrant competitive media stage where a large number of eager players participate. Impending elections often provide the trigger for spurts of quick expansion. But, the forces behind the expansion and the nature of expansion reflect the nature of the democracy that is emerging in India today.

This paper will examine the emergence of Telugu television industry in Andhra Pradesh, a southern state in India. The paper will begin by providing an overview of the political economic context in which television has emerged and grown. Secondly, the paper will discuss the status of television industry, its ownership pattern and the nature of influence it seeks to wield on the politics of the state. Based on the analysis, the paper argues that in the early years of privatization (1990s), television industry tended to cater to general entertainment. At the turn of the millennium, several factors facilitated the growth of news television: changes in the regulatory environment, reduction in the cost of technologies, deepening crisis of legitimacy of the political parties, contentious fragmentation of society along identity lines challenging the existing power structures, the necessity for the emerging pressure groups to have access to news media in private sector for playing a visible role in the political process, strengthening of monopoly capital and financialisation of the Indian economy, and most importantly, the emergence of lumpen politics from the thriving underground economy.

The paper uses aspects of Paul Baran’s analysis of surplus utilisation to argue that diversion of resources into media industries as a strategy for surplus utilization may be a common strategy in monopoly capitalism. But surplus from speculative sectors, driven by lumpen political power, when invested for commercial expansion of media, could in fact lead to depoliticization rather than greater democratisation in societies where certain forms of accumulation dominate and regulatory regimes are weak.

Context Political Context: Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest state in India. It comprises three regions Andhra, Telangana and Rayalaseema (CDRC:2006). Distinctly different political, agroclimatic features characterize the three regions. The Andhra region under the British colonial administration, benefited from the irrigation projects initiated before Independence. The “green

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revolution” that ushered in economic prosperity also gave access to English education brought in by the British. The combination of economic prosperity and education gave rise to entrepreneurial communities and caste-based business classes (Ramakrishna: 2006). Being with the Madras Presidency under the British rule, the region was also a part of the nationalist struggle for independence.

Amin et al (2006:23) explain the convergence between nationalist movements and socialist movements: The nationalist movements began as structures whose social base was in peripheral bourgeoisies and intelligentsias and which later extended their bases of support by appealing to the anti-imperialist sentiments of the broad masses of the population. The socialist movements whose social base was in industrial proletariat also extended its reach by appealing to anti-imperialist forces. By giving strategic priority to capture of state power, the tactics of both began to converge.

Though India achieved independence from the British rule through such a coalition of anti-imperialist forces, it was the nationalist bourgeoisie that brokered the transfer of power. The Telangana region, which was under the intensely oppressive feudal rule of the Nizam, became the breeding ground for left-wing insurgency and peasant struggles waged in tandem with the nationalist struggle elsewhere in the country. In a bid to discipline the reluctant Nizam and coerce him to integrate with the Indian Union, the government of India also brutally suppressed the widespread left-wing peasant insurgency in the province under his control and banned the Communist Party. The question of land reform/redistribution remains a contentious political issue. The underground left-wing insurgency led by Maoist groups continues to this day, though the Communist Parties have come into the mainstream of politics.

Economic Context: Andhra Pradesh, a major agricultural state, is also one of the early success stories of the industrialization process, and also where a vibrant services sector emerged.

However, compared to the other southern states of India, its performance on major human development parameters has been lower. At the turn of the millennium, the literacy rate of 60.3% is the lowest among the southern states and the state ranks 26 among the 28 states and 7 union territories of India (Dev: 2006).

Though Andhra Pradesh has been a beneficiary of green revolution, there has been a progressive impoverishment of the people in the state. It has the largest number of landless agricultural labourers in the country. While land reform legislation helped some of the

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marginalised communities, more profitable avenues of investment and in some areas the ongoing insurgency by the left-wing groups has encouraged the large farmers to gradually withdraw from agricultural operations through unregulated tenancy practices, which essentially allows them the freedom to profit from land without having to reinvest surplus in agriculture (Rao: 2006).

Sixty years of the history of Andhra Pradesh saw the contribution of agriculture to the Gross State Domestic Product decline from 63.49% in 1960-61 to 27% by 2004-05, while the workforce depending on agriculture has not changed as dramatically, remaining at 59% in 2001 from 61% in 1961 (Rao: 2006).

By 1980s and particularly after the 1990s, Indian economy was opened up and liberalised to integrate with the world capitalist system while still retaining some basic features of the economy like the largely state-owned banking sector and the large public sector corporations.

In The Political Economy of Growth (1968:29) Paul Baran argues that “economic surplus is the key to understanding the general working principles of capitalism”. In the West, in 1970s and 1980s, “the control over the economy shifted from the corporate boardrooms to the financial markets” (Foster: 2006) and the ballooning of finance produced new outlets for surplus in the finance, insurance and real estate sector of the GDP. Baran and Sweezy argue that this mode of utilising surplus is on par with the sales effort. The capitalist system reckons “the entire expenditure of resources needed to maintain this gigantic system of speculating, swindling and cheating, just like the expenditure on advertising and model changes …. as necessary costs of production.” Making money increasingly displaces making goods (and services) (1968:113-140).

A similar process was set in motion in India after the liberalisation of the economy in 1990s.

Significantly, the share of manufacturing sector in Andhra Pradesh has not changed much from 11.49% of State Gross Domestic Product (SGDP) in 1960-61 to 23.33% in 2004-05, indicating that the industrialization process has not been strong or successful in generating employment in the state. Whatever industrial growth took place is characterised by what economists call ‘jobless growth’ and without inter-sectoral linkages between agriculture and industry for long-term sustainability. The state has made remarkable strides in services sector with 49.79% of SGDP coming from it. However, this has not really changed the demographic structure from agriculture to services economy (Rao: 2006) as much of this growth in services is accounted for by the growth of finance and real estate sectors.

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Social Context: Caste as a mutually constitutive feature of class impacted the politics of the state over the last 60 years. Dominant caste groups consolidated their economic hold over the state resources. After independence in 1947, the formation of the state took another nine years of negotiation between various political forces, mostly based on language and cultural identity.

Andhra Pradesh was the first state in the Indian federation to be constituted on the basis of a common language, Telugu, in 1956. However, the state’s political history continues to be coloured by identity politics - identities of language, region and most significantly, caste (Venugopal: 2006).

The Congress (I), which is a pan-Indian political party that claims credit for leading the nationalist struggle for Independence from the British, remained in power till the early eighties in the state. But in 1983, a new political party, Telugu Desam Party (TDP – meaning Telugu Nation Party) led by a popular Telugu film star, espousing Telugu identity as its platform displaced the Congress (I). Since then both the political parties, Congress (I) and TDP, have alternated in power in the state. Both the parties subscribe to neo-liberal economic agenda; both the parties have similar stand on most political issues; both parties profess religious tolerance, while being distinctly identified in public perception with specific caste groups.

The economic base of Congress (I) is essentially drawn from the Reddy entrepreneurial caste, while the TDP draws its economic muscle from the rival Kamma entrepreneurial caste.

Elite from both the parties dominates agriculture, industry and now services sector. Both have a significant presence in the media industries in Andhra Pradesh.

The backward class intermediate peasantry that emerged from the green revolution and partial success of land reforms are drawn into the political process as independent political formations. Each caste group is recognised as a distinct ‘vote bank’ by political parties during elections. The class solidarity that existed among the rural peasantry immediately after the independence has become fragmented into caste groups. Unlike the homogeneity prevailing in Western countries, in India the political process is fragmented into innumerable pressure groups that seek to articulate the aspirations of diverse interests. Some of these groups negotiate power by challenging social discrimination and not through class solidarity or class issues.

The practice of spoils system among the political parties, where the donors and ‘wellwishers’ of the parties are rewarded with lucrative positions and contracts after success in elections has led to the emergence of a speculative class of entrepreneurs who have leveraged

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their success in finance, liquor and construction to build up large resources and have expanded their own political reach. According to Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), no real-estate deal in the country is done without the involvement of at least 40% unaccounted-for money (Basu: 2007).

The support system of local mafia encouraged by these groups has resulted in a large class of rural and urban lumpen proletariat who have been significantly impacting the political process in the state. Lack of education, impoverishment, in combination with feudal power structures has given rise to the large lumpen mass who are marginally educated, unemployed, without productive avenues for employment, and willing to ‘play a parasitic role in the economy and an anarchic role in politics’ (Haragopal:2006). Both political parties and the entrepreneur class have used and encouraged these elements for exerting political pressure, lobbying and short-circuiting the ‘red tape’.

The neo-liberal opening up of the Indian markets since 1991, the withdrawal of the state from important sectors of state control, and corruption in whatever is left of state control, have provided a fertile base for a very large underground economy. Policies governing finance, liquor, mining, real estate and uniquely in Andhra Pradesh, commercial technical education sector, have also contributed to the emergence of these powerful political and economic lobbies.

During the nineties, according to Jean Dreze, the well-known development economist working in India, India was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. At the same time, however, economic inequalities sharply increased: richer states did better than the poorer ones, urban areas forged ahead of rural areas, and economic disparities also increased within urban areas. While the urban middle and upper classes enjoyed an unprecedented boom in living standards, economic conditions barely improved for underprivileged sections of the population (Dreze: 2003).

Dreze laments that the most startling aspect of the endemic, pervasive malnutrition situation in India is that it is not much of an issue in public debates and electoral politics. He shows this neglect through a review of the editorial page of The Hindu, a well-respected English language newspaper, over a period of six months (January to June 2000). He found that health, nutrition, education, poverty, gender, human rights and related social issues together accounted for barely 30 out of 300 (opinion) articles. Articles on health or nutrition do not figure among these 300 articles (Dreze: 2003).

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Issues of importance to the people, whether the crisis in agriculture, lack of investment in agriculture, lack of investment in public services, unemployment, endemic malnourishment of children, poor performance of the state in the education sector which puts Andhra Pradesh at 26 rank among states in the Indian federation, are all submerged by the efforts to extol the economic success of the state. Media plays a significant role in this process of hyping the success of the neo-liberal policies of the state while rendering endemic hunger and distress of the people invisible.

Media and Political Power in the State Cinema and Politics India has been the world’s largest producer of films. Within India, Telugu film industry is the largest. In the early years, the impetus for financing films came from the agricultural prosperity. The early film industry provided a platform for both nationalist and left intellectuals, contributing to the stardom of some of the actors who acted in the films during this era. By 1970s, even nationally, the nature of investments coming into the film industry began to be increasingly from speculative businesses such as finance companies, real estate, underground liquor lobbies and not from surplus out of productive sectors of the economy. The content in films shifted from progressive nationalistic themes or the socialist ideal of an equitable society of the earlier era when surplus from agrarian and industrial sectors supported the film industry, to crime, sex and gratuitous violence in the contemporary mainstream cinema. The ubiquitous antiheroes launched a cultural justification for anarchy.

As an industry that is not closely regulated, it is known to be a high risk/high return industry, which absorbs a good deal of the resources from the black economy thriving in the state. It was as late as 2000 that the government of India gave film industry the status of an industry, for the first time opening up the possibility of financing films through legitimate means.

This is yet to have a significant impact. Telugu film industry continues to operate as an oligopoly of about five families who control directly or indirectly the entire process of making, distribution and exhibition of films. This economic power is used to control political power either through direct participation or through proxy control.

The film industry was deeply associated with politics in southern India. Major stars from the industry have made successful transition to politics. In Andhra Pradesh, it was the film-star-

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turned-politician, NT Rama Rao, who dislodged the strong national party, Congress (I), from power on the platform of Telugu cultural pride.

The heroes from the Telugu film industry maintain fan clubs of urban, suburban and rural youth who ensure the success of the films of their star in cinemas and the star’s supremacy in the market. These lumpen elements are also used to mobilise support if the star chooses to enter politics. A growing number of film personalities are overtly or covertly entering politics to protect their expanding economic interests.

Newspapers and Politics The other source of influence on politics in the state is the newspapers. Before 1974, Telugu newspaper industry was directed outwards, covering national and international news and dailies reaching the far-flung readers almost a day later. It was modest in its operations and circulations stagnated though some of the papers had formidable reputation for their literary merit and political integrity.

Eenadu newspaper was established in 1974, bringing in many innovations. Its economic base is its parent finance company, its politics is to destabilise the dominance of Congress politics in Andhra Pradesh. The paper began multi-edition publication, ensured that the paper reached the reader by dawn, localised content and used popular, racy language to capture the imagination of the readers (Jeffrey:2000). In 1983, the paper successfully aligned itself with the film-starturned-politician, NTR. Though a pioneer of many innovations, the paper also ushered in three negative trends in language journalism that have spread into its own television empire and other media houses in the state: one, marginalizing/eliminating the role of the editor; two, debilitating and suppressing all union activities of journalists working for the group; three, open espousal of a political party and its interests.

Eenadu remains a major newspaper with a circulation of 1.1 million copies though several other papers, Andhra Jyothi, Andhra Prabha, Vaarta, Surya and Saakshi are also publishing in a rapidly growing language newspaper market.

According to Machin and Niblock (2006:15), since the 1970s, with the rise of conservative free-market capitalism, those on the right have argued that private ownership of media facilitates a free press and is good for democracy. This means that a number of private

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voices will keep the state and government in check. In the Telugu newspaper market, instead of functioning as ‘watchdog’, the newspapers are closely identified with political parties and both in news and opinion pages indulge in open partisanship.

While the role of the expanded newspaper market between 1974 and 2004 in strengthening democracy remains debatable, it began a parallel decline in the power of journalists’ unions and an increase in the power of advertising and marketing departments on the editorial departments. Despite the government appointed wage-board recommendations, the Telugu newspapers were paying very low wages to journalists, while the changes in technology brought increasing pressure on the journalists to multi-task.

Another innovation (from Eenadu) was the practice of using stringers – untrained local individuals, who can read and write, to work as reporters for the newspapers to gather news from all corners of the state. Andhra Pradesh has the largest number of stringers. The stringers are not on the rolls of the newspaper. They are paid according to the amount of text used in the newspapers. The stringers wield disproportionate amount of power in the local community because of their access to the newspaper columns.

Some of the newspapers also required the journalists to double as agents for gathering advertisements on commission for the paper. This was an obvious conflict of interest. The managements forced journalists into this for garnering revenues and journalists complied to augment their own income.

These factors, in combination with the rising lumpen economic power in the newspaper industry, have retarded the professionalization of journalistic practice. The ethical base of journalism as a platform for democratic debate, objective, accurate information for responsible citizenship could not establish itself, as the management practices in the industry discouraged this. Media began to be seen more as instruments for manipulation of public opinion rather than as a means of providing credible information.

Expansion of television began in this era. A large number of print journalists and production personnel from the film industry crossed over to the new industry.

Television in Andhra Pradesh Era of State Television: Television came to Andhra Pradesh in 1975 because the state was found to have an abundance of backward, underdeveloped areas, for a massive and unique

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Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) that was launched in six states of the country. Four hundred sample villages that did not have schools, health centres, connectivity, sanitation, were easy to find. The experiment was to see whether the use of satellite technology for education and development can transform societies. The experiment lasted between 1 August 1975 and 31 July 1976. The base production centre for two languages, Telugu and Kannada, was located at Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. At the conclusion of the one year experiment, the government decided to continue with the programming through SITE continuity centres. Hyderabad was once again a host for one of the SITE continuity centres (Chatterji: 1991).

Hyderabad Doordarshan Kendra, as the state broadcaster is called, continued its programming essentially as a development and education broadcaster for another ten years, when in the early 80s sponsored serials began to be accepted on Doordarshan. By 1986, instead of transmitting only SITE continuity programmes or relaying national programmes from Delhi, the transmitters in the state were networked to receive general entertainment and news programmes made by Hyderabad Doordarshan in Telugu.

Today, the national broadcaster continues to have an extensive network of nearly 1398 terrestrial transmitters all over the country which can reach almost 90 per cent of the population.

Programmes are produced by the 65 Doordarshan studios. The network operates 30 channels.

This terrestrial/satellite network covers nearly 97% of the population of India, a reach and infrastructure that remains unmatched by any of the commercial cable and satellite enterprises.

It was not until the first Gulf war in 1991 that the cable revolution began to take hold. The cable industry, showing pirated films and some international channels for a fee, spread in the urban areas far more rapidly than in rural areas initially.

The central government of India had monopoly over broadcasting as per the Article 246 of the Indian Constitution, under the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1933 (Chatterji:1991). Using these provisions, the government of India did not permit private broadcasting till 1990. In 1991, when India began to liberalise its economic policy, the government saw broadcast policy as a test case for proving its commitment to liberalization (Ninan: 1998).

The early policy allowed programming to be shown via satellite/cable networks in the Indian market. The early regulations prohibited up-linking from the Indian soil, making it

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difficult for news programming to be viable. However, general entertainment channels like STAR TV owned by News Corporation of Rupert Murdoch, SONY Entertainment Television along-side Indian companies like Zee found firm foothold in programming. Up-linking from Indian soil was permitted only in 2000. Viacom 18, CNN, BBC, Discovery, Disney, HBO, and many other established international brands are present in the Indian market. There is also an explosion of Indian enterprise in television programme production and distribution (KohliKhandekar: 2006).

Today in India, over 400 channels are operating and many more are expected to be added.

According to the National Readership Survey data, Television reaches 112 million Indian homes with an estimated viewership of 230 million. Sixty eight million homes have access to Cable & Satellite. TV, C&S dominate in southern states. Andhra Pradesh leads the southern markets with TV reach of 78% and a high penetration of Cable & Satellite of 59% (NRS: 2006).

The FICCI-PWC study puts the broadcast industry at Rs 226 billion (over 5 billion dollars) per annum. The industry registered an overall growth of 21% in 2008 (FICCI-PwC: 2008).

Expansion of Telugu General Entertainment Channels: In 1990s when private channels began transmissions, they had to generate programming and send the tapes out to uplinking facilities in Singapore, Sri Lanka or other locations. The first Telugu channel in the private sector, Gemini TV, was started in 1994. It was started by a film production family, but could not be sustained and was later bought by a media group, Sun Network, owned by the leader of a southern political party, DMK, of the neighbouring state Tamil Nadu. The Sun Network runs 20 television channels in four languages, FM radio stations, newspapers and periodical publications. Both Sun and Gemini channels are better known for original entertainment software. Gemini started the all news Gemini News and the Sun network started an all-news channel, Teja News (Bhavanarayana: 2005).

ETV, a general entertainment channel, started soon after in 1994. The parent company of ETV (as stated elsewhere) is a successful finance instrument company that later diversified into pickle manufacturing, hotels, handicrafts, cinema production/distribution and more significantly started a Telugu newspaper, Eenadu, in 1974. The paper began with open affiliation to TDP, a party based on Telugu cultural pride and identity (Jeffrey:2000). When ETV began, the media house had 20 years of journalism behind it. In a short time, the channel became the most watched

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channel in the market, where its newspaper is the highest circulated newspaper. India does not have cross-media ownership regulations and this has facilitated rapid expansion of the Eenadu media empire. The network today has 12 general entertainment channels in Telugu and different north Indian languages. The group launched ETV2, a news and current affairs channel in Telugu, in 2004.

The early general entertainment channels like ETV and Gemini bought rights for large numbers of films and generate low-cost film-based programmes that show song clips, comedy clips and best dramatic clips and so on from films to fill transmission time. The libraries built up by the channels comprise some hit films but a large number of B and C grade films that have not succeeded at the box office. Some of the films have explicit and extreme violence and vulgarity.

These are transmitted to captive audiences at homes, the same audience, just a decade ago may not have seen one movie in a whole year. The choice and discretion a ticket-buying viewer exercises when s/he decides to see a film in a movie hall no longer operates when films of varying quality are transmitted to homes. The audiences are force-fed on pervasive violence and vulgarity.

While film-based material remains the mainstay, the general entertainment channels produce some of the software in-house and commission/buy/out-source production to some of the production companies. Major film companies like Radan Films, Balaji Telefilms, Vyjayanthi Televentures generate reality shows and soaps for various channels.

MAA TV entered the market in 2002. It was started by entrepreneurs emerging from real estate moorings who have diversified into software industry. The channel has sold some of its stakes to two leading Telugu film actors. The channel is an entertainment channel, though it does news too. Zee Telefilms group, a national network, has entered the general entertainment segment and is set to launch an all news channel soon.

Expansion of News TV Market: There is a growing interest in news over the last four years in the Indian TV market. The older general entertainment channels, which provided news as an additional programming element in their transmission mix have given way to 24-hour news channels. There are several reasons for this.

News has well-defined viewership across markets, rural/urban, male/female in India.

News & Current Affairs is the fastest growing genre on TV. At 31 per cent reach in the population, it has the highest penetration by genre (IRS: 2006). According to media

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analyst, Kohli-Khandekar (2006:107) news broadcasting rarely makes money elsewhere in the world. It is very popular and profitable in India, ‘India being a vibrant, argumentative democracy’.

In addition to the profits, a major incentive for running a news channel is the visibility, legitimacy and political power it brings with it.

The audience is sated with the soaps and other entertainment formulas, where the channels have been spending for an increasingly unpredictable audience response. The news channel boom began when the audience began to shift from entertainment to reality television.

The general entertainment channels have a continued need for innovation and investment in high cost original programming. The channels that have led the market have been able to consistently generate original entertainment content (Gemini TV, for instance). The average cost of production for half-an-hour programme is Rs 1,50,000 (US $3,000).

The cost of generating half-an-hour local news content is a fraction of this. The news channels require capital expenditure to set up but running costs are less compared to general entertainment channels as advertising support has absorbed the expansion so far.

All channels in India have to pay carriage fee to the multi-system-operators, cable operators or DTH operators. Several of the channels are pay channels and visibility on distribution platforms to reach the last mile is critical for survival. Despite this, the cost of running a news channel is less than the cost of running an entertainment channel.

The reduction in transponder costs which crashed from $3 million at the beginning of the decade (Kohli-Khandekar:2006) to $100,000 or less by 2006, steady growth in share of TV advertising revenue which was able to absorb increasing numbers of TV channels has brought the starting of a television channel within the reach of middle entrepreneurs, which was not possible just five years ago when it required deep pockets to enter the television business.

So far, all the news channels in Andhra Pradesh have managed to garner advertising revenues from the thriving finance, real estate and the commercial technical education businesses in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from regular advertising, every inch of screen space is monetised by the channels. More than a quarter of the screen is filled with commercial scrolls at the bottom of the screen and flashing corner ads even on pay channels.

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Entrepreneurs, who acted as external pressure groups to influence public policy and depended on media contacts to promote their business interests, find that it is possible to start and run a news enterprise themselves to influence public opinion and public policy.

The state in India played a paradoxical role in broadcast policy vis-à-vis its economic policies. While the ‘relatively autonomous’ state presented an anti-imperialist and antiglobalization stance to the external world, within the country, the broadcast policy trailed the developments in the industry in a deliberate attempt to give a free hand to market forces. Whether it is cable industry or satellite transmissions, the policy trailed the developments in the industry and often succumbed to pressure groups.

The rapid financialization of the economy in the 1990s, the unlimited flow of surplus from speculative sectors, helped in speeding up the structural transformation of the media industries at an unprecedented scale. Major manufacturers of professional and consumer electronic goods, satellite hardware suppliers, mobile phones and convergence technologies flooded Indian markets.

The Indian government does not allow more than 26% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the television news industry and the majority stake-holder/promoter has to be a citizen of India.

The government of India, however, allows 100% foreign direct investment in both film and advertising industries. Though elsewhere in the Indian market there are subsidiaries/alliance partners of STAR, CNN, and other major international broadcasters, for the moment in the Telugu market, the ownership is confined to the local entrepreneur class that is steeped in local politics. None of them is listed on the stock market yet. The production, distribution and reception of television news and programmes occurs in a loosely regulated market.

TV9, claiming to be the first 24-hour Telugu news channel, was started in 2004 by a computer software exporter and venture capitalist. The group members are also promoters of one of the biggest Special Economic Zones * in India. One of the members of the management group is also a member of the Dharma Parishad of the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam, one of the richest religious centres in India. The channel quickly built a modern identity for itself and broke *

Special Economic Zones are designated areas of economic activity for bringing in foreign and domestic investment.

A controversial policy of the state implemented under a 2005 Act, provides for wide-ranging tax and labor law concessions to promoters in the name of employment generation. Displacement of farmers from fertile lands to accommodate SEZs became a rallying point for widespread protests against SEZ policy.

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into national rankings for news channels within a short span of two years. Its promoters are individuals with close linkages to major political parties.

TV5, a 24-hour news channel, was started in October 2007 by Shreya Broadcasting Pvt Ltd., the businesses of the lead promoter and Chairman of the Board, who is an engineer by training, include manufacturing, travel, infrastructure development from 1991 to the present. The vice-chairman of the enterprise is from travel industry (TV5 website: 2007), which saw rapid success in a short span of time in the 1990s with patronage under the then state government and also has interests in real estate.

Rachana TV Private Limited started NTV, another 24-hour news channel in August 2007 (website: 2000). The chief promoter of the venture is a real estate entrepreneur, with no earlier media background. The channel is yet to place its management structure in the public domain.

The profile of the ownership of the news channels indicates that they are predominantly from the new entrepreneurial class that has emerged from the real estate and finance companies.

In the run up to the national general elections in 2009, another six news channels are expected to enter an already crowded Telugu news TV market. HMTV, also a 24-hour news channel, is waiting to be launched and is owned by a group that runs a financial instruments company. Surya TV (owner from real estate back ground) and Saakshi TV (Political family with real estate, construction and mining interests) are the two news channels that are also likely to be launched soon. Both groups own Telugu newspapers.

The family of a film star (that is dominant in film production and distribution business) owns Local TV, launched simultaneously from the 23 districts of Andhra Pradesh. The film star himself has declared his candidature for the next elections and has been campaigning all over the state. The star also has a very extensive network of fan clubs all over the state. The Local TV channel began with song and drama sequences from Telugu films, but airs news too. Another channel, iNews, financed with the support of non-resident Indians, has also announced its launch.

In the chapter, The Sales Effort, Baran and Sweezy in their Monopoly Capitalism discuss ‘the secular rise in advertising expenditure as a sign of secular rise of profit margins and decline of price competition’ (1966:117). Baran and Sweezy (1966: 139-140) describe the large-scale diversion of resources in to FIRE (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate) under monopoly capitalism as a mode of utilization of surplus, quite like advertising and are reckoned under the necessary costs of production. It is the finance and real estate sectors that have generated unprecedented profits

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without any backward linkages to the productive sectors of the economy in Andhra Pradesh. In a self-perpetuating cycle, the same sectors also advertise and support the media. The media ownership in turn has emerged from the same sector.

It is the individual players with economic clout and local political ambitions who are powering the expansion of private ownership of television in Andhra Pradesh market. Their current economic and political aspirations are confined to Andhra Pradesh. This is in contrast to the situation elsewhere in the world, where the news operations have gone global and are controlled by the global news oligarchy, which has renewed concerns about loss of diversity and local content (Turnstall and Machin 1999).

Localised Content and Competition Democratic practice in the daily lives of the citizens in modern times depends on what the media allow them to experience. Media seem to be the only spaces where citizens encounter authority and ‘the system’. What the citizens experience on media will prime them to build faith in democratic processes (or not?) (Moreno: 2006).

The intense competition among channels has brought in trends in content that can be broadly termed ‘foxification’. According to the news coordinator of one of the leading Telugu news channels, Daniel M. Kimmel’s book, ‘The Fourth Network: How FOX Broke the Rules and Reinvented Television’ is mandatory reading in their newsroom to device winning strategies.

Broadly there are five tendencies: 1. Coverage of crime predominates in Telugu news channels, next only to local politics.

The channels do not follow norms of visual coverage of crime, routinely and insensitively showing blood, gore and mutilated bodies. More significantly, the saturation coverage has a corrosive effect on institutions of the state, which are a subject of hasty scrutiny.

2. In their anxiety to beat competition, the channels out-do each other in sensationalising ordinary issues into extraordinary controversies. Fringe politics and extremist political activity find greater coverage. Since the channels are 24-hour news channels, the coverage is repetitive and trivial.

3. When reporting a political controversy or a major economic policy issue, the news channels toe the political affiliations and policy preferences of the owners. The reportage of the legislature sessions ignores the issues debated and concentrates on floor strategies and repartees

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of the politicians. The emphasis is not so much on the practice of democracy, as it is on survival in electoral politics by all means.

4. Telugu news is hyper-localised. ‘News’ from the streets/petty family quarrels, individualised and sensational crime, vigilante–style coverage of corruption among petty government officials, gossip about film stars and films, obsessive coverage of cricket, is staple.

News channels also follow fads such as sting-operations using hidden cameras, taking up campaigns for justice in support of victims of crime, while again leaving major politicaleconomic issues out of public discourse in news. Unless a major event like 9/11 or attack on Indian parliament occurs, local TV channels ignore national and international news.

Local politics and political aspirants representing caste, community and regional pressure groups (sometimes those with criminal records or notorious for being real estate strongmen) get extensive coverage on talk and discussion shows, often trading accusations and charges of wrongdoing. The ‘political debates’ ignore policy issues and concentrate on contentious, divisive issues of caste, religion, region, polarising opinion and leading to greater fragmentation than integration of the polity.

The new political leadership visible on local television is not the conventional elite or the accepted sources of information. It is from the groups, seeking to espouse the cause of the marginalised through strategies that are not always legitimate. They often do not represent the democratic aspirations of the civil society.

5. The already large presence of film industry in Andhra Pradesh has seen a phenomenal and unfettered expansion through commercial television industry, both in entertainment and news segments. Film industry takes up a significant chunk of news content, contributing extra velocity in the ratings race. The coverage to film releases, film personalities and other film-related news is often in glowing, uncritical terms.

However, there have been some positive outcomes of the expansion of the television industry in Andhra Pradesh: One, it has made wages and working conditions of journalists in news media competitive and negotiable for the first time in decades. Just a year ago, between the state-run television and the limited number of commercial channels in the market, wages and working conditions were exploitative.

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Two, news is liberated from the constraints of political correctness and the stranglehold of limited number of media houses. The multiplicity of news organizations representing diverse pressure groups (though highly partisan) has ensured a wider variety of perspectives in the marketplace, even as the media houses maintain their allegiances to their political mentors.

Three, it has opened up the possibility of professionalizing journalism because the journalists with integrity and marketable skills are in high demand. So far, this has remained only a possibility, with increasing attrition rate of employees in the news establishments.

Four, this could lead to improvement of professional ethics in the media and reduction of the domination of the advertising and marketing divisions of the media houses on editorial departments. This too is yet to materialise as channels continue to be advertising driven.

Do more media lead to more democracy?

Can the arrival of such commercial media and the subsequent opening up of the media space to social and economic groups hitherto ignored by the mainstream media be celebrated as ‘democratisation’? Can the emergence of the marginalised groups on media be seen as the triumph of the oppressed classes against domination? What is the significance of the economic base from which the ownership has emerged? Do they represent the democratic aspirations of the people?

The potentially depoliticizing role that media can play in Andhra Pradesh reinforces the arguments of neo-Marxist scholars like Herbert Marcuse that media actively contribute to the creation of a false consciousness. The role of media in undermining the political process and preventing a working class consciousness from emerging is illustrated by a strategic decision of the Andhra Pradesh state in recent months. The District Collector of Warangal, a region which has a history of seventy years of left-wing insurgency and land struggles, has supplied free large screen LCD televisions and satellite connections in the remote villages to wean the people away from the influence of the left groups and to ‘mainstream’ them. The state clearly believes that popular television can be a strategic ally in the ideological battle to win over minds in place of economic policies that ensure welfare and equity.

Considering the UNESCO prescription for media development of 10 copies of daily newspapers, 5 radio and two television sets per 100 individuals, today India boasts of 25 televisions per 100 viewers and 20 newspapers for 100 readers. India is also one of the largest

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mobile markets in the world with 246 million mobiles in 2008. However, a large section of the population lives and dies in poverty and intense deprivation. Nearly a half of all the children in the country are malnourished and India has double the murders than United States of America.

The expansion of media has not necessarily resulted in the amelioration of hunger and deprivation or lack of democratic rights.

In a telling analysis of the role of media in society, Jan Ekecrantz (2007) writes, “At the time, … the statistical correlation between the number of radio and TV receivers per capita, on the one hand, and participation in elections and a number of welfare indicators, on the other, tended to be quite strong … The correlation was mostly spurious one. If one looked at the partial correlations closely … In the poorest and richest countries, respectively, more media meant more market, but not more democracy – media development being above all a consequence of economic growth. For the ten richest countries, there was even a strong negative correlation between the number of TV sets and political participation.”

Conclusion Indian economy is booming with over 7% growth rate in the last several years. It ranks 4th in the world for its number of billionaires (Sainath: 2008). In Human Development Index, however, it ranks 128 in the world (UNDP website: 2005). The euphoria of ‘economic development’ was orchestrated on media, which in turn propelled the rapid growth of media industries. The free-market votaries hailed the ballooning media enterprise as a triumph for democracy.

On closer examination, however, •

The growth in the media sector in Andhra Pradesh appears to be a consequence of the sudden spurt in the speculative capital and a decline or stagnation of the real sectors of the economy.

•

The democratic practice is defined on media in a limited sense to mean success in electoral politics and not in the daily practice of responsible citizenship

•

The localised expansion has severely localised the content. For the first time, small-time leaders, faction leaders are getting extensive coverage over media channels

•

The excessive coverage rendered to lumpen politics could lead to deep dissentions and fragmentation of society. The uncritical exposure to lumpen politics also legitimises the

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lumpen leadership, fulfilling in a sense, the primary purpose of the owners in entering the media business.

Whether Indian economy can be defined as monopoly capitalist or not, the financialisation process has unleashed newer forces whose economic/political goals run contrary to the democratic aspirations of the people.

If media are under the direct control of these forces, can they be considered instruments of democracy? Should the very fact of newer, non-elite’s dominance in media be celebrated as democratisation or should it be seen as a threat to democracy and productive forces of society?

Since this trend parallels the decline in ethical and professional standards of journalistic practice, it raises important questions about not just ‘the role of media in fostering democracy’, but what kind of media in which kind of democracy.

References CDRC (2006) “Natural Resources and Environment” in Fifty Years of Andhra Pradesh 19562006, Hyderabad: CDRC. p. 27.

Ramakrishna, V. (2006) Towards Becoming Andhra Pradesh in Fifty Years of Andhra Pradesh 1956-2006, Hyderabad: CDRC. p 42-43.

Amin, S., Arrighi, G., Frank, A. G., Wallerstein, I. (2006) Transforming The Revolution, New Delhi: Aakar. p.23.

Dev, M. (2006) “Economic and Social Development of Andhra Pradesh: Retrospect and Prospect” in Fifty Years of Andhra Pradesh 1956-2006, Hyderabad: CDRC. p. 73.

Rao, R.S. (2006) “Economy - An Overview” in Fifty Years of Andhra Pradesh 1956-2006, Hyderabad: CDRC. p.12.

Ibid. p.12.

Baran, Paul. (1968) The Political Economy of Growth, NY: Modern Reader. p. 29.

Foster, J.B. (2006) “Monopoly-Finance Capital” in Monthly Review, 58(7) Baran, P., and Sweezy, P. (1968) Monopoly Capital, NY: Modern Reader. p. 113-140.

Op. cit., Rao 2006. p.15.

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Venugopal, N. (2006) “Fifty Years of Andhra Pradesh Development: An Attempt to Comprehend Light and Shade” in Fifty Years of Andhra Pradesh 1956-2006, Hyderabad: CDRC. p. 21.

Basu, Indrajit (2007) “India’s Booming Black Economy” in Asia in Times Online” retrieved on 12 May 2007. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IF05Df02.html Haragopal, G. (2006) “Fifty Years of Andhra Pradesh: Politics and Development” in Fifty Years of Andhra Pradesh 1956-2006, Hyderabad: CDRC. p. 85.

Dreze, Jean (2003) “Hunger Amidst Plenty” in India Together, retrieved on 2 May 2008 http://indiatogether.org/2003/dec/pov-foodsec.htm Jeffrey, R. (2000) India’s Newspaper Revolution, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 6871.

Machin, D., Niblock, S. (2006) News Production: Theory and Practice, London: Routledge. p.

15.

Chatterji, P.C. (1991) Broadcasting in India, New Delhi: Sage. p. 115.

Ibid. p. 183.

Ninan, Sevanti (1998) “History of Indian Broadcasting Reform” in Monroe E. Price and Stefaan G.Verhulst (eds.) Broadcasting Reform in India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 54.

Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (2006) The Indian Media Business, Delhi: Response Books. p. 101.

NRS. (2006) “NRS 2006: Key Findings” in The Hindu retrieved on 2 May 2008. http://www.hindu.com/nic/nrs.htm Report 2008. The Indian Entertainment and Media Industry: Sustaining Growth, FICCIPrice Waterhouse Coopers. p.8.

Bhavanrayana, T. (2005) Television Production, Hyderabad: Sai Shakthi Publications. p. 14.

Jeffrey, R. (2000) India’s Newspaper Revolution, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. p.133.

IRS (2006) “51.2 million C&S homes in India: IRS 2006” in Indiantelevision.com retrieved on 12 May 2008. http://www.indiantelevision.com/special/y2k6/nrs-report06.htm Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (2006) The Indian Media Business, Delhi: Response Books. p. 107.

Ibid. p. 75.

TV5 Website (2007) retrieved on 12 May 2008. http://www.tv5news.in/AboutUs.aspx

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Website (2007) “New Telugu Channels NTV and Bhakthi TV Launched” retrieved on May12 2008. http://www.andhranews.net/state/2007/August/30-NTV-Bhakti-TV-Telugu-Channels.asp Op. cit., Baran and Sweezy. P. 139-140.

Turnstall, J. and Machin, D. (1999) The Anglo American Media Connection, Oxford: OUP Moreno, R. M. A. (2006) “Citizens and Media Cultures: Hidden Behind Democratic Formality” in Global Media and Communication, 2(2), London: Sage. p. 299-314.

Ekecrantz, Jan. (2007) Media and Communication Studies: Going Global in Nordicom Review, Norden: Goteborg. 28. p172.

Sainath, P. (2008) India 2007: High Growth, Low Development in India Together retrieved on 15 May 2008. http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/dec/psa-i2007.htm UNDP Website (2005) retrieved on 15 http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_IND.html

May

2008.

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Media Groups and Their Market Shares in Turkey during Globalization Assist. Prof. Sebnem Çaglar, Ph.D. Assoc. Prof. Seda Çakar-Mengü, Ph.D. ABSTRACT The theorists of democracy have observed a fundamental contradiction between the idea that public media should function as a public sphere and the fact of private ownership. Thus, the media proprietors can restrain the information flow by using their ownership rights.

Nevertheless, as Wiener indicated, the organization level of a society depends on the amount of information in a system; entropy; on the other hand, is the measure of its deterioration.

Therefore, information flow should be maintained. An increase in entropy denotes a regression in development. Regression or prevention of information in this sense produces negative affects on informing the public from ethical point of view. Hence, the state constructs its own agenda by using the media. It is observed that the definitions and functions of journalism, newscasting, radio and television broadcasting are changing. In fact, although the media is supposed to monitor and control legislation, administration and jurisdiction in the name of the citizens in a society as the fourth power, today it has been the “power” of the media proprietors.

Being either national or international, while considering the media monopolies, now it has been quite normal to mention media moguls too. One of the primary factors increasing the monopoly in the world media industry is the necessity for an enormous capital to invest in this relatively ludicrous sector. Such a necessity to access to the market, high costs in production and delivery, competition among the media companies, limitation in advertisement revenues, vertical and horizontal corporate amalgamations, wrong policies of governments and inflation are the factors that increase monopolization. Since the media products have a temporary nature, the time pressure exercised in production and distribution stages is the primary reason obliging media companies for vertical amalgamations. Paper production and the ownership of press companies or advertisement agencies are the examples for vertical amalgamations.

Partnership in media-related related activities, that is, the merger of the companies in the activity field is an example for horizontal amalgamation.

With the liberal economy policy exercised after the 1980s in Turkey, the free enterprise was granted a great opportunity and the media companies got involved a vicious competition like the other companies. One of the negative effects that the conditions of free market have produced on the media is monopolization. In the 1980s, media ownership passed out of the hands of families in the press sector and the Turkish economy began to be controlled by the powerful states. The fundamental reason for that is to be able to use the press as a weapon for their interests and to exercise lateral diversifications by using the power of the press.

Therefore, the press companies that are not ludicrous by themselves, has become the press releases of the holdings by being amalgamated with them. In the 1990s; on the other hand, it was observed that the media owners turned their companies into industrial complexes. Along with different media enterprises, including newspapers, magazines as well as book, radio and TV companies and banks, such media companies somehow transformed into the holdings comprising several enterprises functioning in miscellaneous industries and services. Parallel to the introduction of incredibly new technology to the media sector, the scales have considerably got bigger. Through vertical and horizontal amalgamations, product variety has been introduced. In addition, marketing and delivery organizations have been reshaped. The struggle to get the biggest share in the advertisement profit has become violent.

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In this study, the market shares of the biggest media groups in Turkey, namely Dogan, Merkez and Cukurova have been analysed. In the same way, evaluating the other activity areas of these groups with respect to the limitations of the Turkish Press Law, the role of the media monopolies in the formation of the public sphere in Turkey through the globalization process will be determined.

Key words: Turkish Media Groups, Media Owners, Journalism, Media companies Introduction Structures of ownership occurring in Turkish media also with the impact of neoliberalism lead to differentiation on media too. Journalism, news making, radio or TV broadcasting are observed to be changing with respect to definition, function. Though media should in fact supervise, control legislation, government and judiciary on behalf of citizens in a society and become a fourth power, it has currently become the power of property owners and power-ruling centre for itself. This is a problematic of our study too. With the liberal economy policies pursued after 1980’s in Turkey, private entrepreneurship gets on the rise, media institutions like other institutions competing in free market enter into a bitter rivalry between themselves. One of the negative impacts of free market conditions on media is grouping.

In 1980’s media ownership starting coming out of hands of ‘journalist families’ and being held by great giants of Turkish economy. The fundamental reason behind it is to use media as a power for their private business and to provide significant expansions for their operations in other business branches by benefiting from the influence of media. Therefore, media institutions which are not profitable enterprises on their own were attached to comglomerates

and

they

started

performing

the

function

of

publishing

press

bulletins/corporate releases of the companies concerned. Whereas in 1990’s, media owners are now seen to have transformed their enterprises to an industrial complex. They were transformed into conglomerates operating various industrial and service businesses with sectors of finance (banking, leasing, etc.), energy (petroleum company, electricy generation, etc.). While media industry followed rapidly developing communication technology; scales were largened, products gained variety with horizontal, vertical mergers. “Economic characteristics portrayed by media sector are playing an important role that increases intensification in media. The major ones are high capital requirement, high costs of production and distribution, competition among media branches and limitations of media revenues.

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Media is integrated with other industries on one hand and bears the same purposes and worries like other businesses. In this sense, it has many similar and common features with them. On the other hand, it has the characteristic of being a culture industry with the power it wields to influence masses and the products produced. Media product differs from products of other industries basically at one point. Accordingly, media content is also classified as cultural product. TV programmes, films, books, magazines are products that raise intellectual levels of society and individuals more than being solely commercial products. In this sense, the value of media products results from their contents, in other words the knowledge or message they carry. For this reason, consumption of a media product is not a physical consumption like consumption of other products. Media acts with financial concerns as a commercial enterprise. However, as it presents opportunities like fame, influence, power which can not be obtained by ownership of another company in comparable scale, financial concerns are losing their priority.

The purpose of this study, is determination of how ownership relations in Turkish media effect the fourth power function of media in public arena. When ‘business’ problems like ownership/interest relations, cartel formation, market shares, advertising revenues join managers whose real profession is not news making, they set forth the core lines of this determination. Agenda making theorists define the agenda determination function of media as “the ability to influence perception structure to shape up opinions of individuals”. When the power to shape up opinions of masses is seized by institutions bearing business concerns, it is a very influential commercial power.

The scope of this study is more than examination of products of Turkish media, but historical conditions and structural factors that shape it up. In this context, the role played by media groups in the formation of public arena in Turkey is set forth, market shares of largest media groups, i.e. Doğan Group, Çalık and Çukurova Groups are examined.

Structuring of market shares within the framework of dominance relations, media texts bearing value as an economic product in this direction required us to evaluate the subject we are taking up with an economic political perspective.

“From the perspective of cultural works, studies on communications are fundamantally interested with the construction of meaning – how meaning is generated within certain forms of expression and by means of them and how it is continually negotiated and made subject to structure deformation by means of practices of daily life.” (GoldingMurdock, 1997:49 transmitting from Murdock, 1989:436) Cultural works are related with

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texts covered by media and viewers and class/social relations of both. However, they largely do not examine structural factors having an impact on generation of meaning it holds.

“Cultural works do not examine forms of constitution of consumption choices of people by their position in a wider economic formation. The primary target of critical political economy of communication is to research these dynamics. In doing this the warning of “we need to look at not to components of a product but conditions of a practice” of Raymond Williams will have been followed. The main theme of research regarding political economy of communication, is permanent interrogation of professional journalism ideology and how much or which sections of journalism can take part in a position independent from capital holders or advertisers.” (McChesney, 2003, 13) Since the political economy approach has seen economic interests of media institutions as the most important factor in determination of media content, the real sphere of interest have been tendencies of intensification and monopolisation in the media sector.

However, studies drawing attention to monopolisation in media and therefore to the role of media institutions in determination media content, are not only economic-political studies within critical tradition. Within liberal pluralist tradition too, studies emphasizing that intensification in media constitutes serious threats before getting proper information required for proper functioning of democracy are being carried out. (Irvan, 2001:79) In this direction, effects of media ownership from a perspective of political economy is attempted to be determined by starting off in this study with the pre-acceptance of evaluation of cultural works.

Media, as Creator of Public Dictum and its Influence in Turkey Democracy theorists have seen a fundamental contradiction between the ideal that public media should operate as a public arena and the monopolised truth of private ownership.

Limitation of information flow by media owners by using their ownership rights is one of the important factors leading to this contradiction. Media owners are building their agendas by employing their ownership rights on media, limiting information flow. Obstruction, limitation, diminishing or manipulation of information is raising ethically negative results for information of public. The measure of the level of deteriotation in information flow is anthropy. Organisation level in each society depends on the amount of organisation within the system as mentioned by Wiener. (Mattelart, Mattelart, 2003:53-54)

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The factors constituting social reality are transferred into public dictum, thereby spread by means of media. Verstraeten states the categories or level of ideologies employed in perception of social reality and assisting in definition and legalisation of a certain world view.

These categories promote internalisation of constructions of social location and acceptance of social world as given. In the expression of Bourdieu, struggles of power initiated in the name of transforming or maintaining social world are a struggle to maintain or transform categories providing perception of this world. Public arena is the struggle launched on this categorisation. Therefore, this process of attributing meaning is also important. Effective attribution of meaning at cognitive and ideological level positions viewers or target masses as participant citizens of public arena. (Verstraeten 2002, 364-365).

Power groups have not only the means of symbolic production, but also the cultural and symbolic strategies that are necessary for opinion formation. While the public try to have their solutions exercised on governments and institutions, these groups try to pursue the policies that suit them. While practicing it; however, they would rather have their views and policies adopted by using the capabilities of the mass media instead of opposing or obliging the public, (Atabek & Dagtas, 1998). The direction of the interaction and persuasion process between the public and government displays difference according to the characteristics of the problems encountered, social conditions, the existing powers and efficiency of the public and government.

“According to allegations of agenda determination approach, viewers do not suffice to learn solely some realities from news covered in mass communication means. In fact, they make some conclusions on the position of place or the amount of time allocated to a problem or subject by mass communication means and how important that problem or subject is. The way newspaper editors or television broadcasters select the news to be published when performing their daily works and determination of positions of news in newspapers or television leave important impacts on the mode viewers perceive the world” (Atabek-Dağtaş, 1998:357) Agenda determination approach considering the success of media in telling public not what they will think but more what they will think on what issue, as preliminary truth, expresses that it patches the information on public mentality listing of media and it arranges the issues on social agenda. Media determines which information are important for the society, and dictates on the society what or which issue holds value; for example by either taking a certain news on its first page in the newspaper or enlargening its photographs or

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presenting with headlines of big letter sizes. Sometimes it does not cover at all some of them by making a selection among occurred events, or covers some of them by more than necessary.

“Shaw and McCombs points to agenda determination effect of mass communication means as follows. Significant amount of data was obtained so far regarding the significant role played by newspaper editors and radio television broadcasters in shaping up our social reality while selecting and publishing news in their daiy works… Agenda determination function of mass communication has become the name to characterise – a capability to influence of perceptive imagination of individuals to shape up their thoughts – for this effect of mass communication means. Maybe the most important effect of mass communication is that they arrange and organise our world of means from a perspective of thought. In brief, mass communication means may not be successul in telling what we should think, but they are very successful in telling on what we should think. (Atabek-Dağtaş, 1998:358 tranmitting from Shaw-McCombs, 1977:5) Agenda determination approach claims the parallellity between the importance attached to a subject by mass communication means and the importance attached to the same issue by viewers, as its fundamental thesis.

•

Media takes social power under its own control by making its own agenda.

•

Manifestation and protection of social power requires an ideological framework. Such a framework made in accordance with interests of individual constituting the group, is earned, approved and changed through dictum and communication. Similarly, opposing forms of power, which is an analysis of social and historical challenge, should also be analysed. Dominant powers and groups generally want ideology to be adopted as a system of values, norms and targets. In such a case, ideological reproduction assumes a role for formation of compromise and the power arising from it and takes up a hegeomonic form. The idological framework itself is comprised of socially meaningful norms, values, aims and principles selected for perception, interpretation and facilitation of action and serves expansive interests of groups in social practices. Therefore, the integrity between ideology and social attitudes is realised. (Van Dijk, 1994: 279).

In this context, media realises its own ideological theory in creation of social reality.

Consequently, social reality and information factors are a reflection of ideologies that has

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gained validity and power within that society. There exists an important bond between social reality, information and ideology.

In reality, public opinion limits and directs actions of individuals. Therefore, “institutions and techniques affecting public opinion bear importance…” (Bottomore, 1970: 261). Likewise, the main current media in Turkey holds an apparent dominance in determining the agenda of society. Public broadcasting is gradually losing its affect in the face of private broadcasting. In such a case, it becomes difficult for individuals to express themselves. Pursuance of a publication policy based largely on trivial news has led to emergence of individuals who are not aware of rights and obligations in legal and political spheres that could be manipulated easily with social changes. “Mass communication means continually increase the information acquired by individuals about what is going on in the society. However, their activation of this information is strongly prevented” (Sennet, 1996: 352). Media has brought forth the function of manipulation more than giving information.

“Four historical processes are in core position for critical political economy of culture: development of media, expansion of company range, materialisation, changing role of state and government intervention” (Golding & Murdoch, 1997: 57).

The system dominating the age in which we are living from a political, social and economic perspective is globalisation. The notion of globalisation has a fundamental importance in the description of capitalism being structured generally in ultra-national area. In the centre of globalisation lies media. As a result of standardised technology, biological and cultural diversity is rapidly being destroyed, economic cultural identities of nations are melting away in the quite cry of a one-dimensional photograph. (Pazarbaşı, 2007: 167) The most important means of globalisation is information… What makes persons like Rupert Murdoch, Silvio Berlusconi rich within the global system, results from their power to distribute information set on news format. This power does not result only from the fact that the actors in question own the information they are distributing, but from holding specific information increasing their profit, playing an important role in bringing them to a well planned monopoly position. This is the fundamental reality underneath the dictum of information society, information age taken up along with globalisation. (Pazarbaşı, 2007: 168) Today, the process of making works public generally serves the policies of private interests. In view of Habermas, this situation takes place by giving public prestige to events, problems by means of promotion and therefore by enabling them to be praised within the nonpublic climate. The difference between public and social emerges in that the basis of one of

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them is democratic policy and points out to sphere of jargon and action in this way, while the other refers to family and economy as specific area. The public arena described by Habermas as the principle of equal participation and free dictum in public communication is the sphere of jargon relations separate from state in which citizens discuss their common problems, com to an agreement and carry out an action. A true public opinion is the area to set disclose views and criticise about problems by means of free and equal participation without making any separation. The public arena in which beliefs of citizens are disclosed is an area of fair and free struggle. “The expression of public opinion refers to tasks of criticisation and control carried out informally (and certainly formally in election times) by public body constituted by citizens against dominant structure organised in the form of a state… The principle of public arena as a sphere acting as an intermediary between society and state and organising the public itself as the creator of public opinion is in conformity with the principle of public information… Public opinion can gain existence solely under leadership of a judging public with respect to its definition.” (Habermas, 2004: 96) The norms set by Habermas with the principle of public arena are accessability by all, elimination of priviliges, attainment of general norms and rational legalities. “With the notion of public arena, Habermas describes a sphere where citizens do not interact with companies or government, fundamental principles of public are generated by democratic media. From this perspective, it bears the concern to create a media sector formed with capital not aiming at profit, pursuing no commercial concerns, re-managed and controlled under democratic tradition.” (McChesney, 2003, 16) Therefore media refers to a mediatic side of public arena because they built by means of discussion of some public problems and some fundamental values and jargon, therefore they became an intermediary of social, cultural and political representation (Köse, 2007: 307).

In view of Habermas, conscious industry materialised culture, instrumental mind penetrated into both specific area and public arena and drained both spheres. Consequently, public arena is made by means of research techniques, public relations, etc. and therefore public arena is losing its public character, thereby reduced to a position being directed.

Furthermore, the function to create public opinion continues, however public arena has lost its significance. (Habermas, 2004: 98) Public arena, are locations where thoughts and actions are produced and shared within social life as a notion of location. In this context, public arena; includes all issues reproducing meaning like daily practices and culture. Each democratic society in which people or nation manifests public character up to all sub-national or ultra-national political unions.

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When referred to public areans, the areas created by collective subjects constituting this area are perceived. However, capitalist social developments are leading to destruction of public arena. Therefore, individuals fail to reach a joint conclusion with equal critical discussions, various organisation could perform bargaining with public power based on interest.

Ownership relations of media having an important place in the formation of democratic public arena, is regarded as an important factor of destruction in Turkey. Public arena has adopted modern principle of self-administration based on critical mind and rational consent. If public character refers to the field of equal participation and free jargon aiming at self-administration and reciprocity, all obstacles before it should be removed. Public arena should be against not only dominant state power but also prevalance of capital.

Media as a field of communication, in which citizens dispute freely with each other and conclude on problems regarding their public interests, is the new agora of liberal democracy whose historical roots date back to 18th century. In view of Arendt who reevaluated the area in question in a less rational yet more aesthetic manner as opposed to Habermas, some factors, persons, policies, events, etc. in public arena come to stage before society. Citizens are called to formulate their values on specifically unrational foundations.

The public arena model proposed by Arendt, still looks very close to reality with the perils it includes, common feature of the mortal in such a model particularly regarding circulation of information of public interest is that they have neither time nor information means on a scientific basis. It is more about having the power to influence each other by means of sentimental tools as well as being rational. (Köse, 2007: 307) The concept of news making bears the targets of educating the reader regarding problems, informing them about processes of taking decisions on themselves and making them conscious in a manner to provide their participation as citizens. It makes them aware of their responsibilities in democracies as a requirement of being a citizen. (Cangöz, 2003: 103) “Being a citizen is holding himself responsible for proper functioning of institutions respecting human rights and enabling representation of ideas and interests” (Touraine, 2000: 364). Creation of conscious citizens is a requirement of public society. However the media of present day has assumed a function towards creation of mass society.

When we consider the social, cultural and political effects of the media in Turkey, we can give such an example that AKP (Justice and Prosperity Party), which has a rightist tendency, came into power by polling 46% of the votes in the general elections in 2007 with the support of the media. In TV channels programmes with politicial contents, the way the

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news is given in newspapers, and the data presented by Gallup poll companies before the election implicity provided support for AKP. What and for whom the Gallup poll companies conduct their researches and through which media they convey their findings to the audience posit an indicator of the effects of media. Furthermore, the issues, such as women’s headgear (turban), citizenship, privatization etc., which play a significant role in the Turkish society and find a continuous ground for discussion, are given prominent place in the media according to different perspectives. However, this is a different research topic.

From a cultural point of view, the increase in the number of mainstream newspapers that are similar to each other as well as the magazines on TV that incite popular culture can be given as evamples. It has been observed that individuals tend to watch the programmes focused on entertainment, games and drawing a prize in lottery.

Similarly, football is

introduced to the multitudes a product of mass culture. Moreover, it has been notice that some historical, poltical ve social values have changed. Similarly, some concepts are either opened to question or substituted by some others. In the same way, it can also be seen that media attempts to internalize these concepts and ideologies.

Ownership Structure in Media and Its Effect on Functions of Media Media being the fourth power to constitute democracy or being the fourth power controlling and supervising the three powers constituting democracy is inapplicable under the structural reality of present day capitalist societies. This inapplicability has manifested itself much more evidently with the removal of poor media. (Erdoğan, 1999. 38-39) While media should in fact supervise, control legislation, government and judiciary in a society, yet perform these functions in the name of public, citizens or become a fourth power, today it has become the fifth branch of the sovereign, rulers, property owners. (Duran, 2003: 87) However, media which is no longer a core fourth power in favour of public controlling the powers of legislation, government and judiciary for the benefit of public as claimed by representatives of liberal thought, under the process of commercialisation starting from the second half of 19.century, has become a hub of power/rule for itself. (Cangöz, 2003: 101) Journalist editor Squires qualifies this as the death of fourth power. Press was conventionally a politically active initiative, centered around people, having the spirit of public against private ownership, concerned first of all with the protection of democracy.

Press has lost this superior character. It is no longer an institution that has devoted itself to

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public interest, but a commercial activity chasing profit procurement. Journalism which is the mirror in which the society sees itself is largely diverted, its practices are commercialised and it has been used for different purposes. (Erdoğan, 1999: 39 transmitted from Squires, 1994: 910) “According to theory of specific benefits of control developed particularly by economists like Demsets, Grossman and Hart from the second half of 1980’s, non-financial benefits like fame, influence, power obtained by controlling a newspaper or television are much higher than benefits obtained from controlling another company of comparable scale. For that reason, the conclusion derived is that intensification in media companies would be high.

(Djankov-McLiesh-Nenova-Shlefier, 2001: 47)

Therefore public gets informed of daily events in the direction of interests of media conglomerates and they are alienated because they have no right to say in their formation.

Since they are distanced from society and focused on strengthening their powers, media is also distancing and alienated from society. One of the most important results of all these, is that they do not feel any responsibility towards society from an ethical perspective.

“Reporting by media of disappropriateness committed by persons in state organisation and big corruptions committed by private property and discussions emerging with this reporting, gives the impression that capitalist order is in democratic and pluralist character. With this appearance mass communication media gets into sheath of being the fourth power or the eye and ear of public. The system not allowing exceptions and the appearance of flexibility that comes with exceptions, can never sell itself as a system of democracy and freedom”.

(Erdoğan, 1999: 40-41) When looked at total turnover and profitability rates of great media holdings along with other sectors, it is seen that the profit they make from mass communication means (radio, television, press) is very low. There are even some bodies which do not make any profit at all. Despite very low earnings, why do bosses insistently hold mass communication means in their hands? The answer to this question can be given in one single sentence: Bosses keep media in their hands to secure other enterprises they own, in fact the system in which they operate. How would media provide this security? The answer to this can be given in four sentences: First of all, bosses are using media as the means of advertisement of other sectors they own; secondly, they can use the media they own as a means of pressure on political power in taking decisions that concerns them; thirdly, they can employ media as means of fight with other sectors in competition with them; fourthly, while doing all these, they are distancing public from mistakes of political power and system by entertaining, distracting,

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manipulating and contributing to emergence of society of no reactions, either deliberately or without any such intention. (Tekinalp, 2008: 124) As holding owner businessmen who have entered into investment in different types, gained ownership of many newspapers, magazines, TV and radio channels, journalism changed structure. These developments lead to revision of the concept of democratic, free, public supervisor press turned into a motto by liberal politics and economy and criticisation of the role of journalism within the new world order. (Tekinalp, 2003) Investment of big capital in media has led to the result of this sphere forgetting its duty to make opposition on one hand, regarding viewers and readers as a client on the other hand.

Within such a structure, to what extent could big capital owners operating in various industrial branches and at the same time included in media sector, leaning on environmental problems for example in the name of social interests be a realistic approach? (Özgen, 2001: 22) Commercialisation of media is significant for journalism. It is because journalism is dependent on economic, technological and structural contexts of media. Althogh journalism is not fully dependent on the structure of media, commercialisation leaves clear traces on journalism. Commercialisation is gradually being described as a social process making organisations of journalism subject to the rules of capitalist society and shaping up its social activities under economic calculations. (Alver, 2007: 193 transmitted from Altmeppen, 1996: 257) Despite commercialisation of media, socially desirable achievements, media presents non-functional presentations with massive attractions. (Alver, 2007: 193) Besides there is also need for money in journalism; because journalism making organisational production is to struggle permanently for economic success that secures future. On which basis, organisations of journalism secure their economic achievements is described within reference framework of media. Therefore, the economy and organisations of media are brought forward. (Rühl, 1993: 134) “Media production managed by big companies and shaped up in parallel with interests and strategies of these companies rules cultural sphere in two ways. Firstly, large groups of companies having interest in a series of sectors like newspapers and magazines, television, film, music in a continually increasing rate of cultural production are directly responsible.

Secondly, companies with no direct relation with cultural industries as producer can implement a noticeable control on the direction of cultural activity by means of their roles as advertiser and sponsor.” (Golding-Murdock, 1997: 57)

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Changing Ownership Structure in Turkish Media Initiation of management of media organisation on the basis of profitability with a business logic has altered contents and journalism perceptions in time. Following rapid experience of the process of formation of media holdings, 1980’s and 90’s when holdings entered into media sector, are reached. Private television broadcasting created suitable conditions for big capital, while it created unsuitable conditions for small and medium size capital for entry into the industry. Ambitions of conglomerate capitals to enter into media sector despite of its operation with very low profit margin, gains significance only in consideration of capabilities to become influential on governments and public by means of media. All these data are in the feature to remind that the media sector in Turkey is neither in a multi-vocal nor multi-coloured structure and will not be so in near future. Media consumers named as viewers, readers and listeners experience the dream of pluralist, freedom-minded democracy with selections it makes from within options formed, theoretised for themselves in their name (Dursun, Alemdar, 1999: 137-138) The period before 1980 which could be named as conglomeratisation of media was followed in a short time with stages of the entry of holdings in media and integration of printed media with electronic press. The period between 1980 and 1990 was experienced in the media sector as a war of wolves. While institutions making their first accumulation of wealth and burgeoning in the media sector entered into a market war among themselves on one hand, sector struggles were accelerated on the other hand with the entry of conglomerates with an eye on the profit of media along with the power to use it as an arm. (Atabek, Dağtaş, 1998: 136-137) Journalist Cüneyt Arcayürek evaluates the change experienced after 1980 as follows: Until 1980’s a newspaper was for journalism. Newspapers of which the principal function is to give news entered into commercial implementations. Newspapers were seized by rapidly expanding capital and newspapers were transformed into enterprises operating for purposes of profit. (Oktay, 1987: 81) This situation of media institutions which have become commercial businesses and are now principally aiming at making profit with the entry of conglomerates into media is evaluted by a newspaper editor as follows: “I have a character distinct from those of chief editors of Babıali I have seen so far. I see myself not as a chief editor assigned with the task of making a newsaper but as a company manager who is designated with earning money for his boss.” (Köse: 2000: 227-228)

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As mentioned above, media ownership came out of hands of journalist families in 1980’s in Turkey and started to be owned by companies prevalent in the Turkish economy.

Aydın Doğan bought Milliyet newspaper in 1979 and gained the title of being the first nonjournalist boss entering into media. In the media adventure of Doğan starting with his purchase of Milliyet newspaper, Doğan Group coming forth as the largest of Turkish media, maintained this growth in horizontal, cross and vertical dimensions. The first action of Aydın Doğan, the first non-journalist boss entering into media was to make employees of Milliyet newspaper with no syndicate membership while they were all members of a syndicate. Doğan, who later bought Hürriyet newspaper afterwards in 1994, therefore became owner of Milliyet, Hürriyet and Posta newspapers and a large number of weekly and monthly magazines, Hürriyet News Agency, Kanal D. Uzan family who owned İmarbank and Adabank in 1990, set up the first private television channel of Turkey, Magic Box together with Ahmet Özal, son of the then prime minister Turgut Özal. Uzan Group grew with cement, electricity companies after its entry into television sector, and it made its prowess felt very clearly with its ownership of a television channel. In 1999, it earned the tender for presentation of Turkish Football League to which it entered with Teleon company. Uzan Group, having started to publish a newspaper named Star in 1999, entered into financial problems with seizure by the government of energy corporations Çukurova Electricity and Kepez Electricity under their ownership and seizure of their banks in the same way after that, so they has to draw back from media.

Entry of Erol Aksoy, owner of İktisat Bankası into media was realised with his partnership in Show TV and Hürriyet. Erol Aksoy drew back from the sphere of printed media in a short time, and found it appropriate to limit his field of activity with Cine 5 an encrypted channel, Show TV and some magazines. Aydın Doğan, owner of Milliyet newspaper, purchased Hürriyet Newspaper from Erol Simavi and reinforced his prowess in the area of printed media, then he entered into television sector as he bought shares of Kanal D, a national television channel. Whereas Sabah Group entered into the field of television with ATV. In the meantime, Uzan family entered into realm of printed media with Star Newspaper in 1999. İhlas Holding owned by Enver Ören, holding Türkiye Newspaper, TGRT and İhlas News Agency was another group making its name heard besides Doğan, Bilgin, Aksoy, Uzan groups.

In 1997, some changes occurred in the ownership of media groups in Turkey. Çukurova Group in partnership with Dinç Bilgin purchased Akşam and Güneş newspapers

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from Mehmet Ali Ilıcak, thereby continued its expansion in the sphere of media. Mehmet Emin Karamehmet heading Çukurova Group became partner of Show TV and Cine 5 with share of 50%.

Regarding distribution, Doğan and Bilgin Groups set up Bir-Yay in 1996 and took the path of acquiring full dominance on the market. Establishment of Bir-Yay occurred with the merger of Birleşik Basın Dağıtım distributing Sabah and Hürriyet Newspapers and Yay-Sat distributing Cumhuriyet, Türkiye and Milliyet newspapers. The first implementation of BirYay formed with the purchase of Hürriyet Newspaper by Aydın Doğan was its decision not to distribute Akşam Newspaper owned by Mehmet Ali Ilıcak, claiming that it damaged the confidence of its readers by not delivering the promotional products it undertook. Doğan and Bilgin groups controlled 70% of the sector in press sector from 1997 to 2000; 33% in the television sector. (Tokgöz, 2003: 39-63) Sabah Group is the only member of Turkish press with a boss of journalist origin until the beginning of 2000’s. Dinç Bilgin was imprisoned in 2000 for evacuation of Etibank it owned and he had to leave Sabah Group (Sabah, ATV, Yeni Asır, Kanal 6) to Mehmet Emin Karamehmet and Turgay Ciner.

When we look at the changing ownership structure in the Turkish Media sector, “Dominant groups in the Turkish media sector in 2003 were as

follows: Doğan,

Çukurova, Uzan, Sabah, İhlas. Within the elapsed time, structural changes occurred in all of these groups, some even changed their names. As of 2006, it is seen that three groups fundamentally dominate the Turkish media sector and maintain a claim to grow: Doğan, Ciner, Çukurova. The leading one among these changes was the transfer to TMSF of companies belonging to media groups whose banking operations were disallowed and these properties were put out for sale from 2005 by the fund…” (Adaklı, 2006: 358) While the new era of politics experienced with AKP government between 2003-2005 created an evident slide in publication and broadcasting policies, the capital structure within the media industry also encountered alterations. With the liquidation of Uzan Group, privatisation of Türk Telekom, general ownership structure too encountered alterations.

Persons, managers and columnists in key positions in many mass communication means were replaced. The most evident reason of these replacements was inner clashes in political bases and conglomerate structures. Marketing strategies based on fundamental spheres of profitability like digital broadcasting, internet and e-commerce were rapidly brought into life and foreign media groups attempted to acquire a share in Turkish Media market. In the years

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2004 and 2005, new strategic partnerships continued in the media sector and company mergers continued. (Adaklı, 2006: 346-348) When we reached the year 2008, influential and powerful groups of media are Doğan, Çukurova and Çalık Groups with the seizure of Merkez (Ciner) Group by TMSF and its sale to Çalık Holding in 21 April 2008. Çukurova Group is comprised of companies operating in many fields from automotive, paper, chemical products, textile products, construction, telecommunication, banking, insurance, maritime transportation, media and information technology. The properties of the group in media and markets connected with media can be summarised as follows; ‐

3 newspapers (Aksam, Günes, Tercüman),

‐

6 magazines (Alem, Stuff, Platin& Worl Bussiness, Fourfourtwo, Autocar, TotalFilm)

‐

A digital platform company (Digitürk)

‐

6 television channels in total (Lig TV, Show Plus, Show Türk, Show Max) of which 2 are nation-wide (Show TV, SkyTürk)

‐

An advertising channel marketing company (Mepaş),

‐

Various companies presenting services in technical and infrastructure areas to companies operating in media, telecommunication and internet sectors,

‐

Two radio channels (Alem FM, Lig Radyo)

‐

An internet service provider company (Superonline)

‐

A GSM company (Turkcell)

‐

(www.cukurova.com.tr, 12.07.2008)

Properties and fields of operation of Doğan Group in media sector can be summarised as follows; ‐

8 newspapers, namely Hürriyet, Radikal, Milliyet, Posta, Fanatik, Fanatik Basket, Referans, Turkish Daily News

‐

27 monthly/weekly/periodical magazines, 19 children’s magazines,

‐

One newspaper and a distribution company (Yay-Sat),

‐

Printing complexes operating in Ankara, İzmir, İstanbul, Trabzon, Adana and Antalya

‐

Radyo D, CNN Türk Radyo and Slow Türk,

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‐

3 nation-wide television channels with logos of Kanal D, Star TV and CNN Türk and 5 television channels of which broadcasts are transmitted via satellite, cable and Digiturk (Fenerbahçe TV, Beşiktaş TV, Dream TV, Dream Türk TV, Euro D)

‐

Televisions, radios and websites under Doğan Group and a news agency (Doğan Haber Ajansı) providing news, photographs and motion picture news services to press broadcasting corporations outside the group,

‐

A digital platform company (D-Smart),

‐

Ruling of Competition Committee dated 18 15.12.2006 and no. 06-91.

‐

Production companies (D Productions, Galaxyteknik ) providing content for book publishing and television, radio and music production (Doğan Müzik Company), Dijital Medya (Doğan Online, Ultra Kablo) and advertisement location marketing companies. (www.doganholding.com.tr, 12.07.2008)

Properties and fields of operation of Çalık Group in media sector; -

1 television channel (ATV)

-

4 newspapers (Sabah, Takvim, Pas Fotomaç, Günaydın)

-

11 magazines (Aktüel, Para, Forbes, Bebeğim ve Biz, Sinema, Sofra, Home Art, Şamdan Plus, Global Enerji, Transport, Hukuki Perspektifler)

-

A Distribution Company (Merkez Dağıtım) A radio channel (Radyo Citi) (Kara, 2008:34) The level of domination of the three media groups mentioned above on Turkish media

can be observed by examining newspaper sales, market shares of television channels.

In this context, four weekly net sales reports of newspapers are as below.

Total for All

09.06/15.06

16.06/22.06

23.06/29.06

30.06/06.07

Total

4.984.589

5.251.794

4.933.045

4.987.827

20.157.255

Newspapers Table1: Four weekly Newspaper http://www.medyatava.com

Net

sales

between

the

dates

09.06.2008/06.07.2008

Source:

As seen in Table 1, four weekly net sales figures are given for the time between 09.06.2008 – 30.06.2008. Within a period of four weeks, total sales of all newspapers are seen to be 20 million 157 thousand.

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Doğan Group Newspapers Net Sale Newspapers

09.06/15.06

16.06/22.06

23.06/29.06

30.06/06.07

Total

Posta

634.882

660.796

628.722

630.507

2.554.907

Hürriyet

508.812

538.723

521.548

530.621

2.099.704

Fanatik

228.835

269.523

228.987

236.050

963.395

Milliyet

210.812

216.649

203.203

202.262

832.926

Radikal

43.556

47.925

43.809

43.399

178.689

Referans

14.715

14.704

14.542

14.299

58.260

Turkish Daily News

2.939

2762

2.732

2.758

11.191

1.644.551

1.751.082

1.643.543

1.659.896

6.699.072

Total

Table2: Net sales of newspapers owned by Doğan Group between the dates 9.06.2008/06.07.2008. (Fanatik Basket is not included in this list.)

According to the monthly net sales of the newspapers issued by Doğan Holding, Posta, a tabloid newspaper, has the highest circulation rate. All the other others are mass newspapers. During the elections, these newspapers used to support the government.

As mentioned in Table 2; four weekly total net sales of Posta, Hürriyet, Fanatik, Milliyet, Radikal, Referans, Turkish Daily News newsapers owned by Doğan Group is approximately 7 million copies. Çalık Group Newspapers Net Sales Newspapers

09.06/15.06

16.06/22.06

23.06/29.06

30.06/06.07

Total

Sabah

405.705

432.736

397.614

384.040

1.620.095

Takvim

212.011

223.800

203.426

207.390

846.627

Pas Fotomaç

264.767

308.697

255.168

264.140

1.092.772

Total

882.483

965.233

856.208

855.570

3.559.494

Table 3: Net sales of newspapers owned by Çalık Group between dates 09.06.2008/06.07.2008.

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According to the monthly net sales of the newspapers issued by Çalık Holding, Sabah, which is an ardent supporter of the government, has the highest circulation rate. All the newspapers owned by this holding are mass newspapers.

As mentioned in Table 3, four weekly total net sales of Sabah, Takvim, Pas Fotomaç newspapers owned by Çalık Group is approximately 3 million 600 copies. Çukurova Group net sales Newspapers

09.06/15.06

16.06/22.06

23.06/29.06

30.06/06.07

Total

Akşam

181.312

202.433

185.762

171.622

741.129

Güneş

157.692

163.929

153.214

152.847

627.682

Tercüman

26.094

26.448

26.109

26.661

105.312

Total

365.098

392.810

365.085

351.130

1.474.123

Table 4: Net sales of newspapers owned by Çukurova Group between the dates of 9.06.2008/06.07.2008.

According to the monthly net sales of the newspapers issued by Çukurova Holiding, Akşam is the most circulated one. The other newspapers owned by this holding are mass newspapers.

As mentioned in Table 4; four weekly total net sales of Akşam, Güneş, Tercüman newspapers owned by Çukurova Group between the dates of 09.06.2008 – 06.07.2008 is approximately 1,5 million copies.

Media

Total Sale

Companies

Percentage of the total sale

Doğan Group

6.699.072

33,23

Çalık Group

3.559.494

17,66

Çukurova Group

1.474.123

7,31

Total

11.732.689

58,20

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Table 5: Total net sales and percentages of newspapers owned by Doğan, Çalık and Çukurova Groups between the dates 09.06.2008/06.07.2008

As mentioned in Table 5; four weekly total net sales of newspapers owned by Doğan, Çalık and Çukurova Groups between the dates 09.06.2008 – 06.07.2008 is 11 million 732 thousand. In percentage, it is 58,2 percent in total. As seen, besides dominant prevalance of Doğan Group with 33 percent, three groups are largely dominant.

Percentage of Net Sales

Doğan Group Çalık Group Çukurova Group Others

Table 6: Total net sales percentages of newspapers owned by Doğan, Çalık and Çukurova Groups between the dates of 09.06.2008/06.07.2008.

Market shares with respect to advertising revenues and on the basis of market shares in national television channels owned by the three big groups are indicated in tables below.

Media Companies

2005 Market Share

2006 Market Share

2007 Market Share

(%)

(%)

(%)

Doğan Group

38,6

40

45

Çalık Group

22,4

25

21

Çukurova Group

15,2

14

15

Other

23,7

20

19

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Total

100

100

100

Table 7: Total market shares on the basis of Groups with respect to advertising revenues of national channels Source: RTÜK

According to the total market shares on the basis of advertising revenues, Doğan Group has noticeably increased its revenue between 2005 and 2007. For Çalık Group; on the other hand, there seems to be minor decrease. Advertising revenue of Çukurova Group remains almost the same.

Media Companies

Market Share

Market Share

Market Share

2005

2006

2007

Doğan Group

38,7

40

45

Çalık Group

22,4

25

21

Çukurova Group

15,3

14

15

Other

23,6

21

19

Total

100

100

100

Table 8: Market Share on the Basis of Company for National Channels Source: RTÜK, TRT

As seen, the market share of Doğan Group has displayed a gradual increase while the market share of Çalık Group has relatively decreased. The market share of Çukurova Group remains rather unchanged.

Television broadcasting portrays an apperance with 3 big groups having 80 percent of total market and considerably small enterprises for the sector sharing the remaining portion of 20 percent. In fact, market shares in this list maintain a similat course over the last three years.

Doğan Group with a market share of approximately 40%-45% over the last three years maintains its dominant position in the market.

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CONCLUSION Keeping public interest in the forefront within a society is important for a society being a public society or mass society. In a mass society, individuals can not express their own thoughts and opinions easily. Mass communication tools shape up masses as they wish and normalise it.

“Form of organisation of mass communication does not enable individuals to respond instantly. Actions which need to be taken by the public for selfrealisation after formation of public opinion, are being controlled by the rulers” (Mills, 1974: 425).

“Cultural policy is the creation of suitable conditions for the public to join in cultural life. Measures taken, organisations set up, economic and social facilities provided for each person to display and develop his creativity are referred to as cultural policy… Maheu says ‘people will one day realise that true democratic policies are based in culture and culture reigns over development’” (Topuz, 1998: 8-10). Cultural democracy is required in a society for everyone to access culture and for freedom of communication. For that reason, a society needs to democratise. In view of Topuz, cultural democracy is providing contribution of public in creation of cultural products and benefiting from all products. In this context, the determination function of media could be discussed ethically at this point.

In view of Mills (1974: 416), liberal theorists interpret the ruling system in the society from their own perspective. Decisions of state and administration by taking the political role of community called “public”, decisions leading to important results in the society, taken by private sector institutions are depicted as if they are in the public interest and claimed to be right, official announcements are made on behalf of public. The characteristic of public opinion within the framework of democratic thought is that it has the possibility to think and discuss freely. Individuals in organisations of a democratic society take part in decisions one to one. This situation indicates that decisions are taken in the name of public. What matters is that these groups can make their voice heard sufficiently and become effective.

Transition from opinion journalism to mass journalism, death of thought workers, demolotion of syndicalisation within historical process lead to formation of a society that does not think but entertain, not concerned with social problems but involved in trivial news, who do not tire itself with articles, but get interested (!) in visually intense news.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY -Adaklı, G.(2006). Media Industry in Turkey: Ownership and Control Relations in an Age of Neo-Liberalism, Ütopya Publications, Ankara.

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DYNAMICS IN THE ONLINE GAME INDUSTRY OF CHINA: A POLITICAL ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ITS COMPETITIVENESS

PEICHI CHUNG JIANGPING YUAN 1

ABSTRACT The Chinese online game industry is one of the fastest growing interactive entertainment industries in the world. The industry now launches more than 200 game titles to the market annually. Some popular game characters have become cultural icons in China. As the market landscape expands, the industry continues to attract new ventures. The Chinese online game industry is a fast follower of South Korea and the United States. This industry has an expanding gamer base with local media entrepreneurs now producing games that meet local consumer demand. The industry has become a competitor comparable to online game media giants in the global marketplace. This paper uses Michael Porter’s competitive advantage model to study industry dynamics in the online game industry in China and engages in the globalization debate by analyzing industry factors contributing to the emergence of local game companies. Analysis of fieldwork interviews shows that China’s competitive advantage includes factors such as the country’s large market size, growing local demand, improvement of advanced game production skills, aggressive industry rivalry and agglomeration between the game industry and supporting industries. This paper also argues that corporate strategies that emphasize the local adaptation of China’s particular media ownership structure and emerging consumer power are other factors that go beyond Porter’s model. These factors show the competitiveness in the political and cultural dimensions of the online game industry of China.

Key Words: China, Online Game, Globalization, Diamond, Industry Dynamics INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this paper is to study the rise of online game industry in China and examine the factors that have contributed to its development. Recent industry reports show that broadband development in China has grown rapidly, with tens of millions of new participants joining the internet world every year (Pew Internet Report, 2007). From 2004 to 2006, the internet population in China grew at double digit rates, rising from 18% in 2004 to 23% in 2006. As of 2007, China had a total of 137 million internet users, with more than 70% them under the age of 30 (So, 2008). The country also established itself as the world’s largest mobile market with about 565 million users in 2007 (Research and Markets, 2008). China is

1

COMMUNICATIONS AND NEW MEDIA PROGRAMME NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE CNMCP@NUS.EDU.SG ; JIANGPING.YUAN@HOTMAIL.COM - TEL: 65-65163430

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now an emerging market that attracts the flow of foreign capital, achieving revenue of $22 billion US dollars by 2008 (BBC, 2008).

China’s online gaming sector has grown with the development of broadband technology. The country is now the second biggest internet market in the world, after the United States. Due to internet piracy, major global game companies such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft have kept away from the Chinese market (The Economist, 2008). The absence of console game players has led to the rise of online games in China. At the present time Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Vivendi are the three foreign companies that have entered China. These three companies operate their businesses by either engaging in mergers and acquisitions or joint ventures with local game companies. In 2007, Electronic Arts acquired a 15% share of the local game company, The9, worth USD 167 million (Chinadaily.com.cn, 2007).

Local game companies have been major players in China’s online game industry. This development coincides with that of other traditional media industries in China, as these industries are under the influence of the state, with regulations that limit foreign imports and transnational capital (Zhao, 2008).

The online game industry started in 2000 when local companies went into business as distributors and imported Korean games to China (Cao & Downing, 2008). These companies soon became the major industry players where most of the market revenue was made. After eight years of development, China’s online game industry is now a stable industry with homegrown companies that encompass all levels of the value chain, including development, publishing, distributing and selling. In 2007, 65% of China’s online game market belonged to local software producers.

The current industry structure shows that there are two tiers of local game companies: first tier and second tier. Large-scale Chinese companies such as The9, Shanda and NetEase are the first tier companies, occupying seventy percent of total industry profit (Koo and Waide, 2006). Second tier corporations includes very specialized companies such as NineYou, 17Game, Kingsoft, Tencent and Perfect World. These companies serve as distributors or portal operators, some of them releasing foreign games, while the others produce local MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) and casual games. For instance, Tencent is a second tier distributing company that provides instantmessaging services and a MySpace-like social networking site (The Economist, 2008). Perfect World Technology is a developer that produces the popular MMORPG game, Perfect World.

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The company also produces Wulin2, the first online comedy game made for the Chinese market.

This paper will first evaluate the industry structure based upon Porter’s model of competitive advantage. Four perspectives will be used to analyze empirical data that was collected from November to December 2007: factor conditions, demand conditions, supporting industries and firm strategies and rivalry. Ren & Yang conducted similar research in 2004 that studied the application of Porter’s model to China’s game industry. Our study follows the theoretical framework of Ren & Yang’s, but goes beyond it, as their work was based upon secondary industry data, while our paper includes fifteen face-to-face interviews with high-ranked corporate managers of Chinese online game firms. We will apply Porter’s model to empirical industry information to further study the industry players and the dynamics they contribute to the process of globalization of China’s online gaming sector. The paper also studies political and cultural factors that are associated with the fast-transitioning Chinese society and their influence on the online game industry and will engage with the literature in the areas of global information flow, the East Asian online game industry, and media communication in China.

Literature Review and Theoretical Framework Discussion of the recent emergence of the online game industry in China raises important questions about the roles of the market, state, culture and new communication technology in a country’s (new) media industry. The relationship between local game companies, foreign game companies and the state is complicated in the case of China. On the one hand China heavily relies on direct foreign investment for its economic growth; on the other hand, the country also uses restrictive regulations to protect its (new) media industry (Dong & Shi, 2006; Kalathil, 2003; Zhao, 2008).

Media Globalization and the Online Game Industry in China Such complex networks among different factors reflect the consequences of globalization that evolve from the rise of international media companies. It has been argued that globalization intensifies and connects people in different geographic locations, furthering information exchange (Thussu, 2006). Du Gay (1997) argues that transnational companies are the primary agents of globalization. Gershon (1997) points out that the economic expansion of

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transnational media companies forms a media landscape that is based upon fierce competition and continuous economic consolidation among media companies around the world. The result of the expansion of these media companies is that complex networks are formed and social relations are changed (Rantanen, 2005).

Media industry is a cultural industry. It is important to examine the cultural flow from the local media market. Western media giants have actively localized their media content in order to enter local markets. In response to global trade by transnational media companies, several media production centers emerged in the global media market. They receive regional support from their audiences, who share a similar culture (Hesmondhalgh, 2007). For instance, in India the liberalization of television nurtures a market for Rupert Murdoch and his News Corporation enters the Indian market with Zee TV, popularizing a reporting style that is a hybridized news genre based upon Bollywood popular culture and the Hindu language (Thussu, 2007). The appeal to audiences with shared culture is also seen in the case of telenovelas in Latin America. The case of South Korean movies, online games, and television dramas in Asia also indicates that cultural flow originated in these media centers co-exists with media messages produced by traditional media giants (Jin & Chee, 2008; Shim, 2006).

The complicated intersection between western global media and local industry stakeholders also exists in the media industries of China, be it in the field of television, film or the internet (Dover, 2008; Curtin, 2007; Keane, 2006). Curtin (2007) explains that Chinese media players now adopt an open approach to directly intersect and contest with western media. The creative industry in China has quickly adapted, so that Chinese new media products, in particular online games, are now compatible with those produced by transnational media giants. Keane (2006) considers this type of cultural economy a combination of innovation and imitation. The high priority China places on achieving economic goals makes local new media firms concentrate on quickly achieving technology transfer and acqiring R&D skills from international media companies. The innovation lies at the distribution level rather than the conceptual level.

Existing literature regarding China’s online games and new media exhibits an emphasis on the perspective of government and industry (Cao & Downing, 2008; Damm, 2007; Ernkvist & Strom, 2008; Golub & Lingley, 2008; Ren & Yang, 2004; Zhang, 2006; Zhao, 2008). Studies that focus on the government concentrate on the issue of censorship and internet regulation (Damm, 2007; Ernkvist & Strom, 2008; Zhang, 2006) and argue that the online game industry is deeply shaped by the political environment. For instance, Ernkvist &

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Strom (2008) state that the Chinese government restricts activities of foreign game companies in China and proposes regulation on the local game firms in order to maintain a “healthy” gaming industry. Because it believes online games as an area of moral crisis which may bring down the social order, the government imposes restrictive policies to regulate problems such as internet addiction and internet gambling (Golub & Lingley, 2008).

Studies of the online game industry include preliminary accounts of its structure. Ren and Yang’s research presents a business-based account of the online game industry, highlighting the development of market and infrastructure and the economic performance of the largest local company, Shanda. Cao and Downing (2008) engage in a political economic analysis of the video game industry structure, the development of the MMOG industry and the influence of China’s state policy. Based on the current literature, this study further offers an empirical account of the collective performance of local game companies.

Porter’s Diamond Model and the Four Attributes of Competitiveness China’s rapid rise in the online game industry complicates existing discussions that use the neo-liberal paradigm to examine the market and democracy and define counter-global flow. What are the industry dynamics and how do these factors explain China’s current development of online gaming industry? Porter’s model offers a systematic framework to examine the intermediate world of the online game industry and explain the industry dynamics formed by local game companies. Unlike traditional theories of international trade that consider comparative advantage as an endowed factor, Porter argues that the competitiveness and wealth of a nation are created, not inherited. Competitive advantage is determined by four attributes: (1) factor conditions, (2) demand conditions, (3) development of related and supporting industries and (4) firm strategy, structure and rivalry: Firstly, factor conditions refer to “inputs necessary to compete in an industry” (Porter, 1990: 76). In this category, Porter identifies key factors and non-key factors. He states that key factors such as specialized and include skilled labor, capital and infrastructure; while nonkey factors are generalized and include unskilled labor and raw material. Specialized factors are created by production and non-key factors can be obtained by any company. Since skilled labor, capital and infrastructure are important, Porter believes that these key factors are more valuable and significant to competitive advantage because they are the hardest to imitate. To

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him, non-key factors can be obtained easily and hence do not generate sustained competitive advantage to an industry.

Secondly, under demand conditions, domestic demand is considered as the single most powerful determinant of competitiveness in service industries. Firms that are facing a sophisticated domestic market are more likely to sell superior products because the market demands high quality and places more pressure on firms to innovate. Porter describes market size and growth, the sophistication of local buyers, and the linkage of local buyers to global trends as the three major attributes of demand conditions. That is, as market growth encourages the expansion of firms, the sophistication and demands of local buyers push the firms to provide better products or services. As the discriminating values of local consumers spread to other countries, the more competitive advantage the local industries have in their effort to expand consumer demand in the global marketplace.

Thirdly, Porter thinks that strong supporting and related industries are important to the competitiveness of firms. These include both upstream and downstream industries. For the online game industry, the supporting and related industries not only include downstream industries such as firms that manage the distribution and operation of game titles and broadband service, and upstream industries that include animation and the movie industry (Ren and Yang, 2004). The phenomenon of competitors and upstream and downstream industries locating in the same area is known as industry clustering or agglomeration. An obvious advantage of industry clustering is the potential technology spillover among competitors, but potential disadvantages could be the job-hopping of employees among peer companies.

And lastly, Porter argues that firm strategy, structure and rivalry are the fourth set of attributes which influence the competitiveness of a nation. Porter believes that nations will tend to be more competitive in industries in which the style of management is well-suited to the national environment. According to Porter, the national environment includes attitudes towards authority or management, norms of interpersonal interaction, social norms of individualistic or group behavior, and professional standards. In terms of rivalry, Porter believes that intense competition from vigorous domestic rivalry encourages innovation in product development and marketing, cost efficiency, and quality improvement, as well as efforts to explore new markets domestically and internationally. However, international competition is not as motivating, as there are already enough differences among companies in their home countries.

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In general, Porter sees the Diamond as a system because the four determinants are not independent or separated from each other. His model is a comprehensive, systematic and qualitative framework which can be used to analyze the competitive advantages of an industry at the national level. Most studies tend to use the Diamond Model as a valid measurement tool or generally accepted truth to describe and analyze a specific industry. Porter himself uses the model to examine competitive advantage in various industries of economically developed countries, including the UK, US, Germany and Japan, and implications to policy-making and corporate strategy considerations. The World Economic Forum and the British Department of Trade and Industry use it as a base framework to compare the competitive advantages of a certain industries between different countries (WEF, 2005).

The Case of China The Chinese online game industry is a cultural industry and is not driven by economic forces alone (Wang, Goonasekera & Servaes, 2000). Influencing factors such as the collectivistic culture, decentralized economy and the one-child policy were equally important in shaping the social and cultural trends that led to the rise of online game industry in China.

The collectivistic culture is the particular interpersonal relationship with which the Chinese perceive themselves in relation to others and which defines their social obligations in Chinese society.

The change from a planned to a decentralized economy is another factor that has transformed Chinese society. “China's contemporary cultural features have changed from a single, authoritative voice to multiple voices, from hegemony to plurality” (Zhang, 2007).

Chinese online gamers are mostly young people ranging in age from 18 to 30. This population comes from the generation under the influence of the one-child policy. These only children have cultivated a growing obsession with consumerism and belong to a better-educated generation than their parents, who grew up during the Cultural Revolution. Elegant (2007) calls this single child generation is the “me-generation” -- self-motivated young people, many of whom have traveled to other countries. In his article it is recorded that around 37 million of them traveled overseas in 2007.

The History of the Online Game Industry in China (2000 – 2007) China’s rise in the online game industry illustrates the type of industry dynamics that is strongly shaped by local economic, political and social factors. A review of the history shows that the online game industry in China did not begin until early 2000, when privately-

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owned local companies started to distribute foreign games into the Chinese market. Before the late 1990s, there was virtually no online game industry in China. Most of the foreign game titles were from Korea. The Korean games dominated the domestic Chinese market during this early period, but soon local Chinese online game distributors and operators developed inhouse games. These companies created an agglomeration effect by working with both local and foreign firms and then entering all dimensions of the value chain in the game industry.

From 2005 on, the number of Chinese homegrown game titles exceeded the number of foreign games in the local market (IDC, 2006) and were beginning to be exported to various markets in Asia.

According to Table 1, the development of the industry can be divided into three stages: 2000-2002, 2003-2005 and 2006-2007 (the present). Stage I (2000 – 2002) was a period when local game companies emerged as distributors of Korean games and achieved success in the Chinese market. Industry data before 2002 is not available, partly due to the fact that the industry was not formed as a separate IT industry at that time. After 2002, the number of game titles developed by local Chinese companies surpassed the games imported from Korea. During Stage II (2002 – 2005) local game companies started to engage in merger and acquisition activities in order to gain the competitive advantage. Stage III began in 2005, as Chinese game titles became more popular than foreign games in the Chinese market. Major companies that rose during this stage include Giant and Perfect World. Both were ranked among the top five game companies in China in 2006 (CNNIC, 2007).

In 2006, the top five companies occupied a total of 72.7 percent of the local market (iResearch, 2007). However, the market was still not fully developed, as the number of existing gamers only constituted a small portion of the total population of 1.4 billion. The iResearch reported that 100 new users were added into the internet population every minute in China. In 2007 there were a total of 210 million online subscribers in China (CNNIC, 2007).

When economic growth allows more Chinese families to own computers, “the pace of developing entertainment industry accelerates” (Wolf, 1999; Latham, 2007). Online games are now an important and rapidly diffused entertainment medium in China, with 32.6 million gamers by the end of 2006. The number of gamers is expected to double to 69 million by the year 2011 (IDC, 2007).

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Industry Analysis Applying the Diamond This section considers the basic application of Porter’s model to the Chinese online game industry. In the analysis section, pseudonyms are used in the interviews, which were conducted during fieldwork by Jiangping Yuan, from November to December 2007. This analysis includes 15 local game companies, such as NetEase, Perfect World, Sohu, Kingsoft, Apex, Moli, Tianchang, Iyoyo, Shanda, NetDragon, The9, Joyzone, Giant, Optic Communications and Quarter Digital. Most of these companies are leading online game companies, collectively occupying more than 80% of the Chinese online game market share (iResearch, 2007). Table 2 provides the market performance of these overseas listed companies. Some of the eight online game companies are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, while the others are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. These eight companies are, respectively, first tier companies Shanda, NetEase, Giant and The9; and second tier companies Net Dragon, Perfect World, Kingsoft and Sohu. Altogether, they accounted for a total of 72.08% of the market revenue in 2007.

Most of the interviewees are with top management whose work deals directly with corporate strategy and marketing. With the exception of NetDragon, which has its headquarters in Fuzhou in the southern part of China, all of the companies are either based in Beijing or in Shanghai. Face-to-face interviews with NetEase, Perfect World, Kingsoft, Sohu and Apex employees was conducted in Beijing; interviews with Moli, Tianchang, Iyoyo, Shanda, The9, Joyzone, Giant, Optic Communications and Quarter Digital employees were conducted in Shanghai. The NetDragon interview was a telephone interview, due to geographical difficulty of traveling to the city of Fuzhou.

Four concepts are used to understand the basic application of Porter’s Diamond to the online game industry of China: production, distribution, supporting industries and firm strategy. Ren and Yang (2004) argue that the success of the online game industry of China is due to attributes such as factors, demand, supporting industries and firm strategy. These attributes include skilled resources, an advanced online game technology base, the rapid growth of the number of internet users, the emerging market trend toward entertainment, fast broadband development, the support of the Chinese telecom industry, the easy availability of internet cafes, and the increasing financial activities of domestic online game companies in both international and domestic markets. They argue that, for instance, that China has the skilled resources that can allow them to leap industry barriers in the areas of information

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technology and innovation, as “Chinese software makers are nearly reaching the level of their Korean counterparts in terms of graphics skills and other technical aspects in 2D games” (ibid).

Next section extends Ren and Yang’s basic application of Porter’s model to the context of the political economy of communication, where a comparable analysis can be made to existing literature that discusses the complexity of media globalization in the works of global Hollywood: a. Production This study discovered that China’s production standards lag behind those of major international game companies. Their products are not compatible to Korean and western quality, exemplified by games such as World of Warcraft from Blizzard. However, easy capital allows these local game companies to enjoy market competition by having the freedom to move between publishers that release marketable foreign products and developers that experiment with self-innovated games in the local market. For instance, the 3D game of Chengdu, produced by Giant, has proved the expertise with which local game companies understand local gamers and have the ability to produce game titles in their content creation that meet the tastes of their market.

In an interview, a corporate manager from Giants, Mr. Lin, considers that technology transfer contributes to local game companies establishing in-house development. Despite the fact that foreign game companies such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and some Korean game companies still produce higher quality game products than local game developers, China’s status as an outsourcing resource for these game companies provides an alternative source of skilled labor to quickly build talent resources and human capital for the online game industry.

Mr. Lin sees the replacement of the EA brand in the Chinese market with local products as just “a matter of time.” Interview data from Mr. Zhao, corporate manager of Kingsoft, supports a similar viewpoint. As Chinese games now become popular in Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, game companies start hiring experienced professionals from Korea. Mr. Zhang, corporate manager with NetEase, defines the current competitive advantages of the online game industry in China: I think the quality of our online game product is comparable in the global market. I have been on frequent business trips to Korea and the US to learn about industry and product updates from around the world. I know that Chinese online game makers are almost reaching the level of their Korean counterparts in terms of graphic design and

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other technical aspects, but we are still learning from them (Mr. Zhang from NetEase, interviewed on Nov 28th, 2007).

Chinese online game companies gain easy capital, especially those that are listed on overseas stock markets. These companies have adequate financial resources for corporate development and expansion. They not only obtain large funds from foreign stock markets, but also earn big profits from the domestic market.

Money is never an issue for leading online game companies. You will never hear any big online game company being fearful of capital inadequacy. We are a Nasdaq listed company with 300 million yuan in the cash flow category only. I am sure other big names are in a similar situation. Even smaller companies with 2 to 20 staff could get private equity or venture capital to invest in their businesses (Mr. Zhang from NetEase, interviewed on Nov 28th, 2007).

With adequate capital, these bigger game companies are aggressive in engaging in merger and acquisition activities. Shanda is the best example: We discuss acquiring or cooperating with smaller rivals each and every month. We have an “18 Plan” and a “20 Plan”, which means on the 18th and 20th of each month, we talk about purchasing or cooperating with smaller game companies, including the developers, web design companies and so on (Ms. Hua from Shanda Interactive, interviewed on Dec 19th, 2007).

Venture capitalists are actively searching for opportunities to get into the Chinese new media industry. The competition among start-ups adds pressure in business planning and strategy.

I have nothing but a proposal. My plan in the online gaming business will win a niche market and a partner expertise in technology. Since our establishment a few months ago, more than 20 venture capitalists have approached us to listen to our business plan. Like money- hungry start-ups, many investors are concurrently actively searching for opportunities to enter this market. Nothing is more important than a persuasive profit-making story (Mr. Wang from Apex, interviewed on Nov 30th, 2007).

Expertise in producing content that fits the tastes of the local consumer is seen in the statement of the manager from one of the three largest online game companies, NetEase: We now have employees numbering about 1,000. Seventy percent of them are game developers. Around 250 people are in customer service. Our game developers and game directors are very strong…

We collect comments from our customers and adjust their needs into the game design. This production style increases our quality

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standards in game development. We have started participating and winning awards in international game exhibition competitions (Mr. Pang, interviewed on Nov 28th, 2007).

b. Distribution Online game companies in China built successful distribution networks to deliver their game content to consumers through sophisticated customer service. While game companies studied foreign games in order to understand the desires of consumers in their early game design concepts, the game companies also tried to identify the unique traits of Chinese gamers by requiring game company employees to play the games during their working hours at the companies.

A manager from Joyzone who has observed small-scale Chinese game developers competing in the market considers those companies to have the expertise to “activate the local virtual community”: We have hundreds of staff involved in customer service. They are usually game fans… A typical working day for them is that they play games, stay online to interact with other gamers, deal with phone calls and virtual messages from gamers, and send client feedback to R&D department to timely modify our game titles. Sometimes they initiate game events to attract more gamers (Mr. Wen from Joyzone, interviewed on Dec 19th, 2007).

Local game companies learn from foreign games through working on research and development projects with Korean game companies. In the minds of the Chinese entrepreneurs, the creation of consumer demand is significant. Learning from foreign game companies is more important than maintaining the pride of Chinese nationalism. Mr. Wang, a corporate manager from Optic Communication comments on his willingness to work with foreign companies: In the field of communications we trade with foreign companies in order to learn their technological knowledge. In online games, the same rule applies.

There is no doubt that local game companies can access the market, but the Korean game companies have the skills. At this moment we should not limit ourselves with a narrow sense of Chinese nationalism. We should work with Koreans. We should ask them how much of their skill they are able to offer to us if we trade them this share of the local market in China (Mr. Wang, interviewed on December 24, 2007).

A specific example of this is local game companies working with Korean companies to create smooth content delivery channels in China. A typical project includes the promotion of pro-gamer competitive activities that originally started in South Korea. According to the interview with Mr. Wang, Optic Communications formed a digital competition club in 2004.

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The company contracted seven professional gamers such as “Chen Ming”, “Lin Shiao Kang”, and “Shu Bin” who were popular game players in online game competition among the local consumers. This was the first pro-gamer team representing China to attend international game events, including World of E-Sport Game and World of Cyber Game 2.

On the internal level, local game companies also actively engage in marketing plans to understand the market structure and potential market niches in China. In general, the Chinese market has a strong demand for games that feature traditional Chinese fantasy stories. In 2007, the top ten online games in the market were Fantasy Westward Journey, Zhengtu, World of Warcraft, Wen Dao, Mo Yu, Westward Journey Online II, Shaiya, Mir II, Sun and Yulgang (China Analyst, 2007). The majority of these titles are local games produced by companies such as Perfect World, NetEase and Sohu. The rise of these games has created local demand in PK 3 genre games and martial arts games.

The idea of learning from consumers to understand market demand is supported in the following interview, in which Mr. Lin from Giant expresses how he arrives at his understanding of his company’s consumers by playing games himself. He states: Ultimately, it’s the accurate analysis of market demand that counts.

I play games almost every day, whenever I have time, because I want to personally experience the game as an ordinary gamer (Mr.Lin from Giant, interviewed on Dec 18th, 2007).

Chinese gamers are often perceived as being very devoted and having a high degree of involvement in their game play. Mr. Wang of Perfect World explains the high degree of participation among some gamers: The gamers like to play our games maybe because of the beautifully designed virtual space and the possibility of showing off. I heard that one gamer is called “fashion model” because he did not join any of the collective activities. He just stood there with the most shining clothes and weapons. He has been standing there for several months, but spent more than 10 thousand per month purchasing the items (Mr. Wang, Perfect World, interviewed on November 29, 2007).

2

World of Cyber Game (WCG) and World of E-Sport Game (WEG) are two international game competition activities that originate in South Korea. The sponsors of both competitions are South Korean multinational corporations of Samsung and CJ Entertainment. Both competitions aim to promote South Korean corporations and their products. The difference between the WCG and the WEG is that the former focuses on the international market and holds competitions in different parts of the world, while the WEG has a regional focus on China.

Both WCG and WEG are reputable for the participation of professional gamers from all over the world.

3

PK is a popular slang term among Chinese hardcore gamers. The term means “Player Kill”. It indicates strong violence in the virtual world where gamers go online to simply kill other players. This PK game play has become popular in most MMORPG and first-person shooting game genres among the local gamers in China.

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Local game companies consider gamers who live in middle-sized and small cities as the major gamer group for local demand. This classification is based upon the ability of most Chinese gamers to manage their daily media consumption in a way that they can afford. The following quote from a corporate manager of NetEase indicates such a pattern: The demand of gamers is pretty much diversified. There are now many categories of consumers. For example, the gamer group that we target in Shanghai is substantially different from that for Zhengtu. It’s like the moviemaking business. Different people have different tastes. Specifically, the gamers for NetEase are usually teenagers or those in the 20s in small and medium-sized cities. This group of people has little pressure to make a living and a moderate amount of cash to spend, so the price of 40 cents an hour is acceptable to them (Mr. Pang, NetEase, interviewed on November 28, 2007).

Gamer sophistication and demanding domestic buyers push the firms to provide better products and services. The fieldwork data shows that the success or failure of the Chinese online game industry will depend on the capability of these companies to meet their domestic demands. As some companies focus on delivering content that attracts consumers by building up their virtual identity within the games, some others focus on low-priced models.

Consequently, new distribution models that fit the taste of local markets have appeared in China. The Chinese market requires “free-to-play” content if an “item-based” charging business model is offered. That is, unlike most western online games that rely on monthly subscriptions to secure market revenue, most online games in China offer their games for free.

The companies profit when players purchase virtual items in the course of their game play.

Mr. Lin from Giant mentions the formation of such a market in the following interview: We pioneered launching free-to-play game titles, or you may call it the item-based business model, and became very successful. But this model does not mean that we could not make money, even though 80% of our gamers do not spend a penny. We can still make money.

Why? Chinese gamers, or consumers, have a different habit of consumption. They enjoy collective work, staying on a winning team, showing off their superior items to establish identification, and etc. And we provide such a platform (Mr. Lin from Giant, interviewed on Dec 18th, 2007).

c. Related and Supporting Industries The fieldwork supports the fact that there are strong related and supporting companies located near the online game companies. Online game companies are mostly located in the

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high-tech areas of Beijing and Shanghai. An obvious advantage of this is the easy and quick adoption of technologies within the industry clusters.

The effect of the concentration of peer companies in the same region is seen in technology acquisition and in the prevalence of job-hopping among competitors. The technology spillover helps follower companies to catch up to first movers, but job-hopping of employees among peer companies weakens them, while a company located at a distance from industry clusters may retain their employees.

Our team is stable because we are located in Fuzhou, far away from the game company-centric areas of Beijing and Shanghai. The chance of our employees being approached by rival companies is unlikely to occur (Ms. Sun from NetDragon, interviewed on Dec 17th, 2007).

The emergence of the online game industry has opened up numerous opportunities for related and supporting industries to facilitate the formation of industry clusters. The supporting industries including computer hardware manufacturers, game and animation developers, telecom operators and Internet cafés -- earned 33 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion) from online game-related business in 2006 (CNNIC, 2007). Ms. Sun of NetDragon explains the linkage of the online game industry to other supporting industries: We are moving from being purely a game operator to a company that combines businesses in game development, marketing, operation and customer service. The online game industry is a highly lucrative business. Our business is strongly supported by related and supporting industries, as well as the local government (Ms. Sun from NetDragon, interviewed on Dec 17th, 2007).

Increasing connections with the Chinese movie industry has had a widespread effect on the game industry. International demand for cultural products involving Chinese martial arts and history has supported the movie and animation industries. These supporting industries supply high-quality and low-cost production talent who further stimulate new ideas and create synergy among the industries.

Our popular online game title, Zhuxian, is the adoption of a popular online novel. Our to-be-launched product, Chibi, is derived from a TV play with a same name. Every Chinese knows it is a story of ancient Chinese history (Mr. Chen from Perfect World, interviewed on Nov 29h, 2007).

Therefore, the combination of the online game industry with other traditional media leads to the production of cultural content that can appeal to the overseas market.

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An example of collaboration among talent in different industries can be seen in a game entitled The Sign, produced by Shanda. The production of this game involved a musician and a director from the movie industry. Musician He Xuntian (composer of Sister Drum) composed the background music for the game, and film director Chen Kaige (director of Farewell My Concubine) served as art director.

Due in part to this kind of collaboration between industries, Chinese online games now penetrate into overseas markets in Taiwan, Vietnam, South East Asia and some countries in the west. The following interview explicates how Chinese online game companies benefit from supporting industries in their exportation of cultural content that contains traditional concepts of Chinese culture.

There is no worry over cultural hindrances of local game companies exploring the overseas market. We believe that the purely traditional oriental element might be the unique selling point for our game products, be it in the demonstration of Chinese cuisine or in the story-telling of our history. All of it is content that we are familiar with, but it is still fresh to foreigners. Eastern culture is accepted in the west, as we see in the Chinese movie industry (Mr. Wang, general manager, interviewed on December 20, 2007).

d. Firm Strategies and Rivalry An analysis of firm strategies and rivalry using the Diamond Model shows a particular style of industry dynamics, based upon free market competition within China’s controlled economic system. Strong governmental regulation restricting the entry of foreign game companies creates an industry environment that allows fierce competition only among local game companies. Foreign game companies face regulatory challenges that are too restrictive to follow. Cultural challenges from the local gamers also hinder their competitiveness. This restricted environment leads to the possibility of collaboration between local and foreign game companies.

Mr. Wang from Optic Communication explains the competition for employees among local companies which he experiences in the constant talent search of headhunter companies calling his employees. He states that mobility is high both within the corporation itself and between corporations: My company has about 400-600 staff. The mobility of staff in the online game industry in Shanghai is high. There are headhunters commissioned by rival companies to call our employees with new job opportunities. It is

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difficult to hire experienced and well-educated staff (Mr. Wang, Interviewed on December 24, 2007).

In another case, Mr. Wu switched careers due to the fast promotion track and wealth prospects in the online game industry. Mobility is seen as a high motivation for transferring to the online game industry from other industries.

I was in architecture three years ago. I entered the online game industry because I am a game fan and this is an amazing area. It is not easy to make the transition, but this industry is so exciting…

(Mr. Wu from Optic Communications, interviewed on Dec 14th, 2007).

In addition, the interviewees believe a causal relationship exists between intensive domestic competition among rivals and the creation and sustainability of a competitive advantage. The extent and impact of domestic rivalry in China’s online game industry is important to motivate the entire industry. In domestic-oriented work, it is reasonable to conclude that strong competition has fostered improvement and new product development.

Vigorous domestic competition encourages product development and marketing, cost efficiency, quality improvement and pressure for companies to explore new markets domestically and internationally.

The industry is dominated by privately owned companies; barriers to entry and exit are relatively low, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of new entrants each year. As a result, thousands of companies jostle for a place in the online game market, creating an additional competitive pressure (Ms. Hu from Quarter Digital, interviewed on Dec 20th, 2007).

Though different in their target segment of gamers, the interviewees are similar in their attitude toward domestic and foreign competitors. Domestic companies are considered as the major competitors of most local game companies in the Chinese online game market.

Direct competition comes from domestic rivals, though different companies targets different categories of consumers. We do feel pressure from them and want to know what our peers are considering (Mr. Zhang from NetEase, interviewed on Nov 28th, 2007).

Foreign rivals are generally not involved in competing for the Chinese domestic market. These foreign companies use China as a purely R&D center. The strategies adopted by the multinational game companies including EA and Ubisoft are

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a continuation of existing services in their parent companies. These MNC subsidiaries serve their parent company’s clients, usually with quality products tailored to Western consumers.

These companies are not competing with us for the domestic market. I don’t see them as foreign rivals because we are targeting different markets. Though they are big names, EA and Ubisoft’s standing in China is beneficial rather than threatening. China is currently an outsource center of EA and other foreign brands. The cost efficiency is obvious in the relatively lower cost of human capital. In the US, it costs US$200,000 to hire a senior game developer, but in China, it’s RMB200,000, only 1/7 of the US standard (Mr. Lin from Giant, interviewed on Dec 18th, 2007).

Nevertheless, international competition is not as motivating as that among domestic companies. If these foreign giants start to explore the Chinese online game market, they might face a challenge: how can a common set of institutional foundations be supportive of different structures and processes of the online game industry within different social contexts? This partly explains why foreign rivals need to cooperate with a local Chinese partner.

The result of direct competition among local game companies is that successful companies that break the entry barriers and remain competitive in the Chinese market gradually expand their services to the global market. For instance, Shanda has successfully gone through stages of merger and acquisitions with domestic companies and is now starting to build strategic alliances with international media companies including Walt Disney from the US and NC Soft from Korea. The history of merger and acquisition activities of Shanda, illustrated in Table 3 provides an example of a local game company using collaborative and competitive strategies to gain entrance into the international market. The following comment explains the global expansion plan of Giant into the US market: Our problem now is that we do not understand the US market. But since many American games outsource their production to China, this collaboration gives us some preparation to develop talent. One day when they are ready, these outsourcing companies, will not need a logo from EA anymore. We can then use our own brand. This way we will be able to be on our own in those markets (Mr. He, Giant, interviewed on December 18, 2007).

Going Beyond the Diamond There is a lack of study of other external influences on the growth of an industry in developing countries, such as world economic integration and local cultural preferences.

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According to Porter, the influencing factors that could either benefit or harm the four determinants of competitive advantage are chance and government. Chance includes elements that go beyond the control of firms or industries. It usually refers to major changes in the macro environment, including war, substantial change in demand, drastic shifts in the exchange rate, and major technological breakthroughs and inventions.

Another factor that could influence the four determinants is government involvement in policy-making. Porter believes that government involvement is outside the four attributes of the Diamond because government itself could not create competitive advantage; the government can only be a positive or negative influence on the four determinants through its policies. a. The Chance Factor In the category of chance, the data shows that the external influences on the sources of competitive advantage for the Chinese online game industry derive from variables associated with traditional Chinese culture and its influence on the open economy. Chinese collectivistic culture motivates people to value their relationships and social obligations within a team, though diversified consumer taste, the aspiration for teamwork, and efforts to build selfidentity in the virtual world might also be major motivations for playing MMORPGs. For instance, in Chinese collectivistic culture, self is identified in terms of relationship with others and social responsibility. The strong identification with the game indicates a difference of collective cultures between East and West. Mr. Zhang compares such cultural differences to a preference for either coffee or tea.

For Chinese people, home-grown games are like tea and the imported ones are like coffee. We think that most Chinese will choose tea (Mr. Zhang from NetEase, interviewed on Nov 28th, 2007).

Ms. Hua sees this difference among western gamers and Chinese gamers in their preference for console games or online games: People in Europe and the US like to play console games. At least that is the fact at present. Console games tend to encourage development of individual potential. They are more interested in conquering more difficult and complex games in the process of playing (Ms. Hua from Shanda Interactive, interviewed on Dec 19th, 2007).

China’s economic reform transformed the centralized planned economy to a decentralized one. As a result, Chinese culture has changed from an authoritative voice to one

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with multiple voices (Zhang, 2007), Diversification of demand comes from appreciation and acceptance of different cultures. An interviewee from a small game company states that the insertion of European cultural elements in the game title can attract more Chinese gamers: We want to target the domestic market in an indirect way. We want to sell our products in European markets before returning to China.

We believe that the European element in our title could help boost sales in the Chinese domestic market (Ms. Hu from Quarter Digital, interviewed on Dec 20th, 2007).

For instance, Illustration 1 shows the visual representation of a female character named Rose, in the game Westward Journey Online. The story takes place in the Tang Dynasty; however, the appearance of the female character does not appear historical. Rather, Rose is an image of a modern female. Graphic design such as this shows that a mixture of eastern and western cultural elements is accepted by Chinese gamers. b. The Government Factor The political factors influencing the industry include the one-child policy, government tax reduction schemes in support of creative industry, the Internet Addiction Prevention System, and the most importantly – media censorship. The game players are mostly young people who value consumerism and grew up without sisters or brothers. There is a natural thirst for socializing in this single-child generation.

I think the success of our games and Tencent may be because of China’s one-child policy. The new generation is more lonely and hence, they are more eager to interact with others (Mr. Zhang from NetEase, interviewed on Nov 28th, 2007).

The online game platform itself is a good social space for group entertainment.

These gamers usually voice their complaints online or via phone calls whenever they come across a problem in playing a game, creating constant pressure on game companies in their game title development and modification.

Local game companies work closely with the government to carry out the government’s policies. For instance, in 2006 the government applied a new policy to reduce the negative influences that online games can have on the general public. The regulation requires major internet companies including Shanda, NetEase, The9, Kuanzhong, Sina and Sohu to install a rating system that monitors the number of playing hours among the gamers. This Addiction Prevention System is to prevent online users from spending long hours playing games. The system sends out warnings

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to players who play games in a game server for more than three hours. This monitoring system again reflects the controlled environment of China’s internet regulation and the media censorship that the state uses to control the direction of the development of the online game industry. The following interview from Mr. Pang of NetEase confirms the influence of media censorship in the process of content creation for a game: Media censorship exists in many countries. Now we need to look at this issue more carefully and more objectively… We do not want to have different opinions from the government.

Violence, pornography and issues that are political all need to be avoided. For instance, for game that is about Falun Kong, we cannot design a virtual scene that allows the players to explode the Forbidden City. We are aware of the issues, so we do not ask for trouble by irritating the government (Mr. Pang, NetEase, interviewed on November 28, 2007).

Conclusion

This study concludes that there is a competitive advantage in the online game industry of China based upon Porter’s model. Industry dynamics are seen in the aspects of production, distribution, supporting industries and firm strategies where local game companies learn from foreign game companies at the beginning of their development. The industry grew from the initial stage of local game companies functioning as distributors of foreign games to the later stage where the full industry value chain is developed from developer to publisher. Porter’s argument about influencing factors is seen in internet regulation policies. The industry reflects strong consumer demand for media content that is relevant to local culture. Media censorship also plays an important role in controlling information that can be produced by local game companies. This paper argues that the above factors together generate sources of competitive advantage for China. China’s culture is collectivistic, as individuals identify themselves in terms of their obligations to and relationship with others. In addition, China’s transition from a centrally-planned economy to a decentralized market-driven economy offers a freely competitive environment for the local online game industry to grow. The government policies that promote creative industry also result in the success of local products that can be successfully exported to international markets to meet the needs of global consumers.

In the globalization debate, global media intensify and connect people in different geographic locations in order to engage in media information exchange. Western media

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continues to localize their media content and enter various media markets around the world.

This case study shows that China has the potential to establish local new media industry through broadband technology. The size of market and government support offers an environment of free competition to local game companies. Global media giants serve in the role of facilitator, transferring R&D knowledge and production skills through joint ventures and business partnerships with local game distributors.

The content created by local game companies demonstrates a hybrid dimension of globalization where eastern and western cultural elements co-exist in the production of a game. Such a mixture of globalized images reflects the emergence of consumerism in local Chinese game players and demonstrates a form of popular culture that welcomes western influence on media products. Globalization in this context means the creation of a digital media commodity that follows a recognizable format in creating game narratives and graphic design already proven in pre-existing successful international games. Wasko (2008) argues that the creation of a film commodity needs to take into account the concern of reducing market uncertainty in film production. Similarly, the success of Korean and American games in China leads to the acceptance of international digital media art among local gamers. The success of local titles such as Perfect World shows that the combination of western visual art with kung fu narratives creates a selling niche for local game companies. This formula reduces the problem of market uncertainty for a game. It also demonstrates the complexity of globalization as the process is initiated by local game players rather than multinational game companies in China.

By applying Porter’s model to this study, we see that the online game industry in China is influenced by increased competition from domestic rivalry in investment, product development, labor skills accumulation and ICT infrastructure. Domestic market size and growth, complex demand and the synergy of related industries play key roles in creating the competitive edge. The presence of global competitors in the local market benefits the industry in project management and talent building. Sophistication of domestic demand weakens the standing of foreign game titles and supports the export of homegrown titles. The online game industry’s related and supporting industries demonstrate conditions similar to the IT and film industries. Domestic competition builds competitiveness, but the influence of global competition is still in the process of development.

This study concludes that China’s online game industry is working in a selfreinforcing system to create international competitive advantages. The developmental

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perspective of Porter’s Diamond suggests that the Chinese online game industry is moving from the investment-driven stage to the innovation-driven stage. The research shows that a follower nation like China can develop a competitive advantage in new media industry. The application of Porter’s model has helped to identify the sources of competitive advantage associated with a developing economy and has shown how political and economic influences affect the dynamics of an emerging industry.

Table 1: The total number of online games in China and their countries of origin from 2002 to 2007 Japan Total China Korea Europe & US 61 30 27 2 2 2002 114 47 60 4 3 2003 164 73 81 6 4 2004 209 109 91 5 4 2005 222 154 50 12 6 2006 203 133 64 3 3 2007 Place of origin and number of game titles operated in China (2002 – 2007) Source: http://games.sina.com.cn/n/2008-01-07/1454230275.shtml accessed on February 14th, 2008

Table 2: Revenue of overseas listed Chinese online game companies in 2007

Market share Shanda 18.75% NetEase 14.72% Giant 12.10% The9 10% Net Dragon 5.04% Perfect World 5.38% Kingsoft 4.35% Sohu 1% Others 27.92% Total 100% Total revenue of world online game industry:

Annual revenue (US dollars) 352,000,000 274,000,000 227,000,000 195,000,000 94,000,000 101,000,000 81,000,000 25,000,00 526,000,000 1,877,000,000 8,707,000,000

Notes: Though the public listed online game companies are usually the leading online game companies in China, this list is not a market share ranking. Other companies that were interviewed, including Optic Communications and Joyzone are not listed due to the unavailability of official financial data on their web sites.

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Source: iResearch (China Internet Research Center). All the corporate revenue figures have been reconfirmed by verified annual financial reports on the corporate websites.

From http://www.iresearch.com.cn/html/consulting/online_game/Graph_id_9821.html http://www.iresearch.com.cn/html/consulting/online_game/Graph_id_9821.html accessed on June 18th, 2008

Table 3: Shanda and its history of merger and acquisitions activities from 2003 to 2007 Year

Title of Firm

Type of Firm

2003

Chengdu Jisheng Technology

Local distributor

2004

Beijing Digital-Red Software Application Technology

Local developer

“

Zona

International developer (US)

“

Shanghai Haofang Online Information Technology

Local developer

“

Qidian

Local portal operator

“

Actoz Soft

International publisher (Korea)

2005

Gametea

Local distributor

2006

Walt Disney Company (strategic alliance)

International media company (US)

2007

Chengdu Aurora Technology Development Co.

Local developer

NC Soft (strategic alliance)

International publisher (Korea)

Source: http://www.snda.com/en/about/history.htm

Illustration 1: Image of Woman Represented in Westward Fantasy Online

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Source: NetEase Web Site at <http://xy3.163.com/2007/6/29/917_179487.html>

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STATE AS A BUILDER OF PUBLIC INITIATIVES IN LULA´S GOVERNMENT: an analysis of public system of communication in Brazil Prof. Dr. Adilson Vaz Cabral Filho 1 Profª Eula Dantas Taveira Cabral 2

ABSTRACT Public system is mentioned as one of the three communication systems in the Brazilian Constitution, considering also private and State ones, in agreement with the principle of mutual complement. This article is based on a bibliographical and documental research with special attention given to the recently created EBC – Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (Brazilian Company of Communication for the words in English), responsible for the implementation of TV Brasil (a State TV channel) and also for the first settings towards so called public television, that is today restricted to the Constitutional text of 1988. It analyzes players and elements involved in this situation – considering particularities of the Brazilian communication system – and highlights State responsibility for building a communication system based on public interest. It also considers Political Economy of Communication as an opportunity of understanding State as a regulator and executor of politics – and its role in the maintenance of hegemonic oriented ideologies. Brazil is a continental country with distinct economic realities and many diversified cultures, where nearly everybody speaks (Brazilian) Portuguese as a first language.

Brazilian communication system was built under a national integrative perspective by military dictatorship in the 60’s and 70’s last century. And it relied on foreign capital, which was illegal according to our national constitution at that time, when three out of the five Brazilian regions were not so developed. The Globo network, one of the world’s largest private broadcast networks, grew larger with the Time Life group’s funds and was based on an extension of all regions, with all technical and artistic quality that money could buy.

Media Community presented many initiatives that were actually a real challenge to organized social groups and movements in the field. TV Brasil started its transmissions in December 2007, occupying one of the channels managed by the State, according to the Decree that implemented digital television in the country. According to the current legislation, public initiatives led by social groups are considered productions, while community channels and other initiatives of the so called television´s public field – though operating open and free at cable system – have no guarantee of their continuity in digital TV broadcasting.

KEYWORDS: public television – democratization of communication – Communication politics – TV Brasil – Empresa Brasil de Comunicação – public system of communication

1

Professor of Social Communication Course and Social Politics Postgraduate Program at Fluminense Federal University – UFF, researcher and advertiser. PhD and MsC in Social Communication at Methodist University of São Paulo – UMESP. Coordinator of the research group EMERGE – Researches and Production Center in Communication and Emergence and of the Electronic Bulletin "Sete Pontos" http://www.comunicacao.pro.br/setepontos.E-mail: acabral@comunicacao.pro.br 2 Professor of Social Communication Course at City University Center – UniverCidade, researcher and journalist. PhD and MsC in Social Communication at Methodist University of São Paulo – UMESP. Member of the research group EMERGE – Researches and Production Center in Communication and Emergence and of Email: Electronic Bulletin "Sete Pontos" http://www.comunicacao.pro.br/setepontos. euladtc@comunicacao.pro.br

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RESUMO Este artigo tem por base a realização de uma pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, dando especial atenção à recém-criada EBC – Empresa Brasil de Comunicação, responsável pela implementação da TV Brasil no marco do governo Lula e a configuração da assim chamada TV Pública, diante de um sistema público de comunicação que ainda se mantém restrito ao texto constitucional de 1988. Analisa atores e elementos envolvidos nessa situação, levando em conta a particularidade brasileira em relação ao setor de comunicação e a responsabilidade do estado brasileiro em construir uma comunicação baseada no interesse público.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Televisão Pública – Democratização da Comunicação – Políticas de Comunicação – TV Brasil - Empresa Brasil de Comunicação – Sistema Público de Comunicação RESUMEN Este artículo toma por base la realización de una investigación bibliográfica y documental, dando atención especial a la empresa estatal recientemente criada EBC - Empresa Brasil de Comunicação, responsable por la implementación de la TV Brasil en el marco del gobierno Lula y la configuración de la así llamada TV pública, en relación a un sistema público de la comunicación que todavía se sigue habiendo restricta al texto constitucional de 1988. Analiza a agentes implicados y los elementos en esta situación, tenendo en cuenta la particularidad brasileña en lo referente al sector de comunicación y a la responsabilidad del estado brasileño en construir una comunicación basada en el interés público.

INTRODUCTION Although Brazil is not a pioneer in creating a State television channel, its late implementation raised polemics over many contradictions about how public communication in Brazil has been conducted during Lula’s government. This article makes a broad analysis of EBC – Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (Brazilian Company of Communication, for the words in English), at the beginning of TV and radio digitalization process in Brazil. It also takes into consideration the real possibility of an effective implementation of a national public system of communication and problematizes what role the State should play, considering the consolidated power corporate media companies have in the country.

Lula’s government has – throughout almost two mandates now – successively abandoned historical claims from the movement for democratization of communication in Brazil, as well as changed its main mentors. Far away from being surprising or contradictory, Lula’s government shows evidences of another kind of alliance. Definitions about community broadcasting, media digitalization and updating the sector’s laws are continually postponed in favor of a policy that offers some still intangible benefits.

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Even though this contradictory agenda was supported by investments that mobilized considerable social sectors, it hasn’t yet shown concrete politics change towards real democratization. Since SBTVD – Brazilian System of Digital Television – was created, 22 universities and 1.500 researches from all over the country started experiments and inventions, good part of which was discarded. The one approved by the government, a middleware called Ginga, still needs a consistent regulation so as to be implemented in its plenitude. A Working Group was created with members from community radios associations of the country. They analyzed old and classic, proposed suggestions for the sector laws reform, but none of them were ever implemented or even considered as an improvement among debates at the National Congress. In an official note, signed by National Coordination of ABRAÇO (Brazilian Association of Community Broadcasting) in 2004, the government omission was already denounced: National Board of ABRAÇO, when invited by Federal Government, took part actively of the Working Group of Communications Ministry in order to take care of questions related to community radios. The final result of this WG was a report that defined procedures giving to the government demanded solutions. In fact, the government put in practice none of those solutions, but increased repression, what made ABRAÇO charge them for the chaos and disorder we are in now and go formally judicial.

A General Law to regulate the sector didn’t go far yet. The project was considered at the end of first Lula’s mandate, but the lack of determination by the government to go on with the proposal made the theme nothing more than lucubration among sectors of the civil society, the government itself, and some media groups, when reached its direct interests. Without strength, at the same time that it assumes a progressive speech, preparing changes in future points, Lula’s government consolidates an agenda of concentration to privilege corporative media and sponsors of the broadcasting sector in the country.

The EBC – Brazilian Company of Communication is symptomatic in this sense. Born in the context of 5820/2006 Decree, that define the main characteristics of Terrestrial Digital TV to be adopted in Brazil, counts on structures already created around Radiobras and TVE Brasil (broadcasting companies of brazilian government), and announces to count on independent sectors and the public field (associations like ASTRAL – Brazilian Association of Legislative Televisions and Radios, ABEPEC - Brazilian Association of Public, Educative and Cultural Broadcast Companies, ABTU - Brazilian Association of University Television and ABCCOM - Brazilian Association of Community Channels). The EBC keeps the polemics and generate many others.

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1. New chapter: Brazilian Company of Communication and TV Brasil The beginning of Brazilian TV, in 1950, is a part of communication history with lots of controversy. It all starts by the hands of Assis Chateaubriand, (a lawyer from Paraíba, Brazilian state in Northeast Region,) fighting for his own interests in businesses involving politics and the market. Maybe that’s the reason why Brazil keeps the same problems in the communication sector, without a clear regulation or effective laws regarding media in the country, and not assuming the need to implement a real policy to affirm its public status.

The register of a broadcasting public system can be found at the Article 223 of the current Brazilian Constitution (1988), but not in a clear way, as it is a fact that, after 20 years, regulation was not tough enough and there is no common understanding about its final part, that says: “It competes to the Executive granting and renewing concession, permission and authorization for the broadcasting service of sounds and images, observed the mutual compliment principle of the private, public and state systems”.

Besides raising a lot doubts, the Brazilian legislation has a lack of regulation and update in some cases, what open gaps that makes media in Brazil to become an easy target for “opportunists”, who only see it as a chance to guarantee power and profit. According to Guillermo Godoi (2004, p.89), although the Social Communication chapter in the current Brazilian Constitution raise some basic aspects for the media in the country, “it was characterized at the end as a huge practical failure for the absence of the regulation and posterior applicability of its devices”. This said, the birth of Brazilian Company of Communication became the main subject for debate of politicians and civil society entrepreneurs.

Brazilian Company of Communication – working since December, 2007 – is a result of the Provisional Executive Order number 398 (MP 398, from the term in Portuguese “Medida Provisória”, in Brazilian Constitutional Law), published in October 10th, 2007. Before being validated, it appeared as a result of an executive order, adopted for the Republic Presidency in character of relevance and urgency (art. 62, Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988).

We must remark that MP 398 does not mention clearly the meaning of “public broadcasting”. The text starts (art.1) declaring that “public broadcasting services explored by the Executive or by entities of its indirect administration, in the federal scope, will be given in agreement to the disposals of this Provisional Executive Order”. Moreover, the text affirms that its purpose is “the rendering of public broadcasting services and connected services, observed established principles and objectives in this Provisional Executive Order” (Art.6).

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Other actors are not mentioned in scene. Only the Executive and the EBC subordinated to the MP 398 are mentioned.

The first great problem of the EBC constitution is presented: can it be considered a “public system”, as it has been defended for the federal government? To be truly public, it should be managed and financed by the society, with the State and maybe the Market participation. The result would be the quality of the programs determined by society participation and by the respect to the Brazilian public, the first step for media democratization in Brazil.

Tereza Cruvinel, president of the EBC, in an interview to the journalist Marcelo Copelli, said that “public TV does not have to be subordinated nor to the rules of the market nor to the politician power, but to a representative organism with effective power. In the case of TV Brasil, it should be subordinated to the Advice Council, which has majority of representatives of the civil society”.

The EBC structure is constituted by a fusion between Radiobras and the State companies of Roquette Pinto Foundation, as foreseen in the MP 398 “Art. 7º. The Union will integrate EBC social capital and will promote the initial constitution of its patrimony through capitalization and incorporation of movable or immovable goods”. And more: “Art. 9º: EBC will be organized in the form of an anonymous society of closed capital and will have its capital represented by nominative common shares, of which at least fifty-one percent will be from titles of the Union.”

According to article 4 of the MP 398, the public broadcasting services granted to the entities of indirect administration of the Executive will be given by EBC “and can be spread out and reproduced by its affiliates, associates, repeaters and public re-transmitters of public broadcasting system, and other public or private partner entities (...)”.

Although the State represents public interest, it does not substitute the public. And, in the case of a public system of communication, it cannot be taken as an exclusive sector, when considering its administration. According to the Art. 12, EBC “will be managed by an Administration Council and an Executive Board, and in its composition it will still count with a Finance Council and an Advice Council”. As the Executive Board and the Councils will be nominated only by the President of the Republic, according to the articles 13, 14, 15 and 19, is it then possible that only the Presidency can give the last word about the management of the EBC? On the Law Project 29, MP 398 clarifies that pay TV systems “need to make available, for free, two channels destined to the Federal Executive, to be operated by EBC, one of them for the establishment of the National Network of Public Communication and other for the

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transmission of acts and subjects of Federal Government interest”. But, how could a public system be responsible for the operation of a State channel?

It is important that government does not mix the public system with the State system. If its intention is to really create a public network of communication, they must build it and regulate it as it is, involving sectors directly interested in its management and its empowerment. It is a fact that EBC already became an easy target of the parliament and the market, being able to fail its conception before completing one year.

Opposite political parties arguments against MP 398 involve the high expenses involved with the media area, and that the government would be looking for taking advantages of a communication network. However, it is speculated that many politicians are working in favor of business broadcasters's interests. As Ben Bagdikian (1993) said, the media giants have two advantages: they control the public image of national leaders to favor their pretensions, thus these magnates also keep control of information and entertainment.

Politicians are not alone with their contrary positions in relation to the MP 398. Also market representatives don’t accept the sprouting of the EBC, mainly when referring to the public broadcast companies in the Brazilian scenery, because they see it as very strong competitor that will have public financing, together with public and private resources. For Robert McChesney (2003, p. 231), media intervention and when dealing with the approval or not of the legislation that involves the own media is occurring in all countries, because media groups are setting themselves up as efficient lobbyists in local, regional and global levels.

“The giants had strong hands in the creation of these laws and regulations, and the public tends to have little or no influence (...). The historical register shows that corporations use their media domain for their own benefit, thus cementing their political advantage”.

Besides, as pointed out by Bagdikian (1993, p.291), “internal media giants development is stimulated by many governments as an ideological preference for corporative powers”.

Broadcasters don’t have Brazilian communication improvement in mind, but only guarantying their incomes and keep their power, with the the support of political representatives of the people.

But the problem in the constitution and maintenance of a public system is not exclusive to Brazil. In France, for example, Nicolas Sarkozy defends no more advertising for the French public system of radio and TV up to 2009, because the ads don't differ from the ones in the private network. French analysts put it in question, because it's believed that the president wants to benefit the private media, as their owners are his personal friends and great media

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entrepreneurs in the country, Martin Bouygues (owner of the biggest private network of the country, the TF1) and Vincent Bolloré.

As said in “Tele Synthesis” news, on January, 21st, 2008, the end of advertising in the French public system represents a loss of 800 annual million, needing more than 1 billion to keep itself functioning. Even if proposals for the maintenance of the system were studied, the fact is that “public television and radio finance themselves, in 64,3%, due to a tax paid to possess a television set, (similar to the English model), that contributes with about 1,8 annual billion”.

In Brazil's case, it is expected that federal government makes adjustments in the MP 398 and tries to dialogue with the civil society. No matter how hard EBC managers and if the Culture ex-Minister, Gilberto Gil, affirmed that the Brazilian Company of Communication is a great benefit for the Brazilian society in all aspects. The quality of the Brazilian media and the democratization will only be possible with support and participation of the society.

The Federal government must look at EBC not as a particular project and totally political, because then its duration will be limited and lost when facing capitalist interests. A really public system of communication must be constituted having also the involvement of the civil society and the market, guarantying its autonomy, quality and plurality in its daily programming.

2. State, Lula’s government and the Communication sector In Brazil, business broadcast companies of radio and corporative television perpetuate its politician power in relation to the sector and the subjects of national interest in close connection with successive governments, in spite of not assuming the economic power anymore because of the advance of the telecommunications sector, which acts in a different business model, offering services and charging final user directly.

The broadcasting sector is constituted in the country by public concessions. Its system is conducted by the Federal Constitution and on the basis of specific laws on public services (Law nº 8.987/95) and regulation on the own sector (the Brazilian Code of Broadcasting, approved in 62 and reformulated in 67). Law 9.472/97, that institutes ANATEL - National Agency of Telecommunications, characterizes the Executive ability to attribute grants to the sector in its article 211. The public service concession, on the other hand, is defined by the article 2º of Law 8.987/95, as “the delegation of its installment, made by the conceding power, by means of call for proposals, in the modality of competition, to the legal entity or a joint of companies that demonstrate capacity for its performance, at their own risk and for a determined stated period of time”. The Federal Constitution, in its article 223, paragraph 5, clarifies that “the stated period of

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the concession or permission will be of ten years for radio companies and fifteen for the television ones”, and the Executive has the attribution of annulling, revoking, or to suspend if it is the case.

Even without standards there are clear and socially built, the concessions given for use of electromagnetic space when transmitting signals are public, regulated and operated by the State. From the State, enterprises are formed to manage the organized vehicles, under the concession’s criteria. The long range, related to radio broadcasting, allows corporations that work with vehicles and programming sets to impose their agendas, assuring the power these organizations have, (which is also instituted in the relation with public and private supporters) giving place to corruption, such as: -

non-payment of taxes, committed for some of those companies;

-

maintenance of oppressive and alienating working relations, that are kept by vain promises of fame, social status and wealthiness, given just for a few;

-

the limited incentive to liberal, local, and/or regional production, constituted by professionals which are not linked to those enterprises;

-

censoring the freedom of speech, in a clear opposition to Article 19 on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

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opposition to public benefit, making use of philanthropic organizations and social enterprises to tergiversate and mobilize the masses of people;

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destination of the State’s budget and supporting of BNDES for private enterprises, such as Globo, which is the one who gets more benefits;

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faking the existence of an open and free television, when researches shows the advertisers move the advertising costs to their own products and services, accounting for the population’s budget;

-

the arrangement of illegal concessions, by the Decree 5820/2006, which addresses extra band for the enterprises that have the regularized concessions.

Lately, after the deal between the Civil House and the Ministry of Communication,

the conceders of radio and TV will have to send information about the execution of the Constitution principle’s, proving that “their programming sets are following the percentage demanded by the regularization, on their daily agendas”. As it manages only the declarations given by the conceders, if there are any questions made by the Congress, other information can be asked by parliamentarians.

By this time, there is not a real legislation that stipulates the implication of radio broadcasting concession’s, considering it as originating in the State, the checking devices are

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very vulnerable to all kinds of pressure made in the Congress. There, there is a lot of parliamentarians direct or indirect linked with radio and TV companies, which should be considered unconstitutional according to the article 54, that clearly institutes that, since the certification is sent, parliamentarians cannot “make or keep a deal with any legal person, autarchy, public company, society of mixing economy or utility company concessionaire, unless the deal is under uniform clauses.” The situation, however, is different, and leads to a picture in which 1 out of 10 parliamentarians have participation in radio and television channels, and 133 parliamentarians have participation in some kind of media, according to a research provided by the own media.

This leads to the confirmation of Professor Venício Lima (2001, p. 96), who says the late transformations of medias “did not produce, until this moment, any fundamental alteration on the hierarchy of groups that have been historically on control of communication sector in Brazil”. The Commission of Science and Technology, Communication and Computing of Brazilian’s Parliament has been working hard, trying to regulate the concessions given to broadcasting companies. The specific sub-comission created one year ago had its work damaged because the Ministry of Communications did not attend to the auditions made to talk about the subject, and also, the parliamentarians did not get mobilized because it was an electoral year. Managed by Luiza Erundina (PSB-SP), the commission tries to find distortions in the process, priorizing the whole regulamentation of article 223 of our Federal Constitution, which refers to the principle of complementing the public, state and private systems, showing a report that suggests changes in the adopted criteria, trying to institute a public and effective control in the sector.

The incapacity to show the problems related to the communication system in the country helps to evaluate how government, parties and even civil society sectors need the radio and TV broadcasting. The understanding that isolated politics do not supply demands started to show the need for implementing a large regulation of the sector, allowing the State to affirm its role as legislator and auditor of the private sector, also as a faithful depositary of public concessions and responsible for the fulfillment of the attributions relative to its functions.

If the problem relies on what responsibilities an activity that comes from public concession have, our starting point must be the human right to communication. Whatever the agenda will be like, the common claim of the movements for democratic communication can be translated in a plurality of voices and divers: the more they could be, more democratic communication would become. It is needed to institute actors who fight for those needs and

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express them, trying to build environments that affirm the scene, and that’s the biggest challenge.

Appropriation of the regulatory process in the sector needs to be set in a larger way in favor of all the specific movements that act for the communication’s democratization. A movement that intends to democratize communication has to be based on the understanding that several other social sectors need to know the role played by the communication system, as a central component in its daily fights, fomenting activisms with the request of inclusive public politics and new, diversified initiatives; mainly in actions that reaffirm historical fights, the militants and activists mobilization and qualification and the needed clarification to the society on subjects and events transformed by corporative media.

These people, groups and organizations are able to carry out their processes of building an identity, using the means and processes available to be vehiculated beyond the traditional actors that compose the movement for the democratization of the communication. In this way, not only initiatives in the scope of popular communication can and must be appropriate by distinct movements, as well as the role of the corporative media in the scope of the public interest needs urgently to be debated with the intention of a reorganization that allows the entrance of diverse and plural actors in the construction of these processes, restituting the involvement in the local, regional and national levels, preserving distinct cultures, spreading them in large-scale and consolidating them as a legitimate form of claim for democratic communication in the country.

Considering this, the continued repression to the community radios throughout Lula’s government and the lack of understanding of the potential of this segment for the proper human and social development of the country are very symptomatic. The first responsible for commercial and community broadcasting fiscalization in the country, ANATEL - National Agency of Telecommunications – has been committing successive mistakes in the relation with community initiatives, that have been systemized for the social organizations constituted around these practices. The conduction of search commissions is arbitrary, and there were radio’s members and participants arrested at the moment of the apprehension. Equipment was not devoluted, imputing to the radios the damage of having to acquire new equipment as to be able to work on air again. Certainly, an inquiry more focused rather on community radios than commercial ones is a shame not only for the sector, but for the whole country.

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3. Public communications system The whole definition of a public communications system could be taken by the existence of means and processes of communication managed not by public or statal inictiatives, but by collectives, both in the territorial community scope (a neighborhood or a region, for instance) and in the identity scope of affinities (women collective, African descendents etc). In a certain way, the public interest should guide the definition of the three systems manifested in the Federal Constitution, having its start with a deep debate along the State and private sectors, also involved in, on a broader scale, in the composition of the Brazilian communications system.

Such starting point would imply an affirmation of values such as plurality of voices and diversity of publishing spaces, inclusion of everyone in shared processes; interactivity involving not only producers, but the society in a whole, a potential producer when it comes to its diversified interests, equal rights to participating in the processes, which assures solidarity amongst all the parties involved in the development of the means and talkability for the establishment of reciprocal relations of knowledge building and social appropriation of the Information and Communication Technologies.

For SANTOS and SILVEIRA (2007, p.5), synthesizing the comments of Nicholas Garnham, the regulation of the sector aims at "promoting an unified infrastructure in order to reach three basic objectives: to assure the demand of radio and television devices; to help creating massive audiences essential to the Fordist marketing; and to provide a mean for the politic mobilization of the masses and the forming of public opinion”.

It is important to remember, however, that the lower prices of digital production and publishing equipment and the strong development of alternative communications in Brazil and Latin America, mainly linked to social movements, but also connected to the independent production, would incorporate the necessity of a system able to cover this demand of use in an equitable form.

The First National Forum of Public TVs, taken place from 8 to 11 May 2007 in Brasília, defines itself, from the Ministry of Culture website, as "an initiative of the Audiovisual Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, along with the Civil House and the representative entities of the public sectors of television". They count on the adhesion of organizations such as the ABEPEC - Brazilian Association of Public, Educative and Cultural Broadcasters (that counts on both statal and private participants), the ABTU - Brazilian Association of University Television (which also counts on private universities), the Brazilian Association of

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Legislative Radios and Televisions (ASTRAL) and the ABCCOM - Brazilian Association of Community Channels.

A very concrete result, related with possible implications in the process of implementation of the Digital TV, from Decree 5820/2006, is the adoption of channels that can be explored by the Union, as the Executive Channel, the Education Channel, the Culture Channel and the Citizenship Channel. This being probable inspired by the current open channels of Cable TV, the propagation potential for the civil society organizations is still restricted, excluded from the public and private spaces, as the initiative to set or not the channel up is a responsibility of the own Union, following norms to be affixed by the Ministry of Communications, amongst others, in a context where civil society organizations do not take real control of the channel. A retrocession if we consider the already restrictive Cable TV Law. The dimension of a possible public system, non-state and non-private, would not only be related to the community channels of Cable TV, community radios, but it would also involve telecenters, production cooperatives of communication, culture spots, also including initiatives that plan on appropriating the digital media. The existence of these means could be made possible using self-earned money, raised from collaborative work in the communities or even by institutional advertisements or sponsorships. However, more than financial support made possible by the effort of the own producers in relation to their closer sources, the possibility to count on supporting funds of the own government or agencies such as the BNDES – the National Bank for Social and Economic Development or the FINEP - Financier of Studies and Projects would be feasible considering a best definition on what the public system is in relation to what it is not nor can be.

Groups, producers and publishers organizations lack of proper qualifications, in a broader definition of the term than technical aspects, but including them. The existing initiatives also lack financial support that would give them real conditions to create quality content. This, which is not considered by the government yet, is what would make them capable of occupying media as the reflex of the diversity of social movements and organizations that resist in the fight for a fairer society and more democratic communication in Brazil.

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Conclusion or not...

A new wave of mobilizations is appearing amongst civil society organizations, with their agenda directed to the affirmation of democratic communication: the accomplishment of a National Conference of Communications, in the molds of the other sectors such as Health, Social Assistance, that is: a multi-stakeholder process between social, public and private sectors, legitimated by a government that would participate with resources for these mobilizations – and similar structures would also be implemented in the municipal and state levels.

The

pro-National

Conference

of

Communications

Movement

(at

http://www.proconferencia.pro.br – in Portuguese) is organized around a network of parliamentarians of the House of Representatives that are connected with the cause, congregated since the First National Forum of Public TVs, carried through in May 2007 in Brasilia. The mobilization has already the adhesion of more than 15 parliamentarians and many entities of the so-called public field, some of them composed also by various social organizations. At the same time, the Ministry of Communications took an isolated initiative to carry through its own understanding of the Conference in the sector, what later was called Preparatory National Conference of Communications, but now called the I National Conference on Communication for december.

On October 5th 2007, when some private concessions of the sector expired, civil society launched the website “You are the one who decides” (http://www.quemmandaevoce.org.br/ in Portuguese), involving people, groups and organizations from all over the country, promoting many mobilizations and congregating photos and other materials in its website.

This builds within the population the understanding of what is and how public concessions of radio and TV work in Brazil. Together they propose, based on the existing legislation, the popular contract of concessions, for those concessionaires take the promise of following the public interest, within all its implications.

Although it is in fact a recombination of existing social articulations already in the sector, based on the definition of middle-time strategies and action, considering amplification of the involvement of State and Market, the new actions in course aim at not letting the mobilization weaken when treating of basic questions about the relation between State and Civil Society oriented by the public character of the governments’ actions.

The loss of vitality inside the organized sectors, based even on its proper dilution in the government apparatus, makes the joint confrontation a challenge to be invested, mainly in what it refers to relevant questions as the participation of parliamentarians in concessions, the

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process of radio and TV digitalization, the repression to the community radios and the creation of the General Law of Electronic Communication.

Brazilian State needs to assume itself as a builder of the public in the Communication sector, and it is not yet if we consider the effective recognition of this strategy as part of the implementation of public politics for the sector, and that Lula's government made clear its lack of will in making the difference, two of its more significant cases being the process of creation of the Brazilian Company of Communication and its indifference on the effectiveness of the public system of communication.

As a collateral effect, the two mandates of Lula's government still provided a break in civil society actions, because they lack power to claim and accumulate forces capable to make the communication flag a demand assimilated by diversified and plural movements, in the principles of a democratic communication media affirmed as a human right.

The Brazilian Company of Communication is one of the projects of Lula's Government whose speech around its practices is much more positive, progressive and democratic than the evidence of its accomplishments. The understanding that a country as Brazil, with its communication system as it was consolidated throughout these years, needs a state TV fortified and supported by the society as a whole, as a consequence of a context that is different of the one that only defends the so urgent need of a public TV for the country.

According to information on its own website, the “National Forum for Democratization of Communication (FNDC) is in action for the creation of a parliamentarian front pro-public TV and the accomplishment of a public act in Brasilia”. In its turn, the NGO 'Intervozes' demands social participation in TV Brasil, presenting a document with many suggestions intrinsic to its proper dynamics.

The defense of a public system of communication that is not considered in TV Brasil lacks, therefore, a speech and a practice that could extend its upholding basis until being capable of evidencing the part of society that really yearns for and needs the recognition of its means of expression, seeing the State as the one that stimulates and foments its accomplishments, in the understanding that this substance – namely democratic media, products and processes of communication – is what development of a country.

determines the growth and the

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CABRAL, Adilson. Mercado às avessas: o público como parâmetro na regulação da atividade de comunicação In: Anais do XXX Congresso da Intercom. São Paulo: INTERCOM, 2007.

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CABRAL, Eula D. T. A Internacionalização da Mídia Brasileira: Estudo de Caso do Grupo Abril. São Bernardo do Campo: Tese (Doutorado em Comunicação Social) – Universidade Metodista de São Paulo, 2005.

COPELLI, Marcelo. Os desafios da TV pública. Tribuna de Imprensa, 07/01/2008.

Disponível em <http://www.fndc.org.br/internas.php?p=noticias&cont_key=219157>. Acesso em 25/01/2008.

FADUL, Anamaria. A internacionalização da mídia brasileira. Comunicação e Sociedade.

São Bernardo do Campo: UMESP, nº30, p.67 – 91, 1998.

GODOI, Guilherme Canela de Souza. Comunicações no Brasil: complexidade, regulação e conexões com a democracia. Brasília, Rio de Janeiro: 2004 (mimeo).

GOHN, Maria da Glória. (org.). Movimentos Sociais no início do século XXI. Antigos e novos atores sociais. Petrópolis, Vozes, 2003.

INTERVOZES reivindica participação social na TV Brasil. Publicado em http://www.intervozes.org.br/noticias/intervozes-reivindica-participacao-social-na-tv-brasil.

Acesso em 31/01/2008.

LIMA, Venício. Mídia: teoria e política. São Paulo, Perseu Abramo, 2001.

MCCHESNEY, Robert W. Mídia global, neoliberalismo e imperialismo. IN: MORAES, Dênis de (org). Por uma outra comunicação: mídia, mundialização cultural e poder. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2003.

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PAIVA, Raquel. O espírito comum: comunidade, mídia e globalismo. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1998. _____________ (org.). O retorno da comunidade: os novos caminhos do social. Rio de Janeiro, Mauad, 2007.

PERUZZO, Cicília. Comunicação nos movimentos populares. Petrópolis, Vozes, 1998.

REDAÇÃO FNDC. FNDC mobiliza-se em defesa da TV Brasil. Publicado em http://www.fndc.org.br/internas.php?p=noticias&cont_key=220146.

Disponível em 09/01/2008. Acesso em 31/01/2008.

SANTOS, Suzy dos; SILVEIRA, Érico da. Serviço Público e Interesse Público nas Comunicações. In RAMOS, Murilo César e SANTOS, Suzy dos. Políticas de Comunicação: buscas teóricas e práticas. São Paulo, Paulus, 2007.

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Eleições e variedades nas primeiras páginas de dois jornais regionais: análise dos critérios de visibilidade e temáticos em dois periódicos diários do Paraná1 Emerson Urizzi Cervi2 RESUMO O texto tem por objetivo identificar padrões de presença na primeira página de chamadas a respeito das disputas eleitorais de 2006 no Brasil. São analisadas as primeiras páginas de dois jornais regionais do Paraná e a participação nelas de textos a respeito das eleições para governador do Estado. Para fins comparativos, avalia-se também a presença de chamadas sobre temas de variedades. Com isso, espera-se identificar a importância da campanha eleitoral nos jornais. O trabalho empírico insere-se na linha de discussões sobre o papel da mídia na informação do cidadão e quanto os temas não-relevantes socialmente (variedades) ocupam nesse espaço nobre dos periódicos. Os resultados indicam que em um dos periódicos analisados, o jornal O Estado do Paraná, o espaço ocupado por chamadas de notícias sobre variedades é muito próximo do espaço ocupado pela campanha eleitoral, enquanto no outro veículo pesquisado, o jornal Gazeta do Povo, o volume de chamadas sobre temas de variedades é superior ao de campanha eleitoral durante todo o período. Esses dados permitem comprovar em uma realidade específica a hipótese da predominância do “Jornalismo Rosa”, como apresentado por Maria Luisa Humanes e outros pesquisadores.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE: comunicação política, primeira página, cobertura eleitoral.

RESUMEN El trabajo tiene como objetivo la identificación de estándares de la presencia en la primera página de diarios a respecto de las disputas electorales de 2006 en um Estado de Brazil. Textos con respecto a las elecciones para el gobernador del Estado de Paraná en las primeras páginas de dos periódicos regionales del Paraná son analizados. Para conparaciones, allá la presencia de conflictos electorales también se evalúa el tema de variedades. Con esto, se espera identificar la importancia de la campaña electoral en periódicos. El trabajo empírico se inserta en la línea de discusiones a respecto de los medios de comunicación, la información política del ciudadano y cuánto los temas sin relevância social (variedades) ocupan en este espacio noble de los periódicos. Los resultados indican que en uno los periódicos analizados, el Estado do Paraná, el espacio ocupado com assuntos de variedades está muy proximo del espacio ocupado con la campaña electoral, mientras que en el otro vehículo, Gazeta do Povo, el volum de textos de variedades és más grande a que de la campaña electoral. Estos datos permiten discutir en una realidad específica la hipótesis del predominio del "periodismo rosa", según lo presentado para Maria Luisa Humanes y otros investigadores.

PALAVRA CLAVE: comunicación política, primera página, cubierta electoral.

1

Versão preliminar deste trabalho foi apresentado no IV Congresso da Associação Latino-americana de Ciência Política (Alacip), em 2008, em San Jose - Costa Rica.

2 Doutor em Ciência Política (IUPERJ) em 2006; mestre em Sociologia Política (UFPR) em 2002; graduado em Comunicação Social – Jornalismo (UEPG) em 1996; Professor adjunto e pesquisador em: Graduação em Comunicação e Mestrado Ciências Sociais Aplicadas da Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa (UEPG), Graduação em Ciências Sociais e Mestrado em Ciência Política da Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR); E-mails: ecervi@brturbo.com.br; eucervi@uepg.br; eucervi@ufpr.br;

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ABSTRACT The text has for objective to identify standards of presence in the first page of journals about the electoral disputes of 2006 in Brazil.Texts regarding the elections for governor of the State in the first pages of two regional periodicals of the Paraná are analyzeds. For comparations, the presence of electoral disputes is also evaluated the theme of varieties. With this, one expects to identify the importance of the electoral campaign in periodicals. The empirical work is inserted in the line of discussions about the media and information of the citizen, how much the not-relevante subjects (varieties) occupy in this noble space of the periodic. The results indicate that in one of the periodic ones analyzed, the periodical the Estado do Paraná, the busy space for notice on varieties is very next to the busy space for the electoral campaign, while in the other vehicle searched, the periodical, Gazeta do Povo, the volum of texts on subjects of varieties is larger to the one of electoral campaign. These data allow to discuss in a specific reality the hypothesis of the predominance of the "Pink Journalism", as presented for Maria Luisa Humanes and other researchers.

KEYWORDS: communication politics, first page, electoral covering.

I. INTRODUÇÃO O papel efetivo que os meios de comunicação de massa desempenham nos processos políticos em democracias contemporâneas nem sempre está prescrito na literatura prescritiva da ciência política ou nos estudos sobre os processos de produção da comunicação social. Não restam dúvidas de que em democracias de larga escala, a mídia pode ser um instrumento central para o exercício da cidadania e da boa representação política. No entanto, ela não necessariamente desempenha essa função. Uma das formas de verificação do potencial papel de instrumento em favor do debate político desempenhado pelos meios de comunicação é a análise direta da produção jornalística, que permite afirmar se o mundo real construído pela produção midiática se aproxima ou não do desejado espaço público para o debate de temas socialmente relevantes. Quanto mais próximo do mundo ideal, melhor a qualidade do serviço prestado pelos meios de comunicação ao debate público e, por conseqüência, há um distanciamento maior dos ganhos comerciais pelas empresas jornalísticas.

O presente trabalho não pretende fazer uma verificação exaustiva sobre a participação de diferentes suportes midiáticos no debate político e/ou no sistema comercial. Trata-se de um estudo de caso a respeito do comportamento de dois jornais diários, com circulação regional no Estado do Paraná (Gazeta do Povo e Estado do Paraná). Analisa-se o resultado da produção jornalística desses periódicos a partir do que é apresentado nas primeiras páginas de cada um deles durante o período eleitoral de 2006.

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Pretende-se identificar se ao longo das eleições de 2006, que teve características muito específicas de acirramento do debate político paranaense, houve um crescimento significativo da presença do tema político nas capas dos dois principais jornais diários do Estado. Além disso, compara-se o espaço dedicado a este tema, com aquele o que foi ocupado pelas chamadas sobre temas de variedades e entretenimento, ou seja, dotadas de apelo comercial. Para tanto, são utilizadas informações coletadas pelo grupo de pesquisa em Mídia e Política da Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa (UEPG) sobre todas as chamadas publicadas nas primeiras páginas dos jornais em análise no período de 1º de agosto a 30 de outubro de 2006. Assim, ficam contemplados os dois principais meses do primeiro turno da disputa (agosto e setembro) e o mês do segundo turno (outubro).

A eleição de 2006 para o governo do Paraná foi a mais concorrida da história do Estado, tendo como resultado a reeleição do então governador, Roberto Requião, no segundo turno, com uma vantagem de apenas 0,2% dos votos válidos, o que representa diferença de menos de 10,5 mil votos e um universo de mais de 5,3 milhões de votos válidos. Nessas condições de intensa disputa política, pode-se esperar um crescimento da importância dada pelos veículos de comunicação ao tema, através da concessão de maior espaço em suas primeiras páginas para chamadas sobre as eleições estaduais. Também aconteciam, no mesmo período, eleições para presidente da república, senador, deputados federais e estaduais. Portanto, no mundo ideal, estavam dadas as condições propícias para que temas relacionados ao debate político povoassem de maneira distintiva as primeiras páginas dos jornais.

Porém, é possível que isso não aconteça no mundo real. Deve-se considerar que além da dimensão própria de espaço para debate político, os veículos de comunicação estão inseridos em um sistema de competição comercial, onde se busca ampliar cada vez mais o seu “mercado consumidor de notícias”. Para tanto, as opções editoriais podem ser tomadas prioritariamente em favor da oferta de informações mais próximas do cotidiano do público e em formatos que destacam apelo humano e sensacionalismo de fatos com menor relevância social. Para comparar o espaço destinado pelos jornais para o debate público de temas relevantes com o destinado ao entretenimento informativo, utiliza-se a oposição entre soft news e hard news. De um lado estão as soft news, que tratam de temas socialmente menos relevantes, abordados com uma liberdade narrativa maior e aproximando os conteúdos do cotidiano mais imediato do público. São notícias sobre esportes, cultura, personalidades do mundo do entretenimento, etc. De outro, as hard news,

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que abordam de maneira mais objetiva temas relacionados a questões sociais relevantes, como política, saúde, educação, segurança, infra-estrutura pública, economia, etc.

A presença de chamadas sobre a disputa eleitoral de 2006 nas primeiras páginas dos jornais em análise garante maior visibilidade para hard news, em detrimento das chamadas de primeira página sobre temas menos relevantes do ponto de vista do debate público, as soft news.

Se as primeiras predominarem, temos o cumprimento do papel de mediadores do debate público pelos jornais; mas, se o predomínio for das segundas, haverá a indicação de tendência dos jornais em favor de interesses comerciais. Trata-se de uma análise indireta das opções editoriais a partir da presença ou ausência do tema político na primeira página. Vale ressaltar que a opção comercial dos jornais em detrimento do debate público não é ilegítima, apenas caracteriza um tipo específico de intervenção social dos meios de comunicação, que normalmente não está prescrito na literatura clássica. Nesse caso, ela aproxima-se do que Humanes (2006) chama de “jornalismo rosa”, ou seja, voltado ao entretenimento e com poucas informações sobre fatos sociais relevantes, onde também há ocorrência de reportagens sobre histórias assumidas pelo próprio veículo de comunicação, criando-as ou ampliando a importância delas de maneira artificial, os periódicos deixam de dar visibilidade ao debate político relevante.

Para a análise empírica são utilizados dados a respeito das características das chamadas de primeira página dos dois jornais. A principal delas diz respeito ao tema da chamada, comparando-se o total de chamadas e de cm2 ocupados na primeira página por temas relacionados à eleição e por temas de variedades (entretenimento, cultura e esportes). A presença dos temas é verificada ao longo de todo o período de análise, em especial na relação que eles têm entre o primeiro e segundo turnos eleitorais e entre os domingos em relação a outros dias da semana – visto que a circulação dos jornais impressos aos domingos é significativamente maior que a dos outros dias. O tema disputa eleitoral é estudado, ainda, em relação à freqüência por tipos de chamada, pois há diferença de visibilidade entre eles. Uma Manchete com Foto é mais visível que uma chamada sem foto ou uma chamada-título na parte inferior da página. Essas distintas visibilidades indicam a importância dada pelos jornalistas aos temas tratados nas capas dos jornais. Além disso, verifica-se ainda se o tema Eleição aparece nas primeiras páginas referindo-se à disputa regional – mais próxima da área de abrangência dos jornais – ou às nacionais, onde o impacto dos periódicos em análise é menor.

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Os dois jornais analisados aqui apresentam algumas características comuns e diferenças editorias que tornam interessantes as comparações. São dois dos jornais diários mais tradicionais e com maior circulação estadual no Paraná – sem contar os jornais populares -, segundo dados do Instituto Verificador de Circulação (IVC). Além disso, em 2006 ambos passavam por reforma editorial com finalidade de ganhar espaço no mercado midiático paranaense. No entanto, apresentam posições editorais distintas frente aos temas políticos. A Gazeta do Povo é um jornal que defende o distanciamento político/ideológico em sua linha editorial. Ainda que faça opções para a cobertura política (e elas existem na prática), são pouco explícitas e pontuais. Por outro lado, o proprietário do Estado do Paraná, ex-governador Paulo Pimentel, defende que seu jornal deva tomar posições políticas. Como político de carreira, ex-governador, ex-senador e exdeputado federal, Paulo Pimentel havia concorrido a senador na mesma coligação de Roberto Requião em 2002, fora presidente da Companhia de Energia Elétrica do Paraná (Copel) durante o primeiro mandato de Requião, de quem estivera muito próximo nos anos anteriores. No entanto, em 2006 o proprietário do jornal e o governador do Estado tinham se afastado, inclusive com divergências públicas, por conta da coligação de partidos para a disputa de 2006. Assim, este artigo compara a produção jornalística de um periódico mais distante das posições políticas regionais partidárias, a Gazeta do Povo, com outro, que faz questão de participar do debate político/partidário, o Estado do Paraná. A questão a ser discutida nesse cenário não é apenas se os jornais dão mais visibilidade ao tema Eleição do que a Variedades em suas primeiras páginas.

Pretende-se também identificar se os diferentes padrões de comportamento das direções dos periódicos refletem escolhas editoriais distintas.

O texto está dividido em três partes. Na primeira é feita uma abordagem sobre os conceitos teóricos mais relevantes que sustentam a análise empírica posterior. São abordadas questões sobre o papel dos meios de comunicação social no debate público em democracias de massa, os processos de produção jornalística e uma tipologia das notícias a partir da temática e da forma de narração. Também é feita uma breve contextualização do período político/eleitoral no Paraná entre agosto e outubro de 2006, com a descrição das coligações em disputa e os resultados eleitorais. Na segunda parte apresentam-se os dados sobre as séries temporais do que é agendado nas primeiras páginas dos jornais, especificamente quanto aos temas Eleição e Variedades. É discutida, também, a partir de testes estatísticos a relação entre o formato das entradas e a abrangência da disputa, se regional ou nacional. Por fim, apresentam-se algumas notas

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conclusivas a respeito do comportamento verificados nas primeiras páginas dos dois jornais sobre o espaço dado ao debate político relevante e o destinado a temas mais leves, propícios ao “apelo comercial” do jornal.

II. VISIBILIDADE MIDIÁTICA E CAMPANHAS ELEITORAIS Em artigo publicado na revista da Academia Norte-americana de Ciência Política em 2005, o politólogo Robert Dahl pergunta-se, no título do trabalho, que instituições são necessárias para o bom funcionamento das democracias de massa. Logo no incício do texto ele responde elencando seis delas. Três dessas instituições são especialmente relevantes para a discussão feita aqui: eleições frequentes, livres e limpas; liberdade de expressão e fontes alternativas de informação (Dahl, 2005 p. 188). Como os veículos de comunicação, em especial os impressos, são uma das principais formas de expressão e fonte de informação a respeito da política nas democraciais contemporâneas, torna-se importante discutir o padrão de produção jornalística durante períodos de disputas eleitorais3. Nas sociedades contemporâneas os jornais são considerados o motor do espaço público contemporâneo, ou seja, são eles que movimentam e estimulam o debate politico, envolvendo, portencialmente, todos os cidadãos principalmente nas disputas eleitorais. Entender os processos de seleção e hierarquização das informações nos veículos de comunicação é importante não apenas para explicar os processos internos de socialização da informação nos jornais, mas, também ajuda a medir a qualidade do debate politico e da própria democracia, por conseqüência.

O papel da mídia moderna nas democracias vai além da difusão de informações em períodos eleitorais, pois é através dos meios de comunicação que representantes eleitos e governantes prestam contas públicas de suas atividades e são julgados pelos cidadãos, o que faz com que a mídia substitua, na prática, instituições clássicas da mediação entre representantes e representados, tais como os partidos politicos (Manin, 1995). Nesse sentido, segundo Marcus Figueiredo, “os politicos são hoje dependentes da mídia porque as redes de comunicação social ganharam a preferência do público enquanto principais fontes de informação para as decisões 3

Não se pretende, com isso, excluir todas as fontes alternativas de difusão de informação política, em especial, as formas de interação comunicacional feitas cada vez com mais intensidade pelas diferentes ferramentas ofertadas pela internet. Apenas busca-se centrar a atenção na forma mais massiva e tradicional de fontes de informação, que no Brasil ainda são os meios jornalísticos impressos.

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políticas” (Figueiredo, 2000 p. 41). Vale ressaltar que enquanto os politicos dependem dos meios de comunicação para entrar em contato com os representados nas democracias de massa, o cidadão comum também depende das informações transmitidas pelos mesmos meios para se posicionarem no debate público e balizarem suas escolhas.

O espaço por natureza da tomada de decisões políticas em democracias representativas4 é o período eleitoral, quando os eleitores/consumidores de informações recebem insumos informacionais dos meios de comunicação para posicionamentos politicos futuros. Entender os critérios utilizados pelos jornalistas para a seleção de fatos sociais e modelagem das edições diárias dos jornais é importante poque permite identificar possíveis efeitos no espaço público.

Uma questão importante a se considerer é que os produtores do noticiário não estão, necessariamente, preocupados com a qualidade do debate público/eleitoral quando selecionam fatos sociais e difundem notícias. Existem outros condicionantes que não o impacto na democracia interferindo nas escolhas jornalísticas – o principal deles é a necessidade de atendimento às demandas do público, ou seja, a busca pela maior fatia de mercado.

Uma das explicações recorrentes sobre a produção de informação jornalística diz respeito aos limitadores da recepção. Segundo ela, as pessoas são capazes de processar de maneira coerente apenas uma pequena quantidade de informação. Por isso, jornalistas usam rotinas cognitivas já conhecidas na organização das informações, facilitando a produção de sentidos pelos receptores (Sousa, 1999). Esse processo tende a reproduzir temas e formas de tratamento já consolidados no debate público, limitando aos espaços de maior visibilidade dos jornais as temáticas e os personagens próximos de um padrão já consolidado da realidade. Assim, editores selecionam textos para as primeiras páginas de seus periódicos segundo uma visão de mundo própria, que tem a finalidade de auxiliar na produção de determinados sentidos pelos receptores, em primeiro lugar. Se considerarmos válida essa explicação, o tema disputa eleitoral, por ser intermitente (acontecer entre espaços de tempo pré-determinados), teoricamente, teria menor espaço na cobertura jornalística devido a maior dificuldade de compreensão pelo cidadão comum.

Os jornais tenderiam a garantir maior espaço a temas constantemente presentes em suas páginas, 4

Não se pretende fazer aqui uma caracterização das diferentes tipologias de democracias contemporâneas, apenas indicar que e msistemas democráticos onde a participação direta é mais constante (com a realização de plebiscitos e referendos) o debate político ultrapassa os períodos eleitorais propriamente ditos. No entanto, no Brasil, como a cultura de decisões diretas não é tão comum, os períodos eleitorais tendem a concentrar a atenção do cidadão comum em relação ao debate político.

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tais como informações sobre esportes, agenda de eventos, lançamentos de produtos da indústria de bens simbólicos e informações sobre personalidades públicas exploradas pela mídia.

Evidente que além da justificativa de limitação da capacidade receptora dos leitores de jornais, deve-se levar em conta que os veículos de comunicação são um produto comercial dotados de características que permitem sua viabilidade no “mercado informacional”.

Desprovidos de posicionamento ideológico expresso - permitindo aos jornais ampliarem seu público potencial - os jornalistas produzem informações para serem “compradas” no competitivo mercado de comunicação de massa brasileiro (Cervi, 2003). Sendo assim, cabe ao editor da primeira página produzir a “embalagem” que apresentará o produto aos potenciais consumidores, optando por temas que contenham maior apelo humano, tais como catástrofes de grandes magnitudes, e por formatos que sejam mais apelativos e sensacionalistas. Com a curiosidade aguçada o leitor apresenta-se para consumir diariamente os mesmos conteúdos e formatos ofertados pelos jornais. Os meios de comunicação, em sistemas comerciais como o brasileiro, apresentam diariamente produtos com formatos atrativos, próximos do gosto médio do potencial leitor, para atender aos interesses dos próprios meios de comunicação (Peterson, 2003).

Seja sob o ponto de vista das “limitações cognitivas do público”, seja sob a ótica do “apelo comercial” da mídia, no processo de seleção e hierarquização dos temas que farão parte do noticiário e, dentre estes, aqueles selecionados para integrar a primeira página da edição, existem outros condicionantes para a produção jornalística: disponibilidade de recursos tecnológicos, econômicos e humanos para a atividade. Há também fatores de ordem externa como a competência das fontes em oferecer aos produtores das notícias fatos sociais que resultarão em boas histórias jornalísticas. Tem-se, assim, que o processo de escolha das notícias que ganharão espaço de destaque na primeira página dos jornais nasce por critérios próprios editoriais, limitados pelas rotinas produtivas5, a respeito do mundo ideal a ser tratado pelo veículo de comunicação sob a ótica da capacidade/interesse do público e em função do apelo comercial das escolhas. Agrega-se a essa primeira etapa do processo de produção da notícia a disponibilidade pública, em função da competência variada das fontes, de informações para produção das notícias (Ponte, 2005). O resultado é que espaços mais nobres dos jornais são ocupados por temas 5

Entendendo rotina produtiva como o conjunto de práticas adotadas sistemática e cotidianamente pelos produtores das notícias, que, constrangidos por limitadores de ordem, pessoal, institucional e social, têm que tomar decisões produtivas para tornar possível a produção serializada de informações para o noticiário.

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impactantes, de grande magnitude, com apelo humano e não muito distantes da realidade já existente dos leitores.

Ao contrário do que muitos politólogos tendem a defender ao tratar da participação dos meios de comunicação de massa no debate público de democracias modernas, o processo de seleção e hierarquização dos fatos sociais que farão parte das edições jornalísticas não é simples.

Faz parte de um complexo sistema de trocas e negociações envolvendo valores simbólicos internos aos meios de comunicação e, também, externos a estes, em função das necessidades “comerciais” inerentes do “negócio” comunicação de massa. É em função da complexidade desse processo e da importância dos meios de comunicação para o debate politico que este trabalho se propõe a analisar o comportamento de dois jornais diários com circulação no Estado do Paraná durante o período eleitoral de 2006. Parte-se do princípio que os meios de comunicação contribuem decisivamente para a formação da realidade política através do agendamento temático (McCombs e Shaw, 1972), em especial em seus espaços de maior visibilidade.

Diante da complexidade de tais fenômenos, é insuficiente pensar o noticiário apenas como resultado de processos de seleção de elementos dos temas sociais a partir de critérios próprios de noticiabilidade dos jornalistas. Deve-se considerar que a seleção e hierarquização das notícias nos jornais estão relacionadas a pelo menos duas dimensões complementares que coexistem na produção de mensagens em um sistema de comunicação social. Há uma dimensão informacional, ligada aos aspectos técnicos socializados dentre os que produzem e difundem informações por meios de comunicação de massa, mas também existe uma dimensão narrativa, que é o momento em que as informações ganham traços de histórias contadas ao público como forma de ajudar a compreender a realidade. Segundo Afonso Albuquerque, enquanto a dimensão informativa tenta retratar a realidade o mais fielmente possível, a dimensão narrativa recria uma história com o objetivo de torná-la mais próxima do consumidor. De acordo com ele, “a dimensão narrativa tende a ser identificada com uma traição aos princípios da objetividade jornalística, embora torne o fato social melhor compreendido” (Albuquerque, 2000 p. 74). Existem temas que são mais adequados a uma comunicação em que predomina a dimensão narrativa, normalmente dotada de grande apelo humano, enquanto para outros assuntos a dimensão informativa mostra-se mais evidente ao final do processo de produção e difusão do noticiário.

O reconhecimento da existência de duas dimensões narrativas em temas sociais retratados nos noticiários permite-nos agrupar as notícias em pelo menos dois grandes grupos. São as

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chamadas hard news, onde prevalece a dimensão informativa da objetividade técnica; e as soft news, com predomínio da dimensão narrativa, temas de interesse humano, com maior interferência do jornalista no tratamento dos fatos. Além das diferenças no formato das notícias, a caracterização de hard news a aproxima de temas com relevância social, enquanto as soft news não. A primeira pesquisadra a usar essa terminologia foi Gaye Tuchman (1978) ao pesquisar o noticiário norte-americano para o público feminino. Segundo Jorge Pedro Sousa, a divisão feita por Tuchman coloca de um lado as notícias “duras”, que respeitam a dimensão dos acontecimentos, enquanto as soft news são mais brandas, ligadas a ocorrências sem importância e difundidas quando interessa aos meios de comunicação (Sousa, 1999). Concordando com a caracterização anterior, Franciscato acrescenta que as hard news apresentam um caráter urgente e de importância enquanto as soft news são leves, agradáveis, sem o imperativo do tempo (Franciscato, 2005). Vários autores destacam o caráter comecial como um fator determinante para aparição das soft news. A comercialização do sistema de produção de notícias tem levado a um crescimento das informações com pouco conteúdo informativo, além de favorecer a produção de noticiários mais baratos (Nord, 2006).

Vale ressaltar que a distinção original entre hard e soft news deu-se em função da necessidade de caracterizar a produção jornalística para público masculino e feminino.

Inicialmente, as soft news eram designadas dessa forma por serem portadoras de algum “ângulo de abordagem feminino”, sendo leve, enquanto as hard news caracterizariam-se pelo relato de conflitos ou de violência (Harp, 2006). Essa distinção, evidente, carrega um caráter qualitativo, estabelecendo que as hard news são mais importantes para o debate público e, portanto, preferíveis, em um sistema de comunicação socialmente responsável. Bonner e McKay (2007) lembram como o elemento de gênero no discurso remete a uma distinção de valor das notícias.

Enquanto as soft news seriam sem conteúdos, usadas para a apresentação de temas com interesse humano e explorando relações pessoais com experiências emocionais, aproximando-se do universo feminino domestico; as hard news, em oposição, tratam de temas politicamente mais salientes (Bonner e McKay, 2007). Este trabalho não pretende dar continuidade à distinção entre hard e soft news para o público masculino e feminino, mas sim, transferir o conceito para o conjunto de temas abordados pelos jornais, como já feito por outros autores. É o caso de Donsbach, ao defender que a migração das soft news de espaços inicialmente dedicados às mulheres para todo o jornal é o resultado do que ele chama de “tabloidização do noticiário”.

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Considera que os repórteres sofrem pressões para tratar de temas específicos e em formatos atrativos, como a exploração do apelo humano, em função do interesse das audiências (Donsbach, 2006). Para fins de análise aqui, são considerados temas típicos de hard news aqueles relacionados ao debate social propriamente dito, tal como politico-eleitoral, temas sociais como saúde, educação, criminalidade, direitos de minorias, economia, etc. São as notícias encontradas normalmente no primeiro caderno e no caderno de Economia, onde os jornalistas têm menor liberdade individual para contar as histórias do que em outros espaços do noticiário. Os temas, definidos como soft news, são relacionados a celebridades (vida pública ou privada), histórias de entretenimento, esportes, variedades e cultura em geral. As editorias onde as soft news mais aparecem são esportes e cultura.

De acordo com Albuquerque (2000), as construções narrativas típicas de soft news conseguem se aproximar mais do cotidiano do público, com melhores condições para dar respostas plausíveis a questões difíceis. Ao aceitar essa afirmação e, considerando que os veículos de comunicação concorrem em um “mercado aberto” para atrair o maior número possível de consumidores às notícias, pode-se afirmar que existe uma possibilidade maior de encontrarmos chamadas relacionadas a soft news nas primeiras páginas do periódicos do que hard news.

Pesquisas a respeito de critérios de noticiabilidade e valores profissionais usados na definição dos temas que ocupam as primeiras páginas dos jornais não são recentes. O debate a este respeito conta com mais de quatro décadas na literatura internacional. Um dos primeiros trabalhos a se preocupar com o tema foi o de Galtung e Rugi (1965), ao analisar critérios de noticiabilidade em jornais noruegueses sobre crises internacionais. A partir de uma taxonomia que identificava os critérios de seleção das notícias, os autores chegaram à conclusão de que fatos sociais mais distantes do cotidiano do jornal são menos abordados na cobertura (Galtung e Rugi, 1965). Os resultados deles foram confirmados em estudos posteriores, inclusive quando aplicados aos critérios de seleção a temas que ganharam as primeiras páginas. Em 1981, Peterson concluiu, analisando a cobertura internacional em jornais britânicos, que os assuntos que conseguem se transformar em notícia apresentam dramaticidade, simplicidade, surpresa e algum elemento negativo ou conflituoso.

Em 2001 Harcup e O´neill partiram das variáveis utilizadas originalmente por Galtung e Rugi para identificar padrões de cobertura dos temas nacionais em três jornais britânicos. Ao

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adaptar a taxonomia original para toda a cobertura interna do País, os autores identificaram a existência de muitas notícias que surgem do que chamaram de pseudo-temas - criadas pelos próprios periódicos. Havia, muitas vezes, uma importância maior às histórias “adotadas” pelo jornal como fato importante do que a relevância do próprio evento social (Harcup e O´neill, 2001). Com isso, eles concluíram que o elemento selecionador do valor-notícia que mais aparece é entretenimento, seguido de referência à elite social. A partir da mesma metodologia de análise de conteúdo dos jornais, mas, em uma pesquisa específica sobre as primeiras páginas, Kress e van Leuwen (1986) apontaram a existência de regularidade na distribuição das informações nos diferentes espaços de visibilidade das capas de três jornais ingleses e australianos. Mostram que além da repetição de temas nas primeiras páginas, eles ocupam espaços físicos próprios, dependendo de suas características.

Por vezes apresentados como temas próximos do cotidiano; em outras, temas dotados de simplicidade, dramaticidade, conflito ou surpresa; ou mesmo ao serem tratadas de pseudohistórias, as conclusões das pesquisas citadas acima apontam para o mesmo caminho: a predominância de soft news na cobertura como um todo e, principalmente, em espaços de maior visibilidade dos jornais, como as capas dos jornais diários.

O conhecimento acumulado com pesquisas empíricas nas últimas quatro décadas sobre notícias produzidas em jornais impressos e ampliação conceitual dos elementos envolvidos nos processos de seleção e hierarquização dos temas na primeira página permite a adaptação de tal metodologia para periódicos brasileiros. Para isso, pretende-se aqui aplicar os conceitos de hard e soft news na produção jornalística de dois jornais de circulação regional do Estado do Paraná durante a disputa eleitoral de 2006 para o governo do Estado. A partir das seleções feitas pelos jornalistas sobre os temas das primeiras páginas destes jornais pode-se inferir se os periódicos cumpriram o papel esperado por Dahl (2005) como difusores de informações politicamente relevantes ou se ficaram restritos à reprodução de temas e formatos que reforçaram um mundo construído por notícias comerciais.

Ao tipo de noticiário produzido sobre temas de baixa relevância social ou sem referente no mundo real (pseudo-histórias adotadas pelos jornais, algumas vezes de maneira exclusiva como estratégia comercial), a pesquisadora Maria Luisa Humanes (2006) denomina “jornalismo rosa”. De maneira crítica, ela aponta como consequências do que chama de doença do jornalismo sem informações socialmente relevantes a queda no consumo de alguns jornais, redução da

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credibilidade na atividade jornalística como um todo e o enfraquecimento dos jornalistas frente aos interesses mais imediatos de fontes auto-interessadas na difusão de determinados aspectos da realidade. Para a autora, “uno de los signos más evidentes de la enfermedad es la confusion de la información con el entretenimiento o con el espetáculo” (HUMANES, 2006 p. 53). O predomínio do espetáculo sobre a informação socialmente relevante tem como consequência uma redução na qualidade das informações utilizadas no debate público, o que é especialmente danoso quando acontece em períodos eleitorais de intensa disputa política.

II.a - As eleições e os jornais paranaenses A eleição de 2006 para o governo do Paraná é um objeto de análise apropriado para a discussão do debate público em função da acirrada disputa por permitir testar a relevância social de temas selecionados para ocupar as primeiras páginas dos jornais diários em função do alto grau de concorrência política regional. Desde o início, a campanha ficou polarizada entre o então governador e candidato à reeleição pelo Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (PMDB), Roberto Requião; e o candidato oposicionista, senador pelo Partido Democrático Trabalhista (PDT), Osmar Dias. O cenário politico prévio à campanha eleitoral já chamava atenção para aquela disputa. De um lado, Roberto Requião tentava seu terceiro mandato como governador do Paraná. Tinha sido governador na primeira metade dos anos 90 (naquele período não era permitida a reeleição), tornou-se senador da república e em 2002 voltou a disputar o governo do Estado como principal candidato de oposição ao governo de Jaime Lerner (então no PFL).

Requião foi eleito e fez um primeiro mandato (2003 a 2006) marcado pela ruptura e transformação das principais políticas públicas estaduais adotadas nos oito anos anteriores. Em 2006, com altos indices de aprovação popular, candidatou-se à reeleição para o governo do Estado. Seu principal adversário era o senador Osmar Dias, que nem sempre esteve na oposição a Requião. Nos anos 90, antes de também se eleger senador da República, Osmar Dias tinha sido Secretário de Estado da Agricultura e Abastecimento no primeiro mandato de Requião. Durante a campanha eleitoral de 2006, Osmar Dias recebeu apoio das principais lideranças de oposição ao governo Requião, inclusive do ex-governador Jaime Lerner, o que gerou uma campanha eleitoral recheada de acusações de traição, enriquecimento ilícito e negação das origens políticas entre eles.

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Não bastassem as condições contextuais na relação política entre os dois principais concorrentes ao governo do Paraná, em 2006 os eleitores do Estado resolveram não transformar em votos a elevada aprovação do governador-candidato. Dados oficiais do Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (fonte: www.tse.gov.br) mostram que no primeiro turno a diferença em percentual de votos válidos dos dois candidatos ficou pouco acima dos quatro pontos percentuais, com Requião alcançando 42,8% dos votos válidos, contra 38,6% de Osmar Dias. Em números absolutos, a distância entre o primeiro e segundo colocados ficou abaixo de 300 mil votos em um universo total de quase seis milhões de eleitores que compareceram à votação. Como nenhum dos candidatos obteve maioria de votos no primeiro turno, a disputa entre os dois teve que ir a segundo turno, com votação no final de outubro de 2006. Mas, a grande surpresa ainda estava por vir.

Em uma concorrência acirrada do começo ao fim, com crescimento de Osmar Dias nas pesquisas eleitorais, ao final de três semanas de campanha do segundo turno, o governadorcandidato venceu o opositor pela menor diferernça já registrada em eleições para o governo do Paraná: 0,2% do total de votos válidos. Requião terminou com 50,1% de votos válidos, contra 49,9% de Osmar Dias. Em termos absolutos, o governador reeleito fez exatos 2.668.611 votos, contra 2.658.132 votos do senador oposicionista, o que resulta em 10.479 votos a mais em um universo de 5.326.743 votos válidos (fonte: www.tse.gov.br).

Vale lembrar que no Brasil as eleições para governo de Estado não são solteiras. Elas acontecem junto com a disputa para presidência da república e para renovação de parte do Senado Federal, dentre eleições majoritária, além de disputas proporcionais para Deputado Federal e Deputado Estadual em todas as unidades da federação. Em um cenário politico/eleitoral tão competitivo como este, é possível imaginar que jornais de circulação estadual tenham dado crescente importância para a disputa pelo governo estadual em suas páginas durante os meses de agosto a outubro de 2006. Considerando que os jornais são sensíveis aos debates públicos, eles devem ter reservado espaços com maior visibilidade, como a primeira página, ao tema eleitoral.

Os dois jornais selecionados para a análise da cobertura política neste trabalho são os mais tradicionais e de maior circulação do Paraná, caracterizando-se por uma cobertura majoritariamente regional. São eles a Gazeta do Povo e o jornal Estado do Paraná. Ambos sediados em Curitiba – capital do Estado.

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Fundado em 1919, a Gazeta do Povo é o mais antigo jornal diário com circulação regional no Paraná e também um dos maiores em número de exemplares impressos. Desde o início dos anos 90 vem passando por uma série de reformas gráficas e editoriais e, em todas elas, o argumento geral apresentado nas campanhas publicitárias é o mesmo: deixar o jornal mais agradável e moderno, dando mais comodidade ao leitor. Apesar de mudanças no padrão gráfico, a Gazeta do Povo manteve o formato standard americano de seus principais cadernos desde a criação. Nas últimas décadas a direção do jornal tem adotado uma linha editorial de isenção com respeito às ideologias politico/partidárias, buscando ao máximo a objetividade jornalística.

Apesar disso, existe uma “indisposição” pública entre os proprietários do jornal e o governador Roberto Requião, que nasceu quando este era senador da república (1995 a 2002). As disputas acirraram-se após a eleição de Requião para o governo do Estado, em 2002.

O jornal O Estado do Paraná é mais recente, tendo sido fundado em 1951. Ganhou impulso como jornal de abrangência estadual em 1960, quando foi comprado pelo empresário e politico Paulo Pimentel, que veio a ser eleito governador estadual cinco anos depois. Desde então, o Estado do Paraná é um jornal envolvido diretamente com temas políticos locais e em muitos momentos faz questão de se posicionar publicamente em favor ou contra determinadas políticas públicas. Em 2002, Paulo Pimentel candidatou-se a senador federal na coligação do PMDB, que tinha como candidato ao governo, Roberto Requião. Não tendo conseguido se eleger, Pimentel ocupou o cargo de presidente da Companhia de Energia Elétrica do Paraná (Copel), empresa pública estadual, reportando-se diretamente ao governador Requião. No final de 2005, por conta das opções de coligações partidárias que estavam sendo feitas por Requião, o proprietário do jornal Estado do Paraná afastou-se do governo e, na sequência, tornou-se desafeto público do governador. Em 2006 o jornal O Estado do Paraná também passou por uma reformulação gráfico/editorial que alterou inclusive o seu formato, passando de standard americano a berliner, que fica entre o padrão standard e o tablóide tradicional. O formato berliner também é conhecido como tablóide europeu. Outra característica do Estado do Paraná é ser de circulação diária, porém, em seis dias da semana, visto que não há edição às segundas-feiras.

Os dois jornais apresentam elementos constitutivos semelhantes e, ao mesmo tempo, trajetórias distintas. Ambos têm se dedicado nos últimos anos a uma atualização gráfica e editorial que visa atender, principalmente, demandas comerciais, ou seja, para maior aceitação do público regional. As grandes reformas editoriais são dirigidas por pesquisas de mercado que, por

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certo, também ajudam a moldar os conteúdos e formatos dos textos jornalísticos produzidos nos veículos que têm o mesmo objetivo: ganhar mais espaço no mercado consumidor. Porém, a postura editorial frente aos temas politicos é distinta entre eles. Enquanto a Gazeta do Povo prefere não se envolver de maneira declarada e institucional com governo ou governantes, o Estado do Paraná, em função da atividade política de seu proprietário, tem maior dificuldade em se afastar institucionalmente da esfera do governo regional. Apesar disso, em 2006 tanto a Gazeta do Povo quanto o Estado do Paraná posicionavam-se de maneira crítica ao então governador, que concorria à reeleição.

Considerando o cenário conjuntural descrito até aqui, no próximo tópico serão analisados os padrões de seleção do tema Eleição nas primeiras páginas da Gazeta do Povo e do Estado do Paraná durante os meses de agosto a outubro de 2006, ou seja, ao longo da campanha eleitoral daquele ano. O objetivo é identificar se os jornais dão destaque em suas capas para a disputa eleitoral regional e nacional, aqui consideradas temas que geram hard news. A fim de comparação, também será analisado o espaço destinado, no mesmo período, pelos dois jornais, para as chamadas de primeira página sobre temas de Variedades, que reúne assuntos como histórias envolvendo celebridades, notíciais sobre esportes, agenda cultural, ou seja, temas de menor relevância para o debate público: soft news.

III. ANÁLISE DOS RESULTADOS A análise feita a partir daqui diz respeito exclusivamente aos textos noticiosos das primeiras páginas do jornal Gazeta do Povo e do jornal Estado do Paraná durante o período de 1º de agosto de 2006 a 30 de outubro de 2006. No caso da Gazeta, que é editada sete dias por semana, foram incluídas 90 edições. Já o Estado do Paraná teve 76 edições no mesmo período por circular em seis dias da semana. Nas páginas analisadas não foram considerados os elementos gráficos, textuais e imagéticos relacionados a anúncios ou informes publicitários. Para classificar as chamadas na primeira página busca-se identificar o tipo de entrada, a localização na página e o tema geral a que ela se refere.

As chamadas de primeira página estão divididas em seis formatos para escalonar de maneira decrescente a importância dada pelo jornal. São eles em ordem decrescente de visibilidade: manchete com foto, manchete sem foto, chamada com foto, chamada sem foto, foto-

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legenda e chamada-título. Considera-se, aqui, para fins de análise, que cada edição tem apenas uma manchete, identificada pelo título de maior destaque na página. Se a foto principal da página estiver relacionada ao tema do título de maior destaque, registra-se como Manchete com Foto. Se não, tem-se uma Manchete Sem Foto na edição. Nesse caso, a foto principal passa a estar relacionada, na maioria das vezes, a uma chamada secundária, que é considerada como Chamada com Foto. Textos que possuem título e uma breve apresentação do assunto, sem ilustração, são condificados como Chamada sem Foto. As entradas em que existe uma foto com o texto da legenda trazendo mais informações que a simples descrição da foto, porém, sem chegar a ser autônomo, são codificados como Foto-legenda. As chamadas compostas por apenas uma frase, com tipologia mais próxima de títulos do que dos textos, classificam-se como Chamada-Título.

Quanto aos conteúdos dos textos, a variável Tema Geral visa identificar o assunto que deu origem à notícia. Os temas estão divididos em nove categorias, considerando-se o que predomina em cada um, ou seja, cada entrada só pode apresentar um tema. Caso haja mais de um, mantémse o registro do tema predominante. Apenas dois temas serão utilizados nas análises aqui. São eles: 1) Eleição, quando o texto trata da disputa de presidente da república, governador, senador, deputado federal e estadual; e 2) Variedades e Esportes, reúnem todas as chamadas que dizem respeito a atividades de lazer, assuntos relacionados à cultura e esportes, além de personalidades do mundo artístico, cultural e esportivo.6 Há também uma variável que indica se a disputa eleitoral é Regional, no caso de governador, ou Nacional no caso da chamada ser a respeito da eleição para presidente da república. Para todas as chamadas de primeira página consta também o tamanho em centímetros quadrados (cm2).

III.a - Séries temporais de temas nas primeiras páginas A análise começa com testes estatísticos a respeito da série temporal para presença dos temas Eleição e Variedades nas primeiras páginas da Gazeta do Povo e Estado do Paraná. São apresentados os gráficos de tendência temporal para o número de vezes em que cada tema é citado e, em seguida, testes estatísticos próprios para séries temporais verificam do impacto de

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Os demais temas classificados foram político-institucional, economia, social, infra-estrutura e meio ambiente, violência e segurança, ético-moral, internacional e outro. Como se vê, outros temas próprios de hard news foram excluídos da análise.

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algumas variáveis externas na dinâmica de ocupação dos espaços nas primeiras páginas, principalmente o turno da disputa e se é domingo ou outro dia da semana. A hipótese a ser testada é que se os jornais derem importância às eleições, dedicarão mais espaço na primeira página para o tema no segundo turno em relação ao primeiro por conta da proximidade do fim da campanha e pela polarização na disputa. Além disso, se for importante para os jornais, eles tenderão a aumentar o espaço das chamadas de primeira página sobre eleições nas edições de domingo, quando a circulação é chega a ser cinco vezes maior que nos demais dias da semana, segundo informações fornecidas pelos próprios periódicos. Como os dois jornais possuem dimensões distintas (standard e belinder), serão testadas como variáveis dependentes ao longo do tempo o percentual do total de cm2 ocupado nas capas de cada periódico pelas chamadas sobre Eleições e Variedades. Assim, é possível comparar a Gazeta do Povo e o Estado do Paraná diretamente.

Seguindo a observação feita por Boef e Keele (2008) a respeito de falhas nas análises de séries temporais por cientistas políticos7, esse trabalho não pretende aprofundar a verificação ao longo do tempo e muito menos espera a partir dos resultados ter condições de fazer predições futuras sobre a ocupação de espaços nas primeiras páginas. O objetivo aqui é testar a possível intervenção de variáveis exógenas na ocupação de espaços nas primeiras páginas dos jornais pelos temas Eleições e Variedades ao longo do período eleitoral de 2006.

O gráfico 1 a seguir mostra a série histórica do número de chamadas por primeira página em cada edição durante os três meses de análise para os temas Eleição e Variedades na Gazeta do Povo e Estado do Paraná. Através dos gráficos não é possível indicar uma tendência clara, embora fique evidente que o número de chamadas sobre variedades em cada jornal é maior que o número de chamadas sobre Eleição, pelo menos na maioria das edições analisadas. No caso da Gazeta do Povo a diferença fica mais destacada, em especial na segunda quinzena de setembro.

Também deixa claro que a Gazeta do Povo apresenta, nos três meses, um número maior de

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Os autores apresentam três principais problemas nas análises temporais feitas normalmente por cientistas políticos: primeiro, há uma tendência em adotar especificações restritivas com base em orientação teórica, mas, sem evidência empírica de validade. Segundo, é comum ligar o conceito teórico de equilíbrio com existência de cointegração e uso de modelos de correção de erro, o que impede a derivação de condições típicas de equilíbrio, quando o que se deve fazer é o contrário. Terceiro, as inferências são limitadas aos efeitos de curto prazo e a interpretação segue a de um modelo estático onde uma possibilidade de mudança da unidade em X conduz a uma mudança prevista em Y (no tempo t), assim, os analistas não interpretam efeitos de longo prazo das variáveis exógenas sobre a dependente, entre outras coisas.

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chamadas sobre variedades do que o Estado do Paraná. Além disso, nos dois periódicos é possível perceber a existência de ciclos curtos, provavelmente em períodos semanais, de aumento e decréscimo no número de chamadas sobre Eleição. Isso pode indicar um padrão de cobertura vinculado a alguns dias da semana que será testado mais adiante.

Gráf. 1 – Séries temporais por tema Eleição/Campanha e Variedades Gazeta do Povo

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0,00 010611162126310510152025300611162126AUG- AUG- AUG- AUG- AUG- AUG- AUG- SEP- SEP- SEP- SEP- SEP- SEP- OCT- OCT- OCT- OCT- OCT06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06

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data da edição

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Série temporal do nº de chamadas ao dia por tema Campanha eleitoral na primeira página O Estado do Paraná 14,00

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data da edição

01- 06- 11- 16- 20- 25- 30- 03- 08- 13- 17- 22- 27- 01- 06- 11- 17- 21- 26AUG- AUG- AUG- AUG- AUG- AUG- AUG- SEP- SEP- SEP- SEP- SEP- SEP- OCT- OCT- OCT- OCT- OCT- OCT06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06 06

data da edição

Série temporal do nº de chamadas ao dia por tema Variedades na primeira página Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

Os outputs a seguir mostram resultados de testes para impacto de três variáveis independentes sobre o percentual de espaço ocupado pelo tema eleição na primeira página do jornal Estado do Paraná. São elas: a diferença de turno (primeiro ou segundo); se é domingo ou outro dia da semana; e um fator auto-regressivo de ordem 1 (de primeiras diferenças). Além disso, o pacote estatístico Eviews, utilizado na análise, inclui uma quarta variável, que é a Constante. No output 1, a Estatística F em 10,83 (bem acima de 3,0) e a Prob. da estatística F em

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0,000 indicam que o modelo de série temporal apresenta alguma relação significativa entre as variáveis. Além disso, a Estatística Durbin-Watson em 1,94, muito próximo de 2,0, mostra que não há dependência temporal entre os valores (isso também pode ser percebido na falta de significância estatística nos resultados auto-regressivos – AR1 em 0,080). As estatísticas indicam que é possível ler os resultados por variável exógena, visto que o modelo é significativo.

Quanto aos efeitos individuais das variáveis independentes sobre o percentual de espaço ao tema Eleição, percebe-se que nas primeiras páginas do Estado do Paraná existe um crescimento significativo desse percentual no segundo turno em relação ao primeiro (Coeficiente de 19,84 e Prob. 0,000). Também há crescimento significativo dos percentuais de Eleição na primeira página do jornal nas edições dominicais em relação aos demais dias da semana (Coeficiente de 9,85 e Prob. 0,054). Já o coeficiente auto-regressivo não se mostra estatisticamente significativo (Coeficiente 0,19 e Prob. 0,080). O gráfico ao final do Output 1 indica que há uma mudança brusca e permanente nos percentuais na passagem do primeiro para o segundo turno. Percebem-se também alterações cíclicas e temporárias ao longo de todo o período, o que indica o efeito da edição de domingo sobre os percentuais de chamadas sobre a Eleição nas primeiras páginas do jornal.

Output 1 – Testes para presença do tema Eleição na primeira página do Estado do Paraná Variável Dependente: Percentual tema Eleição Estado do Paraná Método: Least Squares Observações: 75 Convergência antes de 6 interações Variável

Coeficiente

Erro padrão

t-Statistic

Prob,

C TURNO DOMINGO AR(1)

19,71486 19,84182 9,854617 0,194703

2,897817 4,913730 5,058850 0,110181

6,803348 4,038037 1,947996 1,767122

0,0000 0,0001 0,0547 0,0808

R-squared Adjusted R-squared S,E, of regression Sum squared resid Log likelihood Durbin-Watson stat

0,276605 0,251074 17,61875 26385,73 -379,5770 1,940193

Inverted AR Roots

Mean dependent var S,D, dependent var Akaike info criterion Schwarz criterion F-statistic Prob(F-statistic) ,19

27,52974 20,35896 8,619707 8,731556 10,83385 0,000004

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100 80 60 40 20

60

0

40 20 0 -20 -40 2006:09 Residual

Actual

2006:10 Fitted

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

O modelo composto pelas mesmas variáveis, aplicado à primeira página do jornal Gazeta do Povo (output 2), mostra-se similar ao do Estado do Paraná. Com estatística F de 6,24 e prob. da estatística F em 0,000, apresentando alto nível de bondade. Além disso, a estatística DurbinWatson está muito próxima de 2 (1,95), demonstrando baixo impacto do passado sobre o futuro.

Quanto as variáveis independentes, percebe-se um crescimento no percentual ocupado da primeira página com o tema Eleição no segundo turno em relação ao primeiro (coeficiente de 7,32 e Prob. de 0,001). Nenhuma das outras variáveis apresenta impacto estatisticamente significativo. Nem mesmo domingo, o que indica uma diferença em relação à série temporal do Estado do Paraná. A manutenção dos percentuais de espaço ocupado na primeira página da Gazeta do Povo, inclusive aos domingos, fica evidente no gráfico do Output 2, no qual aparece apenas uma mudança permanente durante a transição do primeiro para o segundo turno.

Output 2 – Resultados para tema Eleição na primeira página da Gazeta do Povo Variável dependente: Percentual tema Eleição Gazeta do Povo Método: Least Squares Observações: 89 Convergência antes de 7 interações Variável

Coeficiente

Erro padrão

t-Statistic

Prob,

C TURNO DOMINGO AR(1)

8,463937 7,323721 2,925939 0,154327

1,312282 2,220549 2,427524 0,108337

6,449783 3,298158 1,205318 1,424507

0,0000 0,0014 0,2314 0,1580

R-squared Adjusted R-squared

0,180681 0,151764

Mean dependent var S,D, dependent var

11,23511 9,061359

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S,E, of regression Sum squared resid Log likelihood Durbin-Watson stat

8,345490 5920,012 -313,0724 1,958945

Akaike info criterion Schwarz criterion F-statistic Prob(F-statistic)

Inverted AR Roots

7,125222 7,237071 6,248218 0,000695

,15 50 40 30 20

30

10

20

0

10 0 -10 -20 2006:09 Residual

Actual

2006:10 Fitted

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

Os resultados de séries temporais indicam um comportamento dos jornais regionais condizentes com a hipótese de que os periódicos agendaram a disputa eleitoral para o debate público a partir do crescimento da presença do tema eleições de 2006 nas primeiras páginas durante o segundo turno em relação ao início da disputa. Porém, as opções editoriais em relação à disputa política são feitas de forma distinta. No Estado do Paraná o impacto da mudança de turno é maior que na Gazeta do Povo (coeficiente de 19,84 contra 7,32 da Gazeta). Além disso, no Estado do Paraná há uma diferença significativa na presença do tema Eleição aos domingos, independente do turno eleitoral, quando comparado aos demais dias da semana. O mesmo não acontece com a Gazeta do Povo.

III.b Diferenças na tematização das primeiras páginas Outra maneira de verificar o impacto do tempo, ao longo de todo o período de análise, na ocupação da primeira página pelos temas Eleição e Variedades é através das diferenças de primeira ordem dos cm2. Como as diferenças de primeira ordem para o número de chamadas não é estatisticamente significativa para os dois jornais, para a próxima análise será usado cm2 em

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lugar do número de ocorrências. Por esse método, subtrai-se o valor encontrado em determinado momento do tempo (t1) pelo valor no tempo anterior (t0). Aqui, trata-se de verificar os cm2 ocupados pelo tema em um dia, menos os cm2 ocupados na primeira página do dia anterior. Se a média das diferenças de primeira ordem ao longo do período analisado for zero, significa que não houve mudança dos espaços ocupados no final em relação ao início do período. Se for positiva, mostra que ao longo do tempo o espaço destinado ao tema cresceu. Ao contrário, se negativa, houve uma redução da presença do tema nas primeiras páginas durante o período.

O output 3, a seguir, sumariza as principais estatísticas dos espaços ocupados pelos temas Eleição e Variedades nas primeiras páginas dos dois jornais, divididos por turno da eleição.

Todos os valores são positivos, o que significa que houve um crescimento em centímetros ocupados pelos temas no período analisado. Porém, há diferenças entre as magnitudes por jornal.

Para a Gazeta do Povo, a média das diferenças de primeira ordem do tema Eleição no primeiro turno ficou em 7,11, contra 2,32 no segundo turno. Já no Estado do Paraná aconteceu o contrário, a média das diferenças de primeira ordem para o primeiro turno foi baixa (2,40), contra 27,4 no segundo turno. Isso significa que no segundo turno o tema Eleição ganhou mais espaço nas capas do Estado do Paraná do que na Gazeta do Povo, porporcionalmente, como a análise temporal anterior já havia apontado.

Output 3 – Diferenças de primeira ordem para ocupação em cm2 nas primeiras páginas Diferenças de primeira ordem em cm2 por edição, considerando a periodicidade semanal.

Tema Nº casos Eleição Média dif. cm2 Desvio Padrão Soma dif. cm2 Tema Nº casos Variedades Média dif. cm2 Desvio Padrão Soma dif. cm2

Gazeta do Povo Primeiro Segundo turno turno 61 27 7,11 2,32 174,98 205,33 434,14 62,75 59 27 7,44 2,66 258,33 237,25 439,28 72

Estado do Paraná Primeiro Segundo turno turno 52 22 2,40 27,46 160,51 251,49 125,20 604,27 52 22 8,88 5,09 134,62 203,76 462,16 112,14

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

Se considerarmos que o formato berlinder do Estado do Paraná é cerca de um quarto menor que o standard da Gazeta do Povo, as diferença reais tornam-se ainda mais evidentes. As somas das diferenças de primeira ordem comprovam isso. Na Gazeta do Povo ela foi de 434,14 no primeiro turno, contra apenas 62,75 no segundo, enquanto que para o Estado do Paraná foi de 125,2 no primeiro turno, contra 604, 27 no segundo (cf. output 3).

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Apesar da constatação do crescimento da presença do tema Eleição ao longo do período nas primeiras páginas dos jornais, saber qual o percentual de ocupação da capa ao longo do tempo com o tema Eleição não é suficiente para indicar os padrões de seleção de temas socialmente relevantes nos jornais. É preciso identificar se além de ganhar importância no segundo turno as chamadas sobre a disputa eleitoral predominam quando comparadas a temas de menor relevância social. Para tanto, a partir de agora as primeiras páginas dos jornais não serão mais analisadas ao longo do tempo, mas sim através de comparações entre os espaços ocupados por Eleição (hard news) e por Variedades, que representam as chamadas de soft news. Aqui, a hipótese a ser testada é se o espaço ocupado nas capas pelas chamadas sobre as eleições é maior que o do temas Variedades. A existência de diferenças na visibilidade desses dois temas é importante para estabelecer o papel dos jornais nos debates políticos.

Tab. 1 – Distribuição do Número de Chamadas na Primeira Página por Tema Período: agosto a outubro – 2006 Nº Edições Média de Chamadas/edição Desvio Padrão Total de Chamadas

Gazeta do Povo Eleição Variedades 90 90 2,18 5,24 1,43 2,39 197 472

Estado do Paraná Eleição Variedades 76 76 3,65 4,11 1,19 1,28 278 313

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

As primeiras páginas dos dois jornais contaram com um número maior de chamadas sobre temas de variedades do que sobre campanha política durante a disputa eleitoral para o governo do Estado. Conforme mostra a Tab. 1, enquanto na Gazeta do Povo houve 197 chamadas de primeira página sobre política em 90 edições, totalizando uma média de 2,18 chamadas por edição; no mesmo período o tema variedades totalizou 472 chamadas, o que representa uma média por edição de 5,24 chamadas. Portanto, na Gazeta do Povo durante o período eleitoral houve cerca de duas vezes e meia a mais de chamadas de Variedades do que sobre a disputa política. No jornal Estado do Paraná, em 76 edições entre agosto e outubro, foram 278 chamadas de primeira página sobre campanha eleitoral, contra 313 de Variedades. Isso representa 1,2 chamadas de variedades para cada texto a respeito da campanha eleitoral. Apesar de a diferença ser menor neste jornal em relação à Gazeta do Povo, ainda assim o Estado do Paraná apresenta uma média de 3,65 chamadas sobre a campanha eleitoral por edição, contra 4,11 sobre variedades (ver tab. 1).

A similaridade entre as primeiras páginas dos dois jornais está no fato de ambos selecionarem mais temas relacionados a Variedades (soft news) em relação à campanha eleitoral

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(hard news) para suas capas8. No entanto, há uma diferença nos padrões de seleção. Como o número de edições no mesmo período varia o total de chamadas não é um indicador confiável para representar as distinções. Portanto, olhando para o número médio de chamadas por dia nos dois jornais, percebe-se que em O Estado do Paraná há um número maior de chamadas sobre as eleições do que na Gazeta do Povo por dia (3,65 contra 2,18); ao mesmo tempo, o Estado do Paraná apresenta um número médio menor de chamadas sobre variedades (4,11) em sua primeira página do que a Gazeta do Povo (5,24). Ou seja, embora exista um padrão de concessão de maior espaço para temas de Variedades em relação à disputa eleitoral nos dois jornais, o Estado do Paraná mantém em sua capa um número maior de chamadas sobre as eleições do que a Gazeta do Povo.

Como já indicado anteriormente, os dois jornais possuem formatos distintos. Enquanto a Gazeta do Povo é impressa no formato standard americano, o Estado do Paraná tem o formato tablóide europeu, o que permite dizer que as distintas dimensões podem esconder diferenças reais quanto ao número de chamadas nas capas. Por conta disso, a tabela 2, a seguir, mostra as estatísticas de medidas de tendência central e de dispersão em centímetros quadrados ocupados por chamadas dos dois temas Eleição e Variedades, nos periódicos. Até aqui ficou demonstrado que o jornal com o formato menor (tablóide europeu ou berliner) apresentou um número médio de chamadas sobre a campanha eleitoral na primeira página maior que o jornal com o formato maior (standard americano).

Tab.2 – Principais estatísticas Chamadas por Tema e Turno eleitoral Primeiro turno (agosto e setembro 2006) Segundo turno (outubro 2006)

Nº de Chamadas Média cm2 Desvio Padrão Soma cm2 Nº de Chamadas Média cm2 Desvio Padrão Soma cm2

Gazeta do Povo Eleição Variedades 125 336 74,87 58,86 100,75 82,24 9.358 19.776 72 136 111,14 73,78 127,34 100,41 8.002 10.035

Estado do Paraná Eleição Variedades 177 212 55,20 57,30 68,41 47,41 9.770 12.148 101 101 81 54,81 117,66 55,96 8.181 5.536

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

8

Isso não significa que haja, necessariamente, mais soft news que hard news nas primeiras páginas dos jornais, pois conforme indicado antes outros temas tipos de hard news não foram incluídos na análise.

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Os resultados apontados na tabela acima reforçam os “achados” anteriores em relação ao comportamento dos dois jornais quanto à ocupação da primeira página com chamadas relacionadas à disputa eleitoral. Os dados foram divididos em primeiro e segundo turnos para indicar a existência de possíveis mudanças no período relativo ao segundo turno (outubro de 2006) quanto ao primeiro turno (agosto e setembro de 2006). A tabela 2 mostra que apesar de ter menos espaço absoluto, visto que o formato tablóide europeu é cerca de um quarto menor que o standard americano, o Estado do Paraná dedicou mais centímetros quadrados para chamadas sobre as eleições do que a Gazeta do Povo nos dois períodos. No primeiro turno foram 9,7 mil cm2 no Estado do Paraná contra 9,3 mil cm2 na Gazeta do Povo, enquanto no segundo turno foram 8,1 mil cm2 no Estado do Paraná contra 8 mil cm2 na Gazeta do Povo. Esses valores próximos precisam ser relativizados pela distinção entre os espaços totais das páginas.

Vale ressaltar que a diferença em favor do Estado do Paraná deve-se ao número de chamadas, visto que a tamanho médio das chamadas em cada jornal indica uma vantagem para a Gazeta do Povo no tema eleições – provavelmente também causado pela variação nas dimensões totais das páginas. No primeiro turno, o tamanho médio das chamadas sobre a disputa eleitoral na Gazeta do Povo ficou em 74,8 cm2 contra 55,2 cm2 no Estado do Paraná. Já no segundo turno, a média na Gazeta do Povo foi de 111,1 cm2 por chamada sobre a eleição, contra 81 cm2 no Estado do Paraná. Ou seja, o Estado do Paraná “chamou” mais vezes disputa eleitoral em sua primeira página, porém, em espaços menores. A diferença, que fica entre 25% e 30% entre os dois jornais, equivale aproximadamente aos distintos espaços absolutos nos formatos dos jornais. De qualquer maneira, se considerarmos que o primeiro turno engloba dois meses de edições e o segundo turno apenas um mês, percebe-se um crescimento absoluto no espaço dedicado ao tema Eleições nas primeiras páginas dos dois jornais. Na Gazeta foram 9,3 mil cm2 em dois meses do primeiro turno contra 8 mil cm2 em um único mês do segundo turno. No Estado do Paraná foram 9,7 mil cm2 em dois meses de primeiro turno, contra 8,1 mil cm2 no único mês do segundo turno.

Quanto às chamadas de Variedades, os números se invertem. Na Gazeta do Povo há ocupação de 19,7 mil cm2 entre agosto e setembro com Variedades, contra 12,1 mil cm2 no Estado do Paraná no mesmo período. Quanto a média de cm2 por chamada neste período, existe uma proximidade entre eles, com 58,8 cm2 para a Gazeta do Povo, contra 57,3 cm2 para o Estado do Paraná. No segundo turno, as diferenças entre os dois jornais ficam mais evidentes. Na Gazeta do Povo são 10 mil cm2 ocupados com Variedades contra 5,5 mil cm2 no Estado do Paraná. Na

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comparação sobre os espaços de Variedades nos dois períodos (primeiro e segundo turnos), percebe-se um crescimento relativo do tema na primeira página da Gazeta do Povo no segundo turno, com 10 mil cm2, contra 19,7 mil nos dois meses do primeiro turno. Já no caso do Estado do Paraná, houve um decréscimo relativo de 12,1 mil cm2 no primeiro turno para 5,5 mil cm2 no segundo turno.

Para confirmar as diferenças relativas de espaços destinados ao tema Eleições em dois jornais com tamanhos distintos, como é o caso, a partir daqui faz-se uma análise por percentual de página ocupado por chamados sobre Eleições e Variedades na Gazeta do Povo e Estado do Paraná. Com isso, é possível ter maior precisão comparativa, já consideradas as diferenças em tamanhos absolutos dos jornais. Além das distribuições percentuais de ocupação da capa em todo o período analisado, a Tabela 3 também indica o número de edições em que houve pelo menos uma chamada sobre Eleições e uma sobre Variedades.

Tab. 3 – Percentuais de ocupação da primeira página por Tema e Jornal Gazeta do Povo Eleição Variedades 11,25 18,39 9,42 12,54 81 (90,0) 88 (97,7)

O Estado do Paraná Eleição Variedades 26,99 23,53 20,59 14,15 76 (100) 76 (100)

Primeiro Turno Média 1-ago a 30 set Desvio Padrão 60 dias Gazeta Nº de edições 52 dias Estado

8,72 7,63 55 (91,6)

18,02 12,21 60 (100,0)

21,13 15,10 52 (100)

22,72 11,44 52 (100)

Segundo Turno Média 1-out a 30 out, Desvio Padrão 30 dias Gazeta Nº de edições 24 dias Estado

16,59 10,69 26 (86,6)

19,19 13,41 28 (93,3)

39,69 25,11 24 (100)

25,28 18,92 24 (100)

+ 7,87

+ 1,17 + 1,2 (- 6,7)

+ 18,56 + 10,01 (0,0)

+ 2,56 + 7,48 (0,0)

Todo Período 1-Ago a 30 out 90 dias Gazeta 76 dias Estado

Diferença

Média Desvio Padrão Nº de edições

Média

2º Turno Desvio Padrão + 3,06 para Nº de edições (- 6,0) 1º Turno Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

O padrão de seleção de temas para ocuparem a primeira página dos jornais mostra-se distinto nos dois casos em análise. Para o tema Eleições, os percentuais médios de ocupação da primeira página na Gazeta do Povo ficam em torno da metade dos percentuais do Estado do Paraná em todo o período. Além disso, quanto ao número de edições durante o período, o Estado do Paraná apresenta chamadas a respeito da disputa eleitoral em todas elas (100%), enquanto a Gazeta do Povo tem chamadas sobre as eleições em 91,6% das edições do primeiro turno e em 86,6% no segundo turno. Há, novamente, no caso da Gazeta do Povo, menos espaço de primeria

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página dedicado à disputa eleitoral durante o segundo turno, quando comparado com o primeiro em relação ao Estado do Paraná. Em Variedades, os percentuais ficam muito próximos entre os dois jornais para todo o período (12,5% na Gazeta do Povo contra 14,1% no Estado do Paraná).

Também nota-se a presença desse tema nas primeiras páginas de todas as edições do Estado do Paraná no período analisado, contra 97,7% das primeiras páginas da Gazeta do Povo – mais que os 90% de presença do tema Eleições na primeira página do último jornal.

Os gráficos Boxplot a seguir ilustram as diferenças nos espaços ocupados por chamadas de primeira página sobre as eleições de 2006 nos dois jornais. Fica claro que há um crescimento no tamanho das chamadas a respeito das disputas no segundo turno em relação ao primeiro, como mostram as imagens: crescem as medianas e as amplitudes.

Gráf. 2 – Boxplot para cm2 das chamadas sobre eleições Gazeta do Povo

O Estado do Paraná

800,00

cm2_eleição

600,00

400,00

200,00

0,00 primeiro turno

segundo turno

primeiro turno

segundo turno

turno da eleição

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

O gráfico 3, a seguir, indica as tendências de ocupação de espaços nas primeiras páginas por chamadas sobre o tema variedades nos dois jornais, reforçando algumas diferenças entre eles.

A Gazeta do Povo apresenta uma ocupação em cm2 ao longo do período analisado muito maior que o Estado do Paraná. Quando comparado ao gráfico 2, torna-se evidente que na Gazeta do Povo há uma similaridade entre os espaços ocupados pelos temas Eleições e Variedades nas primeiras páginas, enquanto que no Estado do Paraná, em especial no segundo turno, predominam os espaços ocupados pelo tema eleições sobre o tema variedades. Como é de se

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esperar, não há grandes distinções quanto aos espaços ocupados pelo tema variedades em relação aos turnos eleitorais, indicando certa “independência” entre a seleção dos temas para a primeira página. Em outras palavras, não se percebe uma relação direta e inversa entre o crescimento do tema eleições na primeira página levando e redução do tema variedades. Pode-se considerar que as soft news que ganham as primeiras páginas não cedem espaço às chamadas sobre hard news a respeito da disputa eleitoral. Isso leva-nos a crer que o crescimento nos espaços dedicados ao tema eleições nas primeiras páginas dos jornais está relacionado a uma redução nas chamadas de outros temas socialmente relevantes.

Gráf. 3 – Boxplot para cm2 das chamadas sobre Variedades Gazeta do Povo

O Estado do Paraná

800,00

cm2_variedades

600,00

400,00

200,00

0,00 primeiro turno

segundo turno

primeiro turno

segundo turno

turno da eleição

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

O teste de correlação de Spearman, indicado para mensurar o grau de relação entre as mudanças de duas variáveis, sendo uma delas categórica, permitirá quantificar os efeitos das mudanças de turno (primeiro ou segundo) e de mês (agosto, setembro ou outubro) para o espaço ocupado por chamadas de temas Eleição e Variedades nas primeiras páginas dos dois jornais. A descrição dos resultados até aqui mostrou que o Estado do Paraná deu mais espaço para as eleições em sua primeira página que a Gazeta do Povo e que no Estado do Paraná o tema ganhou maior relevância comparativa no período final da cobertura.

A Tabela 4 demonstra que no caso da Gazeta do Povo, tanto o tema Eleições quanto Variedades, a serem correlacionados com as variáveis independentes “Turno” e “Mês” da

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cobertura, não indicam nenhuma correlação estatisticamente significativa, pois todos os níveis de significância ficam acima do limite aceitável de 0,050. É verdade que o nível de significância da correlação entre cm2 do tema Eleição por turno na Gazeta do Povo fica muito próximo do limite aceitável ao nível de 95% (0,059). Já no caso do Estado do Paraná, há um impacto de 39,6% (coef. 0,396) positivos na presença do tema Eleições quando comparado o primeiro com o segundo turno. O mesmo fenômeno é indicado quando a variável é correlacionada com o mês da cobertura, gerando um coeficiente de 40,1% positivos, ou seja, ao entrar no segundo turno tende a crescer o espaço destinado às eleições na primeira página do jornal. Existe também um aumento do espaço destinado ao tema Variedades, quando correlacionado ao mês da cobertura em Estado do Paraná na ordem de 32,5% (coef. 0,325).

Tab. 4 – Coeficientes de Correlação entre Temas por Turno e Mês de Cobertura Gazeta do Povo

Eleição cm2 Variedades cm2

Estado do Paraná

Eleição cm2 Variedades cm2

COEF, (Spearman) NÍVEL DE SIG. COEF, (Spearman) NÍVEL DE SIG. COEF, (Spearman) NÍVEL DE SIG, COEF, (Spearman) NÍVEL DE SIG,

Gazeta do Povo Turno Mês 0,200 0,146 0,059 0,170 - 0,068 - 0,006 0,524 0,953

Estado do Paraná Turno Mês

0,396** 0,000 0,200 0,083

0,401 ** 0,000 0,325 ** 0,004

** Correlação significativa ao nível de 0,01 Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

Além do impacto das variáveis independentes Turno e Mês, ao correlacionar o espaço ocupado por chamadas de tema Eleições com Variedades em cada jornal, pode-se identificar se existe algum padrão relacionando as duas temáticas. Por exemplo, é possível que o maior espaço de Variedades esteja relacionado com a redução de cm2 para o tema Eleição. Nesse caso, a correlação seria estatisticamente significativa e o sinal do coeficiente, negativo. Acontece que para os dois jornais as correlações não são estatisticamente significativas. Na Gazeta do Povo o coeficiente de Pearson é de -0,160, com nível de significância de 0,155. No Estado do Paraná o coeficiente é -0,032, com nível de significância de 0,785. Ambos ficam muito acima do valor crítico aceitável, o que indica que a presença de um tema na primeira página dos jornais não “toma espaço” do outro.

Até aqui, os resultados indicam que os dois principais jornais do Paraná deram menos espaço nas primeiras páginas de suas edições durante a campanha eleitoral para o tema Eleição

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do que para Variedades. Comparando os dois jornais, o Estado do Paraná destinou proporcionalmente mais espaço para as eleições que a Gazeta do Povo. A presença do tema na primeira página do Estado do Paraná cresceu no segundo turno em relação ao primeiro. A mesma correlação não foi significativa para a Gazeta do Povo, indicando que o aumento ao longo do tempo foi menos significativo neste periódico do que no anterior. E, em nenhum dos dois casos o espaço ocupado por chamadas sobre as eleições está correlacionado com o espaço ocupado pelo tema Variedades.

Essas informações ainda são insuficientes para descrever o comportamento dos dois periódicos regionais quanto ao tratamento do tema Eleições durante a campanha eleitoral de 2006, pois a disputa não foi apenas regional. Houve, no mesmo período, a concorrência ao cargo majoritário de Presidente da República, o que naturalmente gera interesse da mídia. Para que um jornal de circulação regional cumpra seu papel de dar visibilidade à eleição mais próxima, ele precisa conceder mais espaços com alta visibilidade à disputa regional do que à federal. Caso contário, tem muito espaço para Eleições na primeira página, porém, pouco destinado à disputa regional. Os resultados com relação à abrangência da disputa indicam que apesar de estar menos presente na Gazeta do Povo, a disputa regional ocupa maior espaço proporcionalmente ao ser comparado com o Estado do Paraná. Mesmo com valor absoluto maior em chamadas sobre a disputa regional (eleição para governador do Paraná), o jornal Estado do Paraná dedica 33,8% de suas chamadas sobre Eleição para a disputa nacional (Presidente da República). A Gazeta do Povo tem apenas 19,8% do total de suas chamadas sobre Eleição para a disputa nacional.

Tab. 5 – Distribuição de chamadas para Eleição Regional e Nacional

Disputa regional Disputa nacional Total

Gazeta do Povo Freq. % 158 80,2 39 19,8 197 100,0

Estado do Paraná Freq. % 184 66,2 94 33,8 278 100,0

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

Percebe-se que em termos comparativos, a proporção do número de chamadas de primeira página a respeito da disputa regional é maior na Gazeta do Povo do que no Estado do Paraná.

Resta saber se essa diferença mantém-se em termos de espaço ocupado em cm2. A distribuição dos espaços ocupados por tipo de eleição (tab. 6) reforça a idéia de que, dentro de suas limitações, a Gazeta do Povo deu mais importância para a disputa regional que a nacional nas

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chamadas de primeira página. Do total de espaço ocupado por chamadas das eleições na primeira página deste jornal, 13,9 mil cm2 foram destinados à disputa regional, contra apenas 3,4 mil cm2 para a nacional – uma diferença de quase quatro vezes em favor da disputa para governador.

Tab. 6 – Espaço ocupado por chamadas de abrangência Regional e Nacional

Nº de chamadas Média em cm2 Desvio Padrão Total em cm2

Gazeta do Povo Regional Nacional 158 39 88,14 88,05 106,78 133,77 13.928 3.434

Estado do Paraná Regional Nacional 184 94 58,81 75,86 85,44 98,21 10.820 7.131

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

Como o tamanho médio das chamadas foi muito próximo nos dois jornais, independente da abrangência, ficando em 88 cm2, percebe-se que a distinção deve-se exclusivamente ao maior número de chamadas regionais (158) em relação às nacionais (39) na Gazeta do Povo, enquanto no Estado do Paraná a relação entre as abrangências de chamadas é outra. O total ocupado por chamadas sobre a eleição regional, 10,8 mil cm2, fica pouco acima das chamadas sobre a disputa nacional, 7,1 mil cm2 no período – muito aquém da relação percebida na Gazeta do Povo. Quanto ao tamanho médio das chamadas, as de abrangência nacional ficaram em 75,8 cm2, contra 58,8 cm2 nas regionais no Estado do Paraná. Se considerarmos a diferença no tamanho dos dois jornais (standard americano para Gazeta do Povo e tablóide europeu para Estado do Paraná), perceberemos que o segundo continua garantindo mais espaço proporcional ao primeiro em relação ao tema. Porém, em sua capa o Estado do Paraná privilegia as chamadas da disputa para a presidência da república em detrimento à de governador; o contrário pode-se dizer que acontece com a Gazeta do Povo.

A qualidade da visibilidade na primeira página dos jornais também pode ser aferida pela distribuição dos formatos de chamadas. A maior visibilidade dá-se nas Manchetes de edição (com ou sem foto), caindo um pouco em chamadas com foto, ficando mais reduzidas em chamadas sem foto, foto-legenda e chamada-título, que é o formato de primeira página com menor visibilidade.

Segundo essa variável, é possível perceber que o tema Eleição ganha formatos mais visíveis na Gazeta do Povo do que no Estado do Paraná (ver tab. 7).

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Tab. 7 – Distribuição do tema Eleição por formato de entrada na primeira página

Manchete com foto Manchete sem foto Chamada com foto Chamada sem foto Foto-legenda Chamada-título Total

Gazeta do Povo Frequência % % Cumul.

14 7,1 7,1 28 14,2 21,3 13 6,6 27,9 50 25,4 53,3 14 7,1 60,4 78 39,6 100,0 197 100,0

Estado do Paraná Frequência % % Cumul.

17 6,1 6,1 27 9,7 15,8 19 6,8 22,7 188 67,6 90,3 7 2,5 92,8 20 7,2 100,0 278 100,0

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

Enquanto nas primeiras páginas da Gazeta do Povo, 21,3% (percentual acumulado) das chamadas sobre eleições são no formato Manchete com ou sem foto, no Estado do Paraná esse percentual acumulado fica abaixo de 16% do total. Por outro lado, o maior percentual no Estado do Paraná fica por conta do formato Chamada sem foto (67,6%), que tem uma visibilidade média na página, enquanto na Gazeta do Povo o maior percentual fica por conta do formato Chamadatítulo, que concentra 39,6% do total apresentando a menor visibilidade da página. Resta agora saber se a distribuição das chamadas sobre eleição Nacional e Regional é similar nos diferentes formatos de primeira página, pois ainda que haja predomínio de formatos com alta visibilidade na capa de um jornal, se ele tratar majoritariamente da disputa nacional nessas chamadas, terá colaborado menos para o destaque sobre eleição regional.

Tab. 8 – Tema Eleição por formato de entrada e por tipo de abrangência

Manchete com foto Manchete sem foto Chamada com foto Chamada sem foto Foto-legenda Chamada-título Total

Gazeta do Povo Regional Nacional Frequência % Frequência % 7 4,4 7 17,9 26 16,5 2 5,1 12 7,6 1 2,6 43 27,2 7 17,9 13 8,2 1 2,6 57 36,1 21 53,8 158 100 39 100

Estado do Paraná Regional Nacional Frequência % Frequência % 7 3,8 10 10,6 16 8,7 11 11,7 11 6,0 8 8,5 133 72,3 55 58,5 1 0,5 6 6,4 16 8,7 4 4,3 184 100 94 100

Fonte: Grupo de Pesquisa em Mídia e Política UEPG/UFPR

A tab. 8 apresenta a distribuição percentual dos formatos de primeira página por jornal e área de abrangência (eleição regional ou nacional). No caso da Gazeta do Povo, 36,1% das chamadas sobre Eleição regional são de chamada-título, contra 53,8% desse formato quando trata da disputa nacional. Com visibilidade média, em formato de chamada sem foto, encontram-se 27,2% das chamadas sobre eleição regional e 17,9% da nacional. Há uma predominância

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percentual de Manchete sem foto para abrangência nacional (17,9%), sendo a segunda maior distribuição percentual de formatos. Na abrangência regional predominam manchetes sem foto (16,5%). Não é possível fazer uma relação direta entre as duas abrangências devido a grande diferença de número de casos entre elas.

No Estado do Paraná, proporcionalmente, percebe-se uma ocupação dos espaços mais visíveis da primeira página para abrangência nacional em relação à regional. Enquanto nas chamadas sobre eleição nacional as manchetes com e sem foto somam mais de 22% do total; na abrangência regional ficam em 12%. A predominância é de chamada sem foto para este jornal para as duas áreas de abrangência, com 72,3% do total em regional e 58,5% em nacional. Ao contrário da Gazeta do Povo, no Estado do Paraná o formato de menor visibilidade, chamadatítulo, tem um peso maior nas chamadas sobre disputa regional (8,7%) do que na nacional, que apresenta 4,3% do total, conforme demonstra a tab. 8.

Em resumo, o que no início parecia um padrão comum entre os dois jornais analisados, termina com características bastante distintas. Por um lado, o Estado do Paraná dedica, claramente, mais espaço em sua primeira página para o tema Eleição durante o período das disputas eleitorais de 2006 do que a Gazeta do Povo. Há um crescimento maior da presença do tema Eleição no segundo turno no Estado do Paraná do que na Gazeta do Povo. Embora os dois periódicos dediquem mais espaço para o tema Variedades durante o período eleitoral do que para Eleições, fica evidente que, do ponto de vista comparativo, o Estado do Paraná dá mais importância ao tema Eleição do que para a visibilidade das soft news (variedades). Porém, não se pode afirmar que em função dessas diferenças haja um ganho significativo de visibilidade das eleições regionais no Estado do Paraná em relação à Gazeta do Povo. A distinção entre abrangências de disputa (regional e nacional) mostra que quando abre espaço na primeira página para as eleições, a Gazeta do Povo dá muito mais visibilidade à disputa estadual do que a nacional em comparação ao Estado do Paraná. Quanto aos formatos, aqueles com maior visibilidade concentram mais chamadas sobre a disputa regional na Gazeta do Povo do que no Estado do Paraná.

IV. NOTAS CONCLUSIVAS Como nota conclusiva inicial à análise feita aqui é preciso destacar que os dois jornais pesquisados optaram por dar menos espaço ao tema Eleição que Variedades nas primeiras

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páginas de suas edições durante o período eleitoral de 2006. Isso não nos autoriza a inferir as mesmas conclusões a todos o sistema de comunicação de massa. Deve-se considerar que veículos de comunicação com abrangência local possam ter comportamentos distintos daqueles de abrangência regional ou nacional no que diz respeito à participação do debate público de temas socialmente relevantes. Até mesmo as conformações distintas dos sistemas de comunicação em diferentes sociais podem interferir diretamente na produção de conteúdos jornalísticos mais ou menos em direcionadas ao “mercado”.

Porém, pensando nos dois jornais diários verificados aqui, a opção pela maior visibilidade de soft news em comparação às eleições não se concretizou de maneira uniforme. Enquanto a Gazeta do Povo, no geral, destinou menos espaço que o Estado do Paraná para as eleições; este último preferiu ocupar sua primeira página e os fomratos com maior visibilidade desta, com chamadas sobre as eleições em âmbito nacional do que regional. Cada um ao seu modo abriu mão de agendar em suas primeiras páginas o tema disputa eleitoral em detrimento da manutenção, durante o período mais acirrado da disputa, de espaços nobres para temas de variedades. O período que, por natureza, deveria ser dedicado ao debate político em função das eleições, os jornais preferiram dar prioridade para temas relacionados a variedades em suas primeiras páginas, deixando clara a opção pela comunicação de massa pautada por assuntos menos relevantes socialmente, pelo menos no que diz respeito aos espaços mais visíveis dos jornais. Com isso, ambos aproximaram-se, na prática, do modelo de jornalismo rosa apresentado por Humanes (2006). É verdade que o comportamento dos periódicos não pode ser verificado de maneira simplista e pontual. Existem nuances a serem consideradas. Embora os dois jornais apresentem um acréscimo no volume de presença do tema Eleição durante o segundo turno em comparação ao primeiro, mesmo nos momentos de disputa eleitoral mais intensa no Paraná (em outubro de 2006), o tema Variedades ocupou mais espaço nas capas dos dois jornais do que a disputa política. Não se percebe uma tendência contínua de crescimento da participação do tema eleitoral nas capas dos jornais ao longo da campanha, a não ser na passagem do primeiro para o segundo turno. Para o Estado do Paraná os testes estatísticos apontam um crescimento significativo dos cm2 sobre eleições nas primeiras páginas das edições de domingo, não havendo o mesmo com a Gazeta do Povo.

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O mais impressionante é que esse comportamento editorial dos dois principais diários paranaenses foi constatado durante a disputa política mais acirrada da história das eleições para governador do Paraná. A diferença de poucos milhares de votos entre o primeiro e segundo colocados em um universo de milhões de eleitores não foi suficiente para aquecer o debate nos periódicos – pelo menos não no sentido de dar mais espaço ao tema em suas primeiras páginas.

Coincidência ou não, neste mesmo período os dois jornais davam continuidade a políticas de reformulação gráfica e editorial de suas páginas, tendo como objetivo principal o atendimento às supostas demandas do público por mais “agilidade” e “conforto” no consumo das notícias. Essas reformas, aliadas às opções editoriais de primeira página, demonstram a preponderância do mercado sobre a sociedade política no que diz respeito ao fornecimento de insumos para o debate público. Trata-se de produzir noticiário não apenas para “vender” os fatos sociais, mas também, e talvez principalmente, para se “vender” como produto adequado ao consumo massivo de informações leves e voltado ao entretenimento.

Ao optarem pela abordagem não-central da temática eleitoral durante o período de campanha política, os dois jornais de maior circulação regional deixaram de se portar como fonte de informação e agir para livre expressão da cidadania e debate democrático, nos termos defendidos por Dahl. Preferiram se transformar em produtos comerciais mais “palatáveis” ao gosto médio já instituído no público, seja em relação à temática predominante de variedades, seja em relação ao formato leve e distante das questões relevantes socialmente. Agendaram entretenimento ao invés de eleições ao debate público.

Mesmo contando com as condições conjunturais propícias para a discussão político/eleitoral devido ao acirramento da disputa entre os principais candidatos a governador, os jornais analisados aqui preferiram pautar de maneira secundária esse tema em suas capas.

Enquanto a Gazeta do Povo optou pela quase invisibilidade do tema, o Estado do Paraná, que dedicou mais espaço, preferiu agendar a disputa nacional ao invés da regional. Nesse sentido, não há nenhuma novidade nas preferências editoriais dos periódicos paranaenses em relação aos jornais diários que já foram objeto de análise quantitativa da produção jornalística. Estar cada vez mais voltados ao mercado e em consonância com as melhores condições de consumo é o que tem predominado na descrição da mídia de massa contemporânea – inclusive em momentos específicos, como é o caso dos períodos eleitorais.

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V. REFERÊNCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS ALBUQUERQUE, Afonso de. Narrativa jornalística além dos fait-divers. Revista Lumina Facom/UFRJ. Vol. 3. Nº 2. julho/dezembro. (2000) p. 69-91.

BOEFF, Suzanna De & KEELE, Luke. Taking Time Seriously. American Journal of Political Science. Vol 52. N 1, 2008, p. 181 a 200.

BONNER, Frances & MCKAY, Susan. Personalizing current affairs without becoming tabloid.

Journalism Review. Vol. 8 p. 640 a 656. 2007.

CERVI, Emerson. A cobertura da imprensa e as eleições presidências de 2002. Biblioteca On Line da Ciência da Comunicação (BOCC), 2003. WWW.bocc.ubi.pt DAHL, Robert A. What Political Institutions Does Large-Scale Democracy Require? Political Science Quarterly. Vol. 120. Nº 2. Summer, 2005.

DONSBACH, Wolfgang. Psychology of news decisions: fators behind journalist´s professional behavior. Journalism Review. Vol. 5. P. 131 a 157, 2006.

FRANCISCATO, C. E. A Fabricação do Presente - Como o Jornalismo Reformulou a Experiência do Tempo nas Sociedades Ocidentais. São Cristóvão (SE): Editora Universidade Federal de Sergipe, 2005.

FIGUEIREDO, Marcus. Mídia, Mercado de Informação e Opinião Pública. In GUIMARÃES, Cesar & JUNIOR, Chico (org). Informação e Democracia. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Uerj, 2000.

GALTUNG, J. & RUGI, M. The structure of foreign news: the presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of International Peace Research. Nº 1. p. 64-91. 1965.

HARCUP, Tony & O´NEILL, Deirdre. What is news? Galtung and Ruge Revisited. Journalism Studies Review. Vol. 2. Nº 2. 2001. pag. 261-280.

HARP, Dustin. Newspaper´s transition from women´s to style pages. Journalism Review. Vol. 7, p. 197 a 216, 2006.

HUMANES, Maria Luisa. La Anarquía Periodística: por qué Le llaman información cuando quieren decir... In ORTEGA, Félix (org.) Periodismo Sin Información. Editorial Tecnos: Marid – España, 2006.

KRESS, G e van LEEUWEN, T. Language in the media: the construciton of the domains fo public and private. Media, Culture and Society. Sage. 1986.

MANIN, Bernard. As metamorfoses do governo representativo. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, n.29, ano 10, out. 1995.

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McCOMBS, M.; SHAW, D. The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quartely, n.36, p.176-187, 1972.

NORD, Lars W. Investigative journalism in Sweden: a not so noticeable noble art. Journalism Review. Vol. 8, p. 517 a 521. 2006.

PETERSON, Sophia. International News selection by the elite press: a case study. Public Opinion Quartely. 1981. p 143-163.

PONTE, C. Para Entender as Notícias: linhas de análise do discurso jornalístico.

Florianópolis-SC: Editora Insular. 2005.

SOUSA, Jorge Pedro. As notícias e os seus efeitos: as “teorias” do jornalismo e dos efeitos sociais dos media jornalísticos. Porto: Universidade Fernando Pessoa, 1999.

Sites Pesquisados: Jornal Gazeta do Povo: http://portal.rpc.com.br/gazetadopovo/ Jornal Estado do Paraná: http://www.parana-online.com.br/ Tribunal Superior Eleitoral: www.tse.gov.br Tribunal Regional Eleitoral do Paraná: www.tre-pr.gov.br

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La imposible región. Propuesta para el análisis comparativo de las políticas de radiodifusión diseñadas para los sectores privado comercial, social comunitario y público, entre los socios fundadores de la unión regional MERCOSUR1 Daniela Monje2

Resumo As políticas de radiodifusão não constituem uma prioridade para a União Regional MERCOSUL. Os sócios fundadores aplicam individualmente marcos regulatórios flexíveis para o setor privado comercial, que têm favorecido o seu desenvolvimento, com notáveis similitudes entre si. Em contrapartida, os setores público e social-comunitário são regidos, na maioria dos casos, por normas anacrônicas e/ou restritivas. Este artigo propõe algumas linhas para a análise comparativa destas políticas no contexto do Mercosul.

Palavras chave: Políticas de radiodifusão; integração regional; setores público, privado comercial, social-comunitário Resumen Las políticas de radiodifusión no constituyen una prioridad para la Unión Regional MERCOSUR. Los socios fundadores aplican individualmente y para el sector privadocomercial marcos regulatorios flexibles que han favorecido su desarrollo y presentan notables similitudes entre sí. Como contraparte los sectores público y social-comunitario se rigen en la mayoría de los casos por normas anacrónicas y/o restrictivas. Este artículo propone algunos términos para el análisis comparativo.

Palabras clave: Políticas de radiodifusión, integración regional, sectores público, privadocomercial, social-comunitario Abstract Broadcasting policy do not constitute a priority for the Regional Union MERCOSUR. The countries that founded it, apply individually for the private commercial sector, flexible 1

Este escrito exponen de modo sintético y acotado, parte de los avances realizados por la autora en el marco de su tesis doctoral titulada “Políticas de radiodifusión en contextos de integración regional. Caso MERCOSUR 1991-2007” investigación que obtuvo beca para áreas de vacancia de la Secretaría de Ciencia de Tecnología de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Argentina.

2 Docente e investigadora Universidades Nacional de Córdoba (UNC) y Nacional de Villa María (UNVM).

Coordinadora Académica de la Maestría en Comunicación y Cultura, Centro de Estudios Avanzados (CEA) UNC. Miembro del Programa de Comunicación y Ciudadanía del CEA-UNC. Doctoranda por FLACSO del programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Sociales.

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regulatory frames that present notable similarities between it, and have favored his development. Inversely, public and social community sectors are ruled generaly by anachronistic and / or restrictive procedure. This article proposes some terms for the comparative analysis.

Key words: Broadcasting policy, regional integration, public sector, commercial sector, community sector.

Ponencia 1.

La unión regional MERCOSUR, nace en 1991, con la vocación de promover un desarrollo conjunto y armónico de los países miembros, cuyas características eran de suyo absolutamente asimétricas: Brasil y Argentina por una parte se definían como los socios fuertes de la unión en términos de economía, territorio y población, frente a los países pequeños y más débiles, Uruguay y Paraguay, este último además, en relación a su extrema fragilidad institucional.

En los inicios de esta unión regional el debate sobre la radiodifusión y más ampliamente sobre la comunicación social no fue enunciado de modo prioritario. No se consideró al punto tal que, incluso desde la perspectiva económica, -que involucra el desarrollo de las industrias culturales y cuya participación en el PBI de los países es año a año más significativa-, el tema fue relegado. De modo que, la centralidad de las comunicaciones como fenómeno cultural simbólico e identitario, pero además, como vértice económico de los nuevos escenarios mundiales, fue desatendida por muchos años en el MERCOSUR que, vale decirlo, también ha debido ser asistido y reanimado en numerosas ocasiones.

Por cierto, en estos 17 años, los países que lo integran no han cesado de producir regulaciones en relación al sector radiodifusión y sin proponérselo han actuado en direcciones similares, que con diferentes acentos, consolidaron el desarrollo del sector privado-comercial, en los cuatro países, sobre la base de sistemas de radiodifusión de interés público que priorizan el fin de lucro por sobre el bien común entendido en términos de pluralismo, acceso y participación equitativa a la utilización del espectro radioeléctrico.

En paralelo a la virtual privatización del espectro, se expande de un modo cada vez más sofisticado un modelo de pago que, ligado a la convergencia de actores, tecnologías y procesos, requiere adecuación y sofisticación de las regulaciones nacionales y regionales, que

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deberían ocuparse en teoría de garantizar que la radiodifusión se constituya en términos de bien social, de uso abierto y gratuito.

Esto ha resultado muy dificultoso de llevar adelante. Aún frente a los acuerdos a los que ha llegado la comunidad internacional acerca de la delimitación de los tres sectores de la radiodifusión3, este reconocimiento ha tardado en explicitarse en políticas y legislaciones y el rezago es significativo no solo en cada uno de los países, sino además como parte de los ejes de la unión regional. Si se toma como referencia el período que va desde la conformación del mercado común hasta el año 2007, se observan como veremos más adelante, transformaciones significativas en favor de los sectores público y comunitario solo hacia el final del período4.

No obstante ello, los avances resultan espasmódicos y desarticulados en términos de la región, que no ha podido delinear un horizonte común de políticas regionales de radiodifusión.

Esta ausencia resulta llamativa, por cuanto al tomar en consideración otros uniones regionales contemporáneas al MERCOSUR (1991) tales como el TLCAN5 (1993) o la Unión Europea (1993) encontramos que, aún desde contextos asimétricos y problemáticos, con énfasis y equilibrio diferenciados, se han formulado políticas explícitas sobre el sector en las que se reconoce la centralidad de las industrias culturales y específicamente de la radiodifusión en tanto vector cultural y económico.

3

Sin desconocer la extensa normativa que a nivel internacional se ha producido en torno al derecho humano a la Libertad de expresión y pensamiento, es válido recordar que la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos (CADH) conocida como Pacto de San José de Costa Rica ya en el año 1969 en su artículo 13 adopta el principio de la libertad de pensamiento y expresión, derecho que se despliega en las acciones de buscar, recibir y difundir información por todos los medios existentes. Todos los países miembros del MERCOSUR han ratificado la CADH: Argentina en 1984, Uruguay en 1985, Paraguay en 1989 y Brasil en 1992 de modo que han adoptado para sí esta declaración. En el año 2000 la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de la OEA elaboró sobre este artículo 13, una declaración de principios que interpreta, profundiza y actualiza los contenidos referidos. Uno de los 13 puntos en los que se subdivide esta interpretación afirma que: “12) Los monopolios u oligopolios en la propiedad y el control de los medios de comunicación deben estar sujetos a leyes antimonopólicas por cuanto conspiran contra la democracia al restringir la pluralidad y la diversidad que asegura el pleno ejercicio del derecho a la información de los ciudadanos. En ningún caso esas leyes deben ser exclusivas para los medios de comunicación. Las asignaciones de radio y televisión deben considerar criterios democráticos que garanticen una igualdad de oportunidades para todos los individuos en el acceso a los mismos”.

Asimismo existe otro antecedente de gran valor. Se trata de la Declaración conjunta sobre “Diversidad en la radiodifusión” suscripta en Diciembre 2007 por cuatro relatores sobre libertad de expresión y opinión de ONU, OEA, OSCE, CADHP. En este documento se enfatiza la naturaleza compleja de la diversidad la cual incluye diversidad de medios, de fuentes y de contenido. Asimismo se señala que la concentración indebida de la propiedad de los medios de comunicación directa o indirecta así como el control gubernamental sobre los mismos constituye una amenaza a la diversidad de los medios y genera riesgos tales como la concentración del poder político en manos de los propietarios o de las elites gobernantes. Allí se fija con claridad que los tres sectores de la radiodifusión son: comercial, de servicio público y comunitario.

4 Con la salvedad de la ley de TV por cable implementada en Brasil desde 1995, los mayores avances en la materia se dan de un modo paulatino a partir del año 2000 y culminan con un gran logro institucional en Uruguay a partir de la sanción de la ley de Radiodifusión Comunitaria de 2007.

5 Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte. Agrupa a Canadá, Estados Unidos y México. Su sigla en inglés es NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement

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En el caso del TLCAN la lógica del acuerdo se da en términos de liberalización del comercio de industrias culturales entre Estados Unidos y México con una marcada resistencia de Canadá fundamentada en la excepción cultural. Existen en esta unión regional fuertes desequilibrios entre los socios. En lo relativo a la producción y circulación de productos audiovisuales México incluye a las industrias culturales en el acuerdo, mientras que Estados Unidos tiene un mercado altamente impermeable a los productos foráneos. Contrariamente Canadá ocupa el 95% del mercado de cine y video con productos de EEUU mientras que la TV se enmarca en un sistema proteccionista que garantiza cuotas de pantalla, con todo, sus industrias culturales son deficitarias. Este acuerdo no contempla la creación de instituciones regionales o programas de cooperación para el sector audiovisual (Galperín, 1998) La Unión Europea ha seguido por su parte una política que se construye en base a una tensión entre los objetivos culturales y económicos de sus 27 miembros. Como afirma Galperín El objetivo cultural, problemático en sí mismo, está definido en el Artículo 128 del Tratado de Maastricht: "La comunidad debe contribuir al florecimiento de las culturas de los Estados-Miembro, respetando su diversidad nacional y regional, y a la vez traer a luz la herencia cultural común". Por otro lado, el objetivo económico es fortalecer las industrias culturales europeas mediante la fórmula proteccionismo externo/liberalización interna (1998:27)

Estos objetivos resultan asimismo difíciles de compatibilizar en tanto las principales líneas de política que orientan a los países de la unión, resultan a su vez contradictorias entre sí. Por una parte la directiva de radiodifusión promulgada en 1989 hizo posible la consolidación de grandes conglomerados de medios vía liberalización regional mientras que el programa de apoyo a los pequeños y medianos productores promovía el pluralismo a través de la diversidad lingüística y cultural. De modo que, en materia de política si bien se alteró la competencia al interior de los mercados nacionales no se halogrado un mercado regional.

(Galperín, op.cit.)

El Mercado Común del Sur, nace débil y asimétrico. Son tantas las dificultades para ponerlo en funcionamiento solo en el primer peldaño de la unión aduanera, que durante mucho tiempo ha tenido una gran dificultad para dibujar de modo conjunto y articulado estrategias regionales que hicieran posible una política de radiodifusión, o una política del audiovisual consistente. En su interior se articulan de un modo formal áreas de trabajo y deliberación6 encargadas del tratamiento de la comunicación y la cultura, a saber:

6

Ver Estructura orgánica del MERCOSUR anexa al final de este documento.

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1. Reunión de Ministros de Cultura. (RMC) pertenece al Consejo del Mercado Común: tiene como función promover la difusión y conocimiento de los valores y tradiciones culturales de los Estados Partes del MERCOSUR, así como la presentación de propuestas de cooperación y coordinación en el campo de la cultura. Fue creada en el año1995, y sus logros han sido acotados, El sector de industrias culturales en el cual incluimos a la radiodifusión es escasamente aludido en términos de políticas culturales.

2. Sub Grupo de Trabajo Nº 1 (SGT1) pertenece al Grupo Mercado Común: trabaja sobre los aspectos técnicos y de armonización de regulaciones en radiodifusión y telecomunicaciones. No Interviene directamente en la elaboración de políticas.

3. Reunión Especializada de Comunicación Social (RECS) pertenece al Grupo Mercado Común: órgano consultor cuyo objetivo es promover la difusión de toda la información vinculada al MERCOSUR a través de programas de cooperación entre agencias de noticias, radios y canales oficiales. Fue creada en 1996 y funcionó hasta 1998 luego fue relanzada en 2005 a instancias de Argentina.

4. Reunión Especializada de Autoridades Cinematográficas y Audiovisuales del MERCOSUR (RECAM) pertenece al Grupo Mercado Común: es un órgano consultor en la temática cinematográfica y audiovisual, formado por las máximas autoridades gubernamentales nacionales en la materia. Fue creada en 2003. Es el ámbito de discusiones de mayor productividad y dinamismo. Ha impulsado numerosos programas de cooperación regional y con otras uniones regionales como la UE, produce información sistematizada sobre el sector, ha desarrollado el Observatorio del MERCOSUR Audiovisual (OMA) y es consultado en materia de políticas nacionales para el sector cinematográfico y audiovisual por las autoridades representantes de cada uno de los países miembros.

Con más de 15 años de existencia, y a pesar de disponer de áreas y recursos específicos en materia de comunicación y cultura el Mercado Común del Sur no ha logrado avances significativos en la formulación de una política regional del audiovisual o de radiodifusión que pueda comprender la complejidad económica, cultural y política que necesariamente la atraviesa. Entre los escasos hitos que podrían destacarse en la materia podemos citar en orden cronológico los que siguen: 1994: Cumbre de Ouro Preto. Marca la puesta en marcha de la Unión Aduanera. A partir de este momento se profundizarán los acuerdos en materia de comunicación y

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cultura. En este mismo año se firma el Protocolo de Colonia. Las Industrias culturales son aludidas en este documento en el anexo 2. Allí se especifican las excepciones para cada país: Brasil excluye de la liberalización de inversiones los sectores de radio, TV y telecomunicaciones, Uruguay y Paraguay excluyen radio, TV, telecomunicaciones y prensa, Argentina no toma ninguna excepción en las industrias de comunicación.

1996: Se firma el Protocolo de Integración Cultural a instancias de la reunión de Ministros de Cultura (RMC) 1997: Se aprueba Protocolo de Montevideo sobre Comercio de Servicios 2005: Entra en vigencia el Protocolo de Montevideo sobre el Comercio de Servicios.

Que impulsa para el año 2015 el Programa de Liberalización del Comercio de Servicios del MERCOSUR. Entre los servicios se cuentan las Industrias culturales.

2006: Brasil es el primer país del bloque en adoptar un padrón de TV Digital Terrestre (TDT) definitivo (sistema japonés ISDB modificado) La decisión no se funda en un consenso regional. Un año más tarde Uruguay optará también unilateralmente un sistema de TDT, en este caso el europeo (DVB-T).

2007: La RECS impulsa la firma de la Carta de Compromiso de Buenos Aires.

“Comunicación Pública en el proceso de integración regional. Se propone desarrollar una estrategia comunicacional común de medios públicos, en el ámbito del MERCOSUR Esta ausencia de políticas es sin dudas problemática en una región que, registra “altos niveles de producción y en especial consumo audiovisual como lo es América Latina, y en donde las industrias culturales han jugado un papel primordial en la construcción de identidades nacionales y afiliaciones políticas (Galperín 1998:38) La desatención sobre las Industrias culturales de mayor penetración en la población como lo son la radio y la TV debiera alertar asimismo sobre su probable definición a futuro en términos de servicios, lo cual abre la puerta a considerar este patrimonio –en tanto repertorio común y compartido de creencias, saberes, prácticas, valores, signos, lenguajes, que conforman la sustancia de los mensajes audiovisuales- en commodities, mercancías transables en un mercado que asigna solo un valor económico de cambio a aquello que tiene asimismo un valor cultural que debe medirse y resguardarse en base a otro sistema de valorización.

2.

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Considerando la incapacidad que ha tenido hasta la fecha el MERCOSUR para formular políticas regionales de radiodifusión que puedan garantizar la protección y reciprocidad entre los países miembros, la promoción de los sectores independientes, la diversidad de la radiodifusión en los términos en los que la define el plexo legal y normativo internacional, entre las cuestiones de mayor relevancia, puede resultar esclarecedor en aras de construir algunas interpretaciones que puedan dar razones de esta carencia, exponer los avances y retrocesos que en nuestra perspectiva han realizado Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay y Paraguay en materia de radiodifusión en el período reseñado.

En términos de avances consideramos el conjunto de prácticas que promueven y/o garantizan un acceso plural, y democrático al espectro radioeléctrico en los términos en los que lo define el derecho internacional, incluimos aquí y a los fines de este escrito solo aquellos avances que se materializaron en legislaciones específicas. Esto no implica por cierto que se desconozcan el conjunto de prácticas e iniciativas de la sociedad civil que impulsaron estos procesos. Por retrocesos en cambio, entendemos aquellas legislaciones que restringieron el acceso plural y diverso a la utilización del espectro y en cambio consolidaron la posición de ciertos actores en desmedro de otros.

Organizamos asimismo esta descripción en relación a los tres sectores de la radiodifusión

definidos

como

privado-comercial,

social-comunitario

y

público

(gubernamental y no gubernamental) Como puede observarse en el cuadro Nº 1, los cuatro socios fundadores del mercado común, tienen un considerable rezago en sus regulaciones sobre radiodifusión. Uruguay regula los servicios a partir de una ley sancionada en 1977 durante la última dictadura militar que no solo es anacrónica sino que presenta numerosos vacíos entre ellos la indefinición de los períodos de concesión de licencias de explotación. Sin embargo este país acredita entre sus logros recientes la promulgación de una ley de radiodifusión comunitaria en 2007, ejemplar en término de los procesos institucionales y discusiones públicas sobre la base de las cuales se construyó y, fundamentalmente en cuanto al reconocimiento de los derechos y garantías para el sector comunitario que determina y que recoge las mejores experiencias de legislación en la materia a nivel mundial. Argentina se regula aún hoy a partir de una ley dictatorial que data del año 80 pero sobre la cual se han realizado sustantivas modificaciones a partir del año 1989, lo que ha permitido entre otras cosas la concentración monopólica de la propiedad de los medios, la acumulación de licencias de explotación y la introducción de publicidad no tradicional entre los puntos más destacados. Asimismo, se ha limitado hasta hace menos de

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cuatro años la explotación legal de la radiodifusión por parte del sector social-comunitario.

Brasil por su parte no posee una ley de radiodifusión específica, la regulación del sector se desagrega en un plexo normativo de leyes específicas pero cuya referencia más antigua es el Código Brasilero de Telecomunicaciones del año 1962 y más recientemente una sección de la nueva constitución sancionada en el año 1988, en los artículos que van del 220 al 224. De este modo Brasil tiene una regulación general en la constitución y leyes y reglamentaciones específicas en materia de TV por cable o radiodifusión comunitaria. En el caso de Paraguay la legislación que regula la radiodifusión se encuentra incluida en la normativa sobre telecomunicaciones que fuera sancionada en el año 1995 y en el que se incluye un apartado específico para radiodifusión de pequeña y mediana cobertura.

Al observar lo que ocurre al interior de cada uno de los sectores de la radiodifusión por países, encontramos que existe una notable asimetría entre las regulaciones que promueven y protegen a cada uno de los sectores. En ningún caso y con la salvedad de la ley uruguaya de radiodifusión comunitaria del año 2007, se hacen explícitas reservas del espectro para cada uno de los tres sectores. Muy por el contrario, los cuatro países coinciden - por motivos que tienen que ver con sus políticas nacionales antes que con acuerdos regionales de algún tipo-, en poseer servicios de radiodifusión definidos por el interés público antes que por el servicio público. Este hecho, que es característico de la radiodifusión en casi toda América Latina, ha generado que desde los inicios los Estados ocupen un rol de administrador y garante de unas ciertas reglas de juego que permitiesen al sector privado-comercial desarrollarse cada vez en más ventajosas condiciones. Por tal motivo no debe extrañar que el desarrollo del sector público se haya presentado desde siempre de un modo subsidiario respecto del sector privado y excluyendo hasta hace poco tiempo al sector comunitario.

Si se revisa la legislación existente en la materia en cada uno de los cuatro países aludidos puede observarse que, si bien en todas las legislaciones se reserva una mínima porción del espectro para utilización del Estado, no es sino hasta mediados de los 90 cuando se empieza a perfilar la emergencia de experiencias diversas que no logran sin embargo despegar con claridad lo público de lo gubernamental.

El caso de Brasil es pionero en la región, por cuanto ya desde los años 60 se inician las televisoras educativas agrupadas en el SINTED (sistema nacional de televisiones educativas) que podrían representar el antecedente más lejano en materia de iniciativas del sector público, aún cuando no se presentan de este modo. En 1975 es creada RADIOBRAS, la empresa nacional de comunicaciones que administra la agencia de noticias estatal, la red de emisoras

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públicas y distribuye la pauta oficial manteniendo estas áreas en dependencia directa de los gobiernos de turno. Es recién en el año 1995, -y mediados por una intensa discusión pública impulsada desde el Foro Nacional por la Democratización de las Comunicaciones-, cuando se promulga la ley de televisión por cable. Mediante esta ley se escinde la regulación de la TV de pago de la de radiodifusión abierta, y se define un sistema de canales de servicio público que incluye como novedad una cuota de pantalla destinada a canales legislativos. El salto hacia un planteo diferencial se da sin embargo en 2007 cuando se anuncia la creación de la Empresa Brasil de Comunicación, un sistema de Televisión pública nacional no gubernamental en la que se integra la empresa estatal de comunicaciones RADIOBRAS. En términos de modelo de radiodifusión Brasil lleva en esto una delantera importante a sus socios regionales.

Argentina por su parte crea en el año 2001 un Sistema Nacional de Medios Públicos (SNMP) que en verdad reordena formalmente los medios ya existentes en el nivel de las radios AM y el canal de TV pública, pero esta modificación no llega a transformar de modo sustantivo el servicio ni en términos de calidad ni en cuanto a los contenidos que las emisoras producían hasta el momento. No se evidencia en este sentido una política que delinee un nuevo rumbo. La prestación continúa siendo subsidiaria en cuanto a la porción del espectro asignada al sistema público y es asimismo parcial por cuanto el único canal público del sistema no llega por aire a más del 50% de la población. Su recepción se encuentra limitada en la mayoría de los casos al sistema de TV por cable, que obviamente es de carácter pago.

Sin embargo vale destacar que existe un momento bisagra en lo relativo a TV pública en este país y es sin dudas la aparición de un canal que depende del Ministerio de Educación llamado Canal Encuentro en el año 2005. Esta experiencia que surge por fuera del SNMP es, sin embargo, la apuesta de mayor calidad que ha producido el país en la materia, y a pesar de estar limitada al cable ha logrado trascender sus límites físicos por cuanto parte de su programación se retransmite por el canal público y por canales universitarios.

En el caso de Uruguay existe un Sistema Nacional de Televisión con 29 repetidoras en todo el país y una interesante experiencia en televisión denominada TV Ciudad que transmite solo por sistema de cable para la ciudad capital de Montevideo. En 2005 luego de la asunción del presidente Tabaré Vázquez, se realiza un relanzamiento de la radio y TV públicasestatales, en cumplimiento con lo comprometido entre los objetivos de campaña, ya que el Frente Amplio discute explícitamente en su plataforma política los términos de una política de comunicaciones democrática para el Uruguay. Según Kaplún

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“hubo dos intentos anteriores de relanzar la programación del canal estatal en 1985 y 2000, ambos de corta duración. Ahora hay un tercero, emprendido por el nuevo gobierno, que terminó con la mayor parte de los programas tercerizados que caracterizaban la grilla y concentró casi toda su apuesta en lo informativo y periodístico con producción propia. Es pronto aún para evaluar los resultados.”(2006:4)

El caso de Paraguay se presenta de un modo dramático. Según afirma Fernández Bogado “lo público no es concebido en Paraguay como de todos sino que es referenciado como propiedad del gobierno de turno” (2005:75) La larga dictadura de Stroessner dejó tras de sí un sistema público desvastado y desacreditado entre toda la población, este país solo cuanta con 2 radios en efectivo funcionamiento dentro de lo que podría llamarse su sistema de medios públicos7.

En contraposición con el bajo estado de desarrollo de los medios públicos, el sector privado comercial ha tenido un crecimiento exponencial amparado por regulaciones permisivas y atentas a los reclamos de este sector que, ha sabido acaparar para sí la mayor parte del espectro disponible en condiciones altamente ventajosas. Concomitantemente el servicio de radiodifusión se presta eludiendo el hecho de que las frecuencias no son propiedad de quienes las explotan, sino concesiones de un espacio que es común y público. Este olvido voluntario produce a lo largo de los países una radiodifusión eminentemente comercial, cuya oferta de contenidos está centrada en el entretenimiento. Sumado a ello la conformación de la propiedad de los medios habilitada por las regulaciones nacionales ha permitido el ingreso de capitales extranjeros que extienden sus territorios más allá de las fronteras nacionales conformando alianzas regionales sobre las cuales los estados y la región MERCOSUR no tienen ningún tipo de control. Argentina es pionera en habilitar la concentración de la propiedad en 1989 y el ingreso de capitales foráneos en 1991. Brasil hará lo propio en 1995 al habilitar el ingreso de capital extranjero en las empresas de cable y luego reforzará la decisión 7

Oscar Cáceres, actual director de la recientemente creada Dirección de Comunicación para el Desarrollo, dependiente de la Secretaría de Información y Comunicación para el Desarrollo, afirma al respecto: “El Estado, descuidó totalmente a sus medios de comunicación en las últimas décadas. Descuidó sus aspectos programáticos, pero también la propiedad misma. Paraguay tenía cuatro radios estatales, durante la década del 90 y hasta hace poco cuando asumimos el gobierno [presidencia de Fernando Lugo] nos encontramos con que la frecuencia de una radio ubicada en una localidad del norte que se llama Vallemí, en el departamento de Concepción, había sido vendida al ex presidente de la República del Paraguay a través de testaferros, que es el señor Juan Carlos Wasmosy. Otra radio (la segunda) de sur, de la ciudad de Encarnación que linda con la provincia de Misiones de Argentina, esa radio desapareció completamente, desaparecieron los equipos, tanto de AM como de FM. Fue acallada, y quedó en la nada. La tercera en la ciudad de Pilar, una ciudad fronteriza también al sur cerca de Formosa, esa sobrevivió un poco más pero con una situación híbrida, entre estatal y comercial.

Hoy nos encontramos con dos medios estatales, una radio nacional con los equipos antiguos y al mismo tiempo con equipos que como decimos nosotros han sido “carneados” o con repuestos que no les sirven. Entonces tenemos la radio nacional y la radio Carlos Antonio López de la localidad de Pilar, que son los medios estatales.

No existe ni una sola señal de TV pública”. Extracto de entrevista realizada por la autora. Marzo 2009.

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en 2002 con la enmienda del artículo 222 de la constitución nacional. En los casos de Uruguay y Paraguay las excepciones a la norma que inhabilita el ingreso de capitales extranjeros se darán por la vía de testaferros. (Kaplún, 2006; Fernández Bogado, 2008) Los niveles de concentración de la propiedad son significativos en cada uno de estos países. Según lo demuestra el estudio realizado por Mastrini y Becerra (2006), en el año 2000 y para el caso de la TV por aire, Brasil concentra el 85% de la audiencia entre los primeros 4 operadores, Argentina el 96% en los cuatro primeros canales privados de aire, y Uruguay el 96 % en los tres primeros operadores.

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Cuadro 1: Principales normativas sobre radiodifusión por sectores en los países del MERCOSUR ARGENTINA

BRASIL

URUGUAY

PARAGUAY

Ley 22.285/80 de

Código Brasilero de

Ley 14670/77 de Radiodifusión

Ley de telecomunicaciones 642/95

Radiodifusión. Decreto

telecomunicaciones 1962

286/81

Nueva Constitución 1988 Arts.

SODRE. Sistema Nacional de

Nueva Constitución 1992 Art. Nº

220 A 224 1997: Ley 9.472 SECTOR PUBLICO

Decreto Nº 94/2001 crea el

(GUBERNAMENTAL Y NO

Sistema Nacional de Medios Ley de TV por cable 8.977/95 Televisión. 18 canales de TV

31.

GUBERNAMENTAL)

Públicos

Ley 642/95 de Telecomunicaciones

Radiobras

Empresa Brasil de

abierta. TV Ciudad (Montevideo)

Modificación del artículo 11 Comunicación

Art. 34: El Plan Nacional de

ley 22.285, decreto 1214/03.

Frecuencias

Decreto Nº 533/05 crea Canal Encuentro.

SECTOR SOCIAL COMUNITARIO

Ley 26.053/05 Reforma del Ley de radiodifusión

Ley de radiodifusión comunitaria Nº Ley de telecomunicaciones 642/95

artículo 45 LEY 22.285.

18.232/07

comunitaria Nº 9612/98

Capítulo IV. Reglamento del Servicio de Radiodifusión Sonora de Pequeña y Mediana Cobertura Nº 898/2002

SECTOR PRIVADO COMERCIAL

1989: Ley 23.696

(concentración e ingreso de capitales extranjeros) 1991: Ley 24124 1999: Decreto 1005 2003: Ley 25750 2005: Decreto 527

1988: Art. 222 C.N.

1977: Ley 14.670 arts. 8 y 9

1992: Art. 30 CN.

1995: Ley 8.977

1993: Decreto 125

1995: Ley 642 art. 2 y Decreto

2002: Enmienda art. 222

reglamentario Nº 14.135 arts. 5 y 64

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3.

A la abismal distancia que separa al rezagado sector público del sector privadocomercial y sobre la cual es necesario trabajar desde los Estados, pero además desde la unión regional, se suma la existencia de otro sector de la radiodifusión que ha debido constituirse contra la corriente, aún desde la ilegalidad, que es perseguido en la actualidad por las administraciones de algunos gobiernos democráticos en América Latina8 y cuyas banderas son la punta de lanza en las reivindicaciones por la democratización del espectro en clave de derecho humanos. Me refiero al sector socialcomunitario.

Como fue señalado anteriormente este sector ha sido legítimamente reconocido por la legislación internacional mucho antes que los gobiernos nacionales hicieran lo propio. Cada uno de los países analizados posee desde hace al menos 10 años, -tomando en el inicio de esta serie la ley brasilera del 98-, una legislación reglamentada sobre radiodifusión comunitaria. Este hecho no ha impedido que las emisoras sean marginadas, relegadas a porciones ínfimas del espectro, restringidas en su cobertura geográfica o en sus modos de autogestión y financiamiento. Como puede observarse en el cuadro Nº 2 si se comparan los requerimientos y limitaciones que cada país impone a su sector comunitario puede concluirse que la propuesta brasilera es la más regresiva mientras que la uruguaya resulta ser la más progresista y la que ha conseguido un trato diferenciado, en cuanto a las particularidades del sector, equitativo, en cuanto a la reserva del espectro, y con un amplio margen de libertades que da lugar a la búsqueda genuina de fondos para la subsistencia de las emisoras, al tiempo que no restringe la potencia de sus transmisiones. El caso brasilero es completamente opuesto, si bien es el primer país que regula el servicio, lo hace a partir de una serie de restricciones que someten aún más a un sector que es, por definición de una gran sensibilidad social.

“Se trata de una norma controvertida, que concibe a las radios comunitarias como emisoras de cobertura restringida y baja potencia.

Entre otras cosas la ley dispone una frecuencia única para todas las emisoras, reduce el sentido de lo comunitario a una cuestión física,

8

Dan cuanta de ello los informes que semanalmente llegan desde las diferentes filiales de la Asociación Mundial de Radios Comunitarias (AMARC) en América Latina. Puede consultarse asimismo el sitio web de la organización www.amarc.org , así como los informes presentados por los Relatores de Libertad de Expresión de diferentes organizaciones internacionales tales como la ONU, la OEA y la OSCE..

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

asignando un área de cobertura de solo 1 kilómetro9, prohíbe la inclusión de avisos comerciales, prohíbe operar en red, exige que los directores de la entidad residan en la zona de cobertura de la radio, exige documentación extemporánea y confusa, no protege a las radios comunitarias de las interferencias de las radios comerciales pero permite a las emisoras comerciales a interferir a las comunitarias”.(Monje, 2007:218)

En Argentina, se aguarda una inminente ley de servicios de comunicación audiovisual que sustituya a la ley de radiodifusión vigente y en la que el sector comunitario podría ser considerado en términos más equitativos que garantizaran una distribución equitativa del espectro. Mientras tanto podemos decir que: “el sector comunitario ha conseguido, luego de más de 20 años de lucha10(…), un sustancial aunque insuficiente avance en la materia: la derogación mediante ley 26.053 en agosto del año 2005 del artículo 45 de la ley 22.285, que impedía el otorgamiento de licencias a organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Asimismo EL COMFER [Comité Federal de Radiodifusión] mediante RES. 753/06 reconoció a las radios comunitarias y les otorgó una autorización provisoria para funcionar hasta tanto se regularice su situación” (Monje, 2007: 215)

Finalmente en relación a Paraguay se mantienen fuertes restricciones, limitaciones a la potencia de emisión y no está permitida la emisión de publicidad.

“Cabe recordar la importancia del sector comunitario no solo en zonas urbanas sino fundamentalmente en las zonas rurales del interior del país donde las radios funcionan prestando servicios sociales, como fuente primaria de información, teléfono público, canal de convocatoria y encuentro” (Monje, 2007: 223)

Los procesos de otorgamiento de frecuencias resultan asimismo una irregularidad que se repite a lo largo de los cuatro países. Los planes de regularización del espectro no han podido garantizar hasta el momento salvo en el caso uruguayo, condiciones de seguridad para las emisoras que funcionan de modo irregular, perseguidas, decomisadas, marginadas, estas emisoras siguen luchando por sus derechos a la comunicación y por hacer oír la voz de los grupos que las constituyen.

9

Lo cual contradice la potencia máxima prevista en la ley de 25 watts, ya que en el radio de un Kilómetro solo son necesarios 10 watts a lo sumo 10 Cabe recordar la iniciativa ciudadana por una nueva ley de radiodifusión para la democracia, presentada en agosto de 2004 por FARCO, AMARC, diversos organismos de derechos humanos, universidades y profesionales. Se conoció como los “21 puntos”, en alusión a los 21 años de democracia que llevaba el país sin haber conseguido sancionar una nueva ley.

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

Cuadro 2: Términos de comparación entre el sector social comunitario en los países del MERCOSUR Indicadores

ARGENTINA

BRASIL

URUGUAY

PARAGUAY

Año en que se legisla el servicio

2005

1998

2007

1995- (reg. 2002)

Licenciatarios

Personas jurídicas sin fines de lucro - Fundaciones y asociaciones comunitarias sin Asociaciones civiles sin fines de lucro con Organizaciones intermedias sin fines de lucro ni prestadoras de servicios públicos. Argentino fines de lucro nativo

o

naturalizado,

con

idoneidad - Director debe residir en área de cobertura

personería

jurídica

o

grupos

de

personas comerciales,

organizadas que no posean fines de lucro.

Ciudadanos naturales o legales en ejercicio de la o extranjeras.

acorde con su inversión. Sin filiación con

ciudadanía

de

radiodifusión

constituidas

en

Paraguay, Sin filiación con empresas nacionales

cultural acreditada y capacidad patrimonial

empresas

legalmente

Directores y representantes de nacionalidad paraguaya.

extranjeras

(salvo acuerdos) Área de cobertura

No está limitada.

1 Kilómetro. Potencia máxima 25 watts (supera No implica necesariamente un servicio de Ondas hectométricas (AM) y métricas (FM) éstas alcance)

cobertura geográfica restringida. Área definida últimas por finalidad.

entre 50 W y 300 W para pequeña y mediana cobertura respectivamente

Plazo de otorgamiento de licencias

15 años con opción a renovación por 10 3 años con renovación por igual período hasta 10 años con prórroga de 5.

5 años renovable por única vez por igual período

años.

a solicitud de parte

2002. Hoy 10 años.

A diciembre de 2007 se han otorgado 58

Nº de licencias otorgadas a partir de la 1 FM (103.9 FM Encuentro)

2.353 radios autorizadas en 2.178 municipios.

Reserva de espectro de un tercio del espectro.

normativa vigente

4.555 pedidos archivados.

Ninguna hasta el momento. Se registraron a licencias a radios comunitarias (CONATEL)

1 AM (AM 530. La voz de las madres) 50 emisoras autorizadas Programa de radios

marzo de 2008 159 interesados al llamado oficial

y escuelas de frontera

a radios comunitarias

6 radios en comunidades indígenas (5 FM y 1 AM) Nº de radios existentes estimado

Asociadas a FARCO: 48 + 17 en proceso 1.364 en proceso de tramitación (2007)

4.555 pedidos archivados

Se estima que existían a diciembre de 2007 272 En el año 2002 existían 1.500 radios sin medios no autorizados en todo el país.

reglamentar

S/ Informe ALER del año 2000 existían (Ejemplos de usos no comunitarios: CEARA ) entre 2000 y 3000 radios sin licencia o Caso de emisoras educativas. permiso legal Sustentabilidad

No está limitada

Prohíbe inclusión de avisos comerciales

Donaciones,

aportes

patrocinios, publicidad

solidarios,

auspicios, No tienen permitida publicidad o propaganda, solo aportes solidarios

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4.

A lo largo de este artículo he tratado de mostrar de un modo sucinto y esquemático el estado de la cuestión en lo relativo a radiodifusión al interior de la unión regional y en relación a los cuatro países que se asociaron inicialmente. Procuré hacerlo además en relación a los tres sectores a los que se debe garantizar un uso equitativo del espectro, entendiendo que éste es un patrimonio común de la humanidad y que por sus características es escaso y finito, por lo cual los Estados deberían administrarlo con justicia, garantizando pluralidad y diversidad en el acceso.

Como se puede deducir de lo aquí expuesto no existen condiciones a nivel del MERCOSUR que garanticen este a priori de la radiodifusión. El sector público ha logrado apenas enunciarse como proyecto y ensaya sus primeros pasos, mientras que el sector comunitario continúa dando batalla en muchos de nuestros países, con el agravante de la inminente digitalización que lo coloca a priori fuera de escala y de competitividad a menos que los Estados intervengan con políticas proteccionistas de un modo casi inmediato.

Lamentablemente la unión regional no tiene respuestas elaboradas para un problema que no logra formularse con la densidad que se requiere. El MERCOSUR en éste sentido, continúa siendo una imposible región de fronteras y proyectos que se escurren dramáticamente entre las manos invisibles del mercado.

Materiales citados: CÁCERES, Oscar (2009) Entrevista inédita realizada por la autora de este artículo.

FERNÁNDEZ BOGADO, Benjamín Hilario (2005) “La ausente televisión pública paraguaya y el debate sobre el concepto del servicio” en Televisión pública: información para todos.

AIDIC. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (2008) Entrevista inédita realizada por la autora de este artículo.

GALPERÍN, Hernán (1998) “Las industrias culturales en los acuerdos de integración regional: el caso del N A F T A , la U E y el MERCOSUR”. Coleçâo U N E S C O - M E R C O S U L. Brasilia.

KAPLÚN, Gabriel (2006) “Los medios de comunicación en Uruguay” Informe preparado para Medios de Comunicación 2007. El espacio iberoamericano. Fundación Telefónica, Madrid. Mímeo.

MASTRINI, Guillermo y Martín BECERRA (2006), Periodistas y magnates: estructura y concentración de las industrias culturales en América Latina, Prometeo, Buenos Aires.

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

MONJE, Daniela. (2007) “Notas sobre radiodifusión en procesos de integración regional.

Propuestas para comparación entre los países” I Colóquio Binacional de Ciências da Comunicaçâo Brasil-Argentina. “La comunicación en un mercado digital”, Santos, San Pablo, Brasil. INTERCOM

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Anexo 1: Estructura Orgánica del MERCOSUR

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Informação, conhecimento e valor Pablo Ortellado1

LOPES, Ruy Sardinha. Informação, conhecimento e valor. São Paulo: Radical Livros, 2008.

O livro de Ruy Sardinha, fruto de uma tese de doutoramento defendida na Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo2 busca analisar, à luz de alguns pressupostos teóricos da Economia Política dos Meios de Comunicação, as mudanças que advêm da crescente centralidade da informação na lógica de reprodução do capital: a incorporação das tecnologias da informação como forças produtivas, as novas formas de organização e gerenciamento de um trabalho predominantemente intelectual (com as respectivas formas de subsunção do trabalho ao capital), os novos padrões de articulação entre produção e consumo e as novas formas de resistência que desencadeia.

Vê-se, pela lista dos efeitos, que Sardinha acredita que as mudanças trazidas por essa nova etapa não são desprezíveis. No entanto, considera também que essas mudanças não devem ser explicadas por meio de teorias que vislumbrem o advento de uma nova sociedade – pós industrial ou em rede – mas como formas novas das leis e tendências fundamentais da acumulação capitalista. Estamos, portanto, diante de uma tentativa de explicar as diversas mudanças trazidas pela tecnologia da informação, pela expansão do trabalho intelectual e pelas novas formas de gestão da força de trabalho por meio dos princípios fundamentais do pensamento marxista.

A nova etapa seria fruto de um duplo movimento: por um lado, movido por contradições internas, o capital foi forçado a flexibilizar a regulação fordista; por outro, o capital super-acumulado no período anterior se deslocou para o setor financeiro gerando investimentos em infra-estrutura e tecnologia da informação (o que reverteu, por sua vez, sobre a gestão flexibilizada do trabalho), além de uma subordinação do setor produtivo a este setor financeiro proeminente. Essa reorganização produtiva teria gerado uma mudança na

1

Professor do curso de Gestão de Políticas Públicas da Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades da Universidade de São Paulo e co-coordenador do Grupo de Pesquisa em Políticas Públicas para o Acesso à Informação (Gpopai).

2 Informação, conhecimento e valor. Tese de doutoramento em Filosofia defendida em 2006 sob a orientação de Otília Arantes.

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natureza do trabalho no qual as capacidades cognitivas, criativas e comunicacionais ganhariam centralidade.

Essa nova forma de realização da acumulação e subsunção do trabalho poderiam ser explicadas na sua novidade histórica pela famosa passagem dos Grundrisse de Marx sobre a "pós-grande indústria" – passagem na qual, extrapolando os limites lógicos do desenvolvimento do capitalismo industrial, teria antevisto o papel crescente da mobilização da ciência para a produção e suas implicações sobre a geração do valor que se descolaria do tempo de trabalho como medida da riqueza. Mobilizando a bibliografia brasileira que comenta essa famosa passagem (em particular os trabalhos de Ruy Fausto3 e Eleutério Prado4), Sardinha tenta mostrar como, a despeito do fracasso da previsão de que essa circunstância corresponderia à derrocada do sistema capitalista, os conceitos marxianos ainda são relevantes para descrever uma realidade na qual o valor-trabalho parece não encontrar mais apoio na experiência. Em particular, o conceito de que o progresso técnico agora se apóia numa espécie de fundo intelectual comum e social que Marx chama de "intelecto geral" pode ajudar a explicar a atual dinâmica de inovação capitalista e os conflitos entre a produção social da ciência e a apropriação empresarial privada por meio de instrumentos de propriedade intelectual (como as patentes). Essa tensão se manifestaria nos conflitos que têm sido chamados de "novos cercamentos" que expressam por um lado o potencial emancipatório da natureza comum do conhecimento e da ciência e, de outro, a apropriação privada desse "commons" por meio de estratégias empresariais de criação de monopólios de propriedade intelectual e de exploração das competências de acesso a esse fundo comum pelo emprego de trabalhadores.

O que se destaca na interpretação desta passagem de Marx para a compreensão dos novos processos capitalistas é que, como destaca César Bolaño no prefácio, a tradição brasileira não fica a dever à tão destacada tradição ítalo-francesa (de Negri, Lazzarato5 e Moulier-Boutang6). Na verdade, como fica patente nos comentários que Sardinha faz à obra de Negri, essa tradição brasileira se diferenciaria daquela por inserir elementos de contradição entre capital e trabalho na análise desses novos processos.

3

Fausto, R. Marx: lógica e política, t. 3. São Paulo: Ed. 34, 2002.

Prado, E. Pós-grande indústria: trabalho imaterial e fetichismo. Crítica marxista, n. 17, 2003, p. 109-130.

5 Lazzarato, M.; Negri, Antonio. Trabalho imaterial: formas de vida e produção de subjetividade. Rio de Janeiro: DP&A, 2001.

6 Moulier-Boutang, Y. Le capitalisme cognitif: la nouvelle grande transformation. Paris: Éditions Amsterdam, 2007.

4

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

Como explica Sardinha, Negri, ao operar uma inversão do conceito de biopolítica de Foucault, passa a vê-lo "não mais como potência sobre a vida, mas como potência da vida" (p. 179). Essa inversão, parece-me, deve-se antes à incorporação de certos pressupostos "vitalistas" que têm origem na obra de Deleuze e que, depois, encontrarão apoio na passagem supra-citada de Marx. Como Marx antevia que o estágio "pós-industrial" coincidiria com um estágio pós-capitalista, sua descrição é destituída de elementos de contradição. Incorporando essa ausência de contradição, os novos conflitos passam a ser vistos pela tradição ítalofrancesa como resistências à la Deleuze. Não se tratariam mais de contradições internas cujo desenvolvimento levaria a uma ruptura emancipatória, mas de uma transição conflituosa, mas não contraditória, da passagem sem negatividade rumo a um "comunismo da imanência". Por isso, para essa tradição, os elementos emancipatórios do pós-fordismo precisam ser positivamente afirmados.

Assim, se essa tradição brasileira (não apenas expressa na obra de Ruy Fausto e Eleutério Prado, mas também na daquela chamada de Economia Política do Conhecimento) quer identificar e recolocar as contradições na explicação do desenvolvimento do capitalismo, ela precisa ampliar o entendimento de uma série de questões cuja resposta permanece pendente para as diversas correntes do pensamento crítico. É tarefa investigativa comum determinar o verdadeiro alcance dessa nova configuração do capitalismo, a natureza dos novos conflitos no trabalho e das novas formas de geração do valor. Lembrando a distinção marxista entre método de exposição e método de pesquisa7, é preciso uma nova ênfase na investigação do concreto para desembaralhar as categorias abstratas – do contrário, a disputa intelectual no âmbito da tradição crítica se resolveria de uma maneira "não crítica" (ou melhor, "pré-crítica"). Essa abordagem a partir da experiência está, aliás, presente em trabalhos das duas correntes8.

O interessante levantamento e discussão que Sardinha faz da literatura atual (tanto a da tradição brasileira, como da Ítalo-francesa, como da obra de Castells – que, aliás, também é criticado por eludir os antagonismos), sugerem algumas questões que conviriam ser investigadas a partir da experiência:

7

"É, sem dúvida, necessário distinguir o método de exposição, formalmente, do método de pesquisa. A pesquisa tem de captar detalhadamente a matéria, analisar as suas várias formas de evolução e rastrear sua conexão íntima. Só depois de concluído este trabalho é que se pode expor adequadamente o movimento real." (Marx, K. O Capital. São Paulo: Nova Cultural, 1988, p. 26) 8 É o caso, por exemplo, do trabalho de T. Negri et al., Le Bassin de travail immateriel (BTI) dans la metropole parisienne (Paris: Harmattan, 1996) ou o de Nicholas Garnham, The Economics of Television (Londres: Sage, 1988).

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

•

Devemos unificar sob a idéia de uma crescente centralidade da informação nos processos produtivos esses dois processos talvez diferentes: o aceleramento do desenvolvimento tecnológico com um papel crescente no processo de valorização do capital; e a crescente mercantilização dos bens culturais, fruto da expansão da lógica do capital para a esfera cultural (as mudanças nas formas de trabalho e na organização e gestão deste trabalho sendo conseqüência da expansão dessas atividades produtoras de tecnologia e cultura)?

•

Qual o verdadeira dimensão das novas formas ("imateriais"/ "cognitivas"/ "simbólicas") de trabalho e seu impacto na configuração do capitalismo contemporâneo? Uma obra recém-lançada no Brasil de Richard Barbrook9 colocou em perspectiva histórica a promessa de uma sociedade "pós-industrial"/ "da informação"/ "em rede". Há mais de cinqüenta anos anuncia-se que uma nova era informacional vai chegar e que uma parcela da sociedade já vive hoje essa tendência de futuro. Como avaliar se esse crescente papel da informação é de fato o motor dinâmico da economia capitalista (como, na época de Marx, ainda era discutida a centralidade do capitalismo industrial) ou apenas mais um componente? Como ver a distribuição dessas novas modalidades de produção e de trabalho da perspectiva do sistema mundial? Quais os seus vínculos com o capital financeiro e com as formas persistentes do capitalismo industrial?

O livro de Sardinha levanta essas e outras difíceis questões cujas respostas não estão

dadas e que só podem ser respondidas à luz da teoria, mas a partir da experiência que precisa ser investigada por toda uma geração de pesquisadores.

9

Futuros imaginários: das máquinas pensantes à aldeia global. São Paulo: Peirópolis, 2009.

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

Livros recentes de EPC BABE, Robert E. Cultural Studies and Poltical Economy: Toward a New Integration.

Lexington Books, 2008.

BAKER, C. Edwin. Media Concentration and Democracy: Why Ownership Matters.

Cambridge University Press, 2006.

BOLAÑO, César Ricardo Siqueira; BRITTOS, Valério Cruz. A televisão brasileira na era digital: exclusão, esfera pública e movimentos estruturantes. São Paulo: Paulus, 2007.

BRITTOS, Valério Cruz (Org.). Comunicação na Fase da Multiplicidade da Oferta. Porto Alegre: Nova Prova, 2006.

BRITTOS, Valério Cruz (Org.). Digitalização e práticas sociais: modulações e alternativas do audiovisual. São Leopoldo: Unisinos, 2008. No prelo.

BRITTOS, Valério Cruz (Org.). Economia Política da Comunicação: estratégias e desafios no capitalismo global. São Leopoldo: Unisinos, 2008.

BRITTOS, Valério Cruz. (Org.). Comunicação, informação e espaço público: exclusão no mundo globalizado. Rio de Janeiro: Papel & Virtual, 2002.

BRITTOS, Valério Cruz; BOLAÑO, César Ricardo Siqueira (Orgs.). Rede Globo: 40 anos de poder e hegemonia. 2. ed. São Paulo: Paulus, 2005.

BRITTOS, Valério Cruz; CABRAL, Adilson (Orgs.). Economia política da comunicação: interfaces brasileiras. Rio de Janeiro: E-papers, 2008.

CHAKRAVARTTY, Paula; ZHAO, Yuezhi (eds). Global Communications: Toward a Transcultural Political Economy, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.

GOMES, Pedro Gilberto; BRITTOS, Valério Cruz (Orgs.). Comunicação e governabilidade na América Latina. São Leopoldo: Unisinos, 2008.

JAMBEIRO, O Othon; BRITTOS, Valério Cruz; BENEVENUTO JR, Álvaro. Comunicação, hegemonia e contra-hegemonia. Salvador: Edufba, 2005.

JAMBEIRO, Othon; BOLAÑO, César Ricardo Siqueira; BRITTOS, Valério Cruz (Orgs.).

Comunicação, informação e cultura: dinâmicas globais e estruturas de poder. Salvador: Edufba, 2004.

KUNZ, William Kunz. Culture Conglomerates: Consolidation in the Motion Picture and Television Industries. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.

Revista de Economía Política de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación www.eptic.com.br, vol. XI, n. 2, mayo – ago. / 2009

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