Manipulation towards Peace on the Cover of the Newspaper Meia Hora

Abstract

Edited by O Dia S.A. since 2006, the popular newspaper Meia Hora de Notícias has been consistently one of the most successful newspapers in the country. On the cover of the issue released on April 17, 2008, it reflects military authority whose position is favorable to social sanitation as an efficient means to crime control. Going beyond a mere reproduction of a polemical statement, the enunciator explores visually and intertextually the contents by enfolding it in the popular and controversial language style that characterizes the newspaper editorial line. In the midst of the questionable fourth power, the Meia Hora projects “peace” as the main goal (object) in its discourse. However, the proposed way to reach this alleged peace is said to be by hunting criminals, here deprived of their humanity by the ascribed nickname “mosquitoes of evil”. The enunciatee is then manipulated by “temptation” to search for “peace” as the object, in an attempt to disguise the real action proposed by the enunciator. The analysis takes into account the Edmund C. Arnold’s page visualization zones theory in order to establish a linear organization of the narrative as a means to reveal its careful semiotic construction. Aiming at a real identification with its enunciatee, the newspaper offers “social sanitation” as an “effective solution” to their problems. This is done by ascribing to the subject of this narrative — the “bopecida” —, the power of acting in a vigorous way even if this means shaking off constitutional rights.