“I don’t speak what people want, I am what people want”: 30 years (1987-2017) of Jair Bolsonaro’s political agenda in Brazilian newspapers

Abstract

This article aims to present the constitution of the current congressman Jair Bolsonaro’s public image by the political agenda associated to him in 30 years of newspapers’ articles. Articles used were from Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo, between 1987 and 2017. During his diverse political positions, how were his opinions within the political debate presented to readers? Would it be possible to glimpse some continuity and/or agenda alterations, indicating – or not – some political “coherence”? Which would be those opinions or agendas? These are some of the questions that guided this work. In the first section of the article, some theoretical-methodological considerations over the sources used are made, as to understand the nature and reach of our data. Next, technologies and methods are presented, as well as the process of data gathering and characterization. The third section describes the construction of categories of analysis. The fourth and last section exposes the qualitative and quantitative results obtained, mixed with reflections over the most recurrent agenda in the articles.