Disinformation and public sphere on Twitter: discursive struggles over the murder of Marielle Franco

Authors

  • Felipe Bonow Soares Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  • Paula Viegas Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  • Shana Sudbrack Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  • Raquel Recuero Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul / Universidade Federal de Pelotas
  • Luiz Ricardo Hüttner Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4013/fem.2019.213.01

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the discursive struggles on Twitter based on disinformation campaigns about Marielle Franco’s case. We used content analysis to identify how disinformation spread and which discursive struggles were involved in the conversation. We created two categories of tweets in our analysis: those that helped to reverberate disinformation, trying to disqualify Marielle, and those that tried to deny the false accusations, defending Marielle. In our results, we found that the reverberation of disinformation altered the main subject initially highlighted by media outlets – Marielle’s public life. Further, we found that mainstream media played a central role in reverberating disinformation and latter denying the false acusations against Marielle.

Keywords: Discursive struggles. Disinformation. Public sphere.

Author Biographies

Felipe Bonow Soares, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Faculdade de Biblioteconomia e Comunicação

Paula Viegas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Faculdade de Biblioteconomia e Comunicação

Shana Sudbrack, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Faculdade de Biblioteconomia e Comunicação

Raquel Recuero, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul / Universidade Federal de Pelotas

Faculdade de Biblioteconomia e Comunicação / Centro de Letras e Comunicação

Luiz Ricardo Hüttner, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Faculdade de Biblioteconomia e Comunicação

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Published

2019-10-21

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 3 (2019): September/December

Section

Articles

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