Considerations on the analysis of newspapers as historical resources, in their diachronic and synchronic perspective

Abstract

The article discusses the use of newspapers as historical sources, with special attention to the problem that the newspapers analyzed by historians need to be seen as part of a competition network formed by other newspapers that dispute the same public/readers or different sectors of the public. The example focuses on two moments in the history of the Brazilian press, related to the city of Rio de Janeiro: the First Republic, in which newspapers were already inserted in a capitalist marketing network, and Brazil at the beginning of the 19th century, in which newspapers had mainly a political purpose and also had short runs, and were usually led by a small group of people. The purpose of the article, in addition to the initial methodological reflection, is to discuss the importance of this aspect – the insertion of newspapers in a network – and the proposed example is one way to approach the problem.