Racism, Silencing and Stigmatization in Journalistic Narratives about the Prison System

Abstract

The article investigates the journalistic framework of the mechanisms of penal punishment, especially the Brazilian prison system, focusing on the representation of people subject to criminal responsibility. It consists of an empirical study in the field of Critical Criminology, in which 17 thousand articles were verified by the most watched television news in Brazil: the Jornal Nacional of Rede Globo de Televisão. The main results point to the permanence of the topic of penal punishment in coverage over time, the enormous predominance of official sources, the intensity of coverage on famous subjects, in addition to the aspects of silencing, stigmatization and racism of the materials, in texts and images that reinforce the selectivity of the functioning of criminal control.