Who Controls the Narrative? How Brazilian Parliamentarians Pursue Epistemic Authority in Times of Crisis
Article / Journal
Author(s) / editor(s):
André K. Rodarte
,
Carolina V. Kuahara
,
and Ahmer Arif
Year: 2026
Language(s): English
Abstract:
As politicians have come to challenge the role of media producers, there is a pressing need to understand how they participate in narrative contests. We address this need by analyzing social media data to offer insights into how Brazilian parliamentarians communicated during a crisis amid the Covid-19 pandemic. By investigating the connections politicians established with social media users, and the content they disseminated through their networks, we reveal three forms of narrative construction. Critics of the government engaged in what we call derivative reporting: They curated information from news media and adhered to journalistic content production formats, repackaging news to suit their agendas. While these politicians maintained ties with news media, the President’s allies severed those ties and presented themselves as alternative sources of information. These politicians established a communication ecosystem wherein the credibility of journalists was defied and state messages could be treated as authoritative truth. Local politicians skewed polarization, producing, instead, narratives about how they secured resources to solve the crisis. We discuss these modes of narrative construction as objectivity, authority, and proximity claims to epistemic authority, respectively. Our findings illuminate how political elites challenge what media sources ought to be trusted.
https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2026.2669534
Post created by: Virginia Signorini