The city in cultural journalism: a perspective of Porto Alegre in the coverage of Diário do Sul (1986-1988)

Abstract

The article discusses the representation of the city in cultural journalism, examining how the cultural section of the newspaper Diário do Sul (which belonged to Gazeta Mercantil’s group) offered a perspective of Porto Alegre from 1986 to 1988. The study summarizes a large part of the research results conducted by means of content analysis and thematic oral history techniques. It was perceived that the coverage, anchored in positivity, builds up the city as a place of consumption, of novelty, of updating and of the continuous movement of external flows. It reveals the geographic centralization of the circuit, investments in culture institutionalization and in the renewal of the city`s infrastructure. In the tension between the references that create belonging and those that expand the territory, journalism represents the city as the center of the show, inserted in a phenomenon of the recent decades, when cities became decisive agents in the realm of culture.