The scoop at any price: discursive practices of power and resistance centered on male chauvinism as a sign of democratic fragility

Abstract

Journalist Patrícia Campos Mello, from Folha de S.Paulo, was involved in a controversy based on the testimony of Hans River do Rio Nascimento to the Comission of Fake News, held by Parliamentary Inquiry Commission at Brazilian National Congress. A Yacows’ employee, digital marketing company, hired by Jair's presidential campaign. The witness accused the reporter of offering him sex in exchange of detailed information. The president Jair Bolsonaro, supposedly the target of the journalistic investigation conducted by Patrícia, appropriated River's speech to declare that “She was willing to give the scoop at any price against me”. Such statements, and debauchery tone used by the president, brought out macho manifestation of a sexual meaning against the journalist, on social networks, leading her to publish an article entitled “Testimony: In Brazil, being a woman makes us the target of attacks”. Based on this episode, the main purpose of this article is to address the evolution of the concept of democracy and fundamental rights, debating how discursive practices express the meanings of violence based on gender as an indication of democratic fragility. Specifically, based on Foucault´s discourse analysis, the formation of both statements is investigated by the truths valued in the discursive productions, considering the power and resistance established between them. The results found pointed to the comprehension of, in fragile democracies, discourses based on gender emerge effects of revealing meanings not only of strategies of power and domination, but also of tactics of resistance and transformation.