Tribuna ao vivo: discussão, representação e os avessos suscitados pela midiatização do parlamento

Abstract

This thesis contemplates how live broadcasting affects politicians discursive activities on the parliament floor, its main stage. Given the process of mediatization, the speeches can simultaneously reach multiple audiences, helping MPs pursue both internal and external agendas and goals. The hypothesis is that live broadcasting has relevant impacts over parliamentary debates and the process of representation. The thesis is based on a case study of Minas Gerais State Legislature during 2014-2015. The research design comprises gathering and analysis of quantitative data; semi-structured interviews with MPs and public servants; official published reports of debates and audiovisual recordings of floor meetings; and participant observation. The data reveals that while some politicians value and seek opportunities to speak on the floor and appear on the live telecasts, others shun this kind of publicity and are practically invisible for TV audiences. Individual and institutional characteristics help explain this discrepancy, but not in its entirety. MPs motivations are more subtle and complex, related to their strategic choices, perceptions regarding the legislative game and the possible feedback of their activities. The inquiry then focused on discussion and representation, two of parliaments most essential and paradigmatic functions. The ideal of discussion retains its normative power when MPs reflect on how they should interact with each other during plenary sessions. The floor is also where most of the debates between government and opposition take place and a prominent institutional stage for the enactment of discussion a kind of exchange that shows outside spectators what are the arguments and interests at stake. Through their speeches on the floor, MPs can also build and present themselves as representatives, highlighting some qualities, traits, and connections in a dynamic and ongoing process, while simultaneously making claims about their constituencies and audiences. This kind of discursive representation is amplified through live broadcastings of plenary sessions and may function as a way to pressure other political actors and alter the political context in which the discussions and decisions take place