Publicidade política e estratégias de representação: a visibilidade pública como «armadilha»

• Main Author: PRIOR, Hélder Rocha
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal da Bahia 2011-12-01
• Series: Contemporanea : Revista de Comunicação e Cultura
• Subjects: Political publicity; Public visibility; «Theaterpolitik»
• Online Access: http://www.portalseer.ufba.br/index.php/contemporaneaposcom/article/view/5359/4313

In recent decades, the changes in the media and political sphere have redefined, substantially, the processes of political communication; specifically with regard to the forms of revelation or presentation to the public. Nowadays, political communication is manufactured to influence the media system and ensure the visibility and public recognition in order that theatrical logic of the political arena works. From Thomas Hobbes, through Elias Canetti, the concept of actor was transferred from theatrical language into political language to refer to those who represent words and pretend actions in political campaigns. Through this way of thinking, politics and theater become two concepts that come together. The political action is brought on the scene as if it were a scenic art, and the media offer a privileged public recognition and consent to the characters of the theatrum politicum. Therefore, the political action is mediated by a theatrical rhetoric that has a privileged arena within the media system. However, the “lights” used by the media coverage bring with them new risks and may even have perverse effects. Indeed, this is where the manufacture of political advertising turns against the system that it serves. This is when public visibility becomes a trap.