‘Back to nature’ through ‘the miracle of Olympics’: narratives on the salvation of Rio de Janeiro in the television documentary Naturopolis

• Main Author: Ana Teresa Gotardo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnológica em Saúde (Icict) da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) 2020-06-01
• Series: RECIIS
• Subjects: cidade olímpica; produção de signifiados; sustentabilidade; city branding; documentário para televisão; comitê olímpico internacional; modificações urbanas.
• Online Access: https://www.reciis.icict.fiocruz.br/index.php/reciis/article/view/2060

Health and politics appear closely related in the COVID-19 pandemic, more than ever. Taking as an example the news from the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo from January to May 2020, we analyze the characteristics that differentiate the press coverage about this newly discovered severe acute respiratory syndrome in Brazil. The progress of the disease and the announcement of the pandemic by the World Health Organization, on March 11, led to an overexposure of the subject in the media, reaching a limit in journalistic production, from March until the fist half of April. This occurred even before an increase in the curve of COVID-19 cases in Brazil. Later on, the political crisis caused a gradual reduction in publications, until the end of May, opposing the rise in cases, in a period of worsening disease.