Início | Podcasts e Política

views of Brazil in podcasts about politics

Welcome! This website was created for scientific dissemination of results of the postdoctoral research intitled "Visões de Brasil nos podcasts sobre política" (Visions of Brazil in Political Podcasts): Producers' profiles, formats, and content as generators of recognition and identification. Here, you'll find links to the results produced, supplementary material, and updates on the research progress. Below, on this same page, I present basic information about the project.

The research is conducted by me, Prof. Daniel Gambaro, together with the Department of Sociology of the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences, IFCH, at Unicamp, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Michel Nicolau Netto.

The São Paulo Research Foundation has been funding this research since December 2024 (Process 2023/15121-0).

Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unplash

This research investigates political podcasting in Brazil, looking for correspondences between the profiles that podcasters present to their audience, their financial viability and maintenance strategies, and the programs' formats, content, and audience engagement strategies.

The context of this investigation is marked by disputes between " visions of Brazil " linked to distinct positions within the contemporary political spectrum. The organization of podcasting in Brazil, observed through a sociographic analysis of producers, exemplifies the social and political relations constructed behind the scenes of the media. Thus, it also allows us to glimpse, at least in part, the strategies for circulating ideas that correspond to different positions within the political arena.

In its emerging phase, podcasting represents another space for the dissemination of diverse voices and, given the nature of its technology, offers broad potential for connection and identity. Just like radio, the language of podcasting fosters a certain sense of intimacy and immersion in the listener. Furthermore, its portability and ease of access make it an everyday practice imbued with the values of digital media.

The central hypothesis to be investigated is that we will find correspondences between podcast production and circulation strategies and groups of producers ideologically aligned with a given segment of the political field. Thus, this research will seek to describe the formal characteristics of the productions and content that characterize patterns in podcasts, linked to disputes over a legitimate definition of the social world—the "visions of Brazil." The research also assumes that these same patterns act as codes that promote audience identification and their engagement, sometimes militant.

General

By mapping the sociocultural and political positions taken in the public arena by political podcasters in Brazil, we aim to demonstrate the correlations between program forms and content, funding, and cultural remediation—elements that act as instances of position representation in the dispute for the legitimacy of different "visions of Brazil." This analysis should shed light on the emerging structures of this market, highlighting the mechanisms that can serve listeners in their political engagement practices.

Specific

Conduct a comprehensive, but not exhaustive, mapping of podcasts associated with the theme of "politics," highlighting correspondences between producer profiles, financing methods, and production formats.
Propose a classification system that uses intrinsic criteria of the productions (e.g., formats, thematic approach, parasonic elements) and, if possible, extrinsic elements (e.g., political alignment, funders, projections in other media).
To demonstrate, based on the content analysis of a sample of programs, recurrences of discursive strategies that can trigger the engagement that propagates content from a presumed audience.

Esta é uma pesquisa dividida em etapas, e a cada uma delas cabe uma metodologia distinta. A seguir, é apresentado um breve resumo dos métodos adotados.

1. Exploração: compreensão do funcionamento das plataformas e mapeamento de podcasts associados ao tema “política”

Pesquisa exploratório-descritiva (Silva, 2015) com levantamento e análise de informações. (realizada entre mar. e maio/2024).
Tecnografia (Bucher, 2018) dos serviços de streaming de três plataformas – Spotify, Deezer e YouTube. (realizada entre dez./24 e jan./25).
Categorização dos programas quanto a: instância produtora, tipo de podcast, formato do programa (Viana & Chagas, 2024), periodicidade, inclinação ideológica entre outros.
Listagem 100 programas para averiguação aprofundada.
Filtragem do corpus final: cerca de 30 podcasts ativos no ano de 2023 em diante.

A lista representa como o podcasting reflete o rearranjo midiático hoje, permitindo identificar os alinhamentos discursivos sob influência da conjuntura política. Traz uma variedade de formatos, abordagens e equilíbrio de inclinações ideológicas (esquerda, direita, neutro, mercado e jornalismo). É representativa das posições no campo de produção ao incluir podcasts mais comerciais e mais segmentados, os vinculados a empresas de mídia e os independentes, etc. (realizado entre jun/24 e jan./25).

2. Produção de dados: podcasters e influenciadores.

Sociografia dos realizadores a partir dos perfis encenados publicamente, isto é, da coleta de informações de acesso aberto (sites wiki, mídias sociais e plataforma Lattes) e por eles próprios publicizadas.
- Exemplo de dados produzidos: Características demográficas (gênero, idade, escolaridade formação acadêmica etc.), Rótulo social e/ou profissão, alinhamentos políticos autodeclarados, posicionamentos em relação a pautas sociais, entre outros.
Compilação de tomadas de posição discursivas dos produtores, tanto as descritas em seus próprios sites e redes sociais, como opiniões emitidas em seus próprios programas, avaliadas a partir de uma análise de conteúdo valorativa (Bardin, 2011).
Análise estatística dos dados para fracionamento dos agentes de acordo com suas reivindicações de posições sociais e políticas.

3. Produção de dados: empresas e outras organizações produtoras.

Coleta de informações sobre as empresas produtoras dos podcasts, tanto em declarações dentro dos podcasts como em materiais parassonoros (websites, perfis em sites de redes sociais, etc.).
Seguindo Pinho et al. (2022) e sua classificação de programas a partir de vinculações, serão buscados dados sobre: formas de financiamento; origem da empresa produtora e relações com agentes externos (empresas de mídia, universidades, financiadores etc.). alinhamentos políticos.

4. Análise de conteúdo dos podcasts.

Identificação de valores a partir de análise de conteúdo (Gambaro & Ferraz, 2022)
Reclassificação a partir das seguintes chaves: 1) variedade e recorrência temática; 2) abordagens (ponto de vista político, grau de imparcialidade, veracidade científica das informações); 3) menções a referências científicas, pseudocientíficas e intelectuais; 4) recursos sonoros utilizados, citações e paródias.

5. Análise de Correspondências Múltiplas (Klüger, 2018).

Criação de categorias a partir de 3 níveis
1, discursivo, como os realizadores e as produtoras se apresentam e reivindicam posições no espaço social.
2, discursivo, conteúdo dos podcasts e seus valores.
3, estrutural, conjunto de ferramentas narrativas empregadas para agregar, subverter ou reforçar significados aderentes às identificações perseguidas pelos podcaster
Identificação das variáveis possíveis, como: perfis das produções, formatos e variedades temáticas, polos ideológicos, alinhamento ideológico etc.
Produção de gráficos, tabelas para codificação e análises.

6. Análise de interações podcasters/audiência

Seleção de amostra de episódios com temas disputados
Coleta de podcasts em interações nas plataformas de podcast e em sites de redes sociais vinculados aos podcasts.
Categorização valorativa das interações por métodos quanti-qualitativos (Bardin, 2011)

When we assert that political disputes seek a legitimate definition of the social world, which we call "visions of Brazil," we are referring to the contradictory visions of the country that have emerged in recent decades, as summarized by Renato Ortiz (2015). We highlight two more general positions: one that acknowledges diversity and cultural multiplicity, common themes in the 1988 Constitution; and another that advocates the resumption or continuation of a vision of the nation shaped during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, an idealization of the country and values that, under the Bolsonaro administration, was formed on a conservative-liberal basis.

These positions ultimately reflect the distension of the political spectrum between left and right. On one side, equal opportunities are advocated, with the present as an opportunity to correct past deviations that lead to inequality. On the other, present-day inequalities are seen as emanations of the past, and this is fuel for competition—a prerequisite for leading society into the future. This creates what resembles polarizations (despite the asymmetries observed between the sides), in which positions contrast with different definitions—economy, family, the role of the state, etc.

Since 2013, we have experienced a political context in which the population has converged toward a greater interest in politics. According to André Singer's (2021) analysis, in 2016, a right-wing movement rooted for many years—since the military dictatorship—was reactivated among a significant portion of the electorate, but remained only latent during the FHC and Lula administrations, when conservative positions were weakened. The role of the media is fundamental to understanding this cycle: the way traditional journalism covered events such as the 2013 protests and the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff; the performative use of digital social networks and other media by media intellectuals, politicians, and digital influencers; and communication organized through instant messaging services such as WhatsApp.

In this complex scenario, the dispute over "truth" takes shape, posing serious risks to the democratic rule of law (Sodré, 2021). Digital tools—content aggregators, including podcasting platforms—are used to effectively disseminate information (both true and false) and biased analyses, tailored to the left-wing and right-wing values each communicator claims to defend. These discourses support different "visions of Brazil" in pursuit of legitimacy through the construction of public opinion. As a result, groups are formed that reproduce themselves through "solidarity" among similarities and "differences" in relation to others—an "us" and "them" constructed and fueled by political actors, such as podcasters, who sustain a supposed polarization.

The first justification for this research lies in podcasts. Here, as in other parts of the world, we are experiencing the consolidation of producing agents, a sustainable increase in access and consumption, and, consequently, a greater circulation of information through this medium. A recent study (Pinho et al., 2022) even identified the growing interest in political podcasts: "(1) the rapid growth of podcast producers and listeners; (2) the emergence of a 'community' of fans around podcasts of this nature; (3) the favorable technological context; and (4) increased interest in political information and discussions."

Through their technological form and the uses that producers and listeners have given to these tools, podcasts are comparable to other elements of everyday internet experience, such as social media sites. This is because, in the distribution of programs across platforms, algorithmic recommendation systems ensure "efficiency" by distributing certain content to a standardized audience "profile."

This logic is constructed to generate profit for the platforms themselves and, subsequently, for the content producers who adhere to their rules. Without the necessary filters, listeners are exposed to information bubbles and limited participation, as they can be pigeonholed into artificially constructed taste profiles. Without control, we are heading, as Muniz Sodré (2021) states, toward incivility.

As an autonomous market, podcasting opens up space for political actors: "media intellectuals," journalists, activists, and politicians. In other words, podcasts become spaces for ideological propagation and repercussion, a fact enhanced by the characteristics of the audio language and the algorithmic boosting of episodes and fragments. Podcasters , therefore, operate at the intersection of the media and ideological fields, sometimes acting as "media intellectuals" themselves, and at other times, facilitating the dissemination of ideas through interviews, commentaries, and parodies. In this research, this effect of recommendation technologies can lead to an intensification of disputes within civil society.