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The literature has stressed the difficulty of realizing the potential of the internet for the development of political conversation with argumentation, tolerance and reciprocity, qualities that are desirable for public deliberation, just as it has been idealized in Habermasian terms. We present the results of empirical research on official pages of youth groups of political parties on Facebook that used content analysis to differentiate the purposes of the posts and assess characteristics of the comments, with the general objective of verifying the quality of spaces that, having a link to the formal political institutions, could display promising features for political conversation. The results indicate the prevalence of internet use by parties to publicize public services and institutional promotion, to the detriment of the forms of dialogue. In the comments, characteristics were identified that suggest the effect of bubble filters and echo chambers, which tend to hinder the emergence of conditions conducive to political conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research presented in this article was carried out with the goal of investigating, from a comparative perspective, the quality of the online conversation in two deliberative digital environments, in different countries: the web portals Votenaweb.com.br (Brazil) and ISideWith.com (United States), which have the potential of encouraging relations of proximity between the general public and formal political institutions, allowing the expression of opinions on bills and legislative matters in general through symbolic votes. In total, 30.192 comments were collected and analyzed. Content analysis was performed in five categories, based on literature, namely: justification; reciprocity; reflexivity; respect; and information. The results indicate remarkable similarities between the two environments studied, but also important differences, which might be anchored in cultural characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research characterizes the role of editorial guidelines, codes of ethics and media accountability infrastructures in the management of quality journalism and veriied its application in Brazil and United Kingdom, from a comparative perspective. he analysis of existence, content and conditions of access to policies of editorial quality management of 42 media corporations was performed by the means of the Q-Avalia System (UFS/CNPq). Results include a ranking of the assessed corporations and are commented according to three keys of interpretation: quality as an outcome of normative policies; quality as an outcome of market competition; and quality as a simulacrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From an interdisciplinary, communication and trans-cultural perspective, participation in water governance should include non-political activities and engagement. In Brazil, it is mandatory for decision-making bodies to include society's active participation, a democratic principle that speaks to a concept of 'hydro-citizenship' that is currently being explored in the UK, wherein topdown water governance is giving way to community-led adaptation planning. The opportunities for social and cultural learning have been explored in our UK and Brazil collaborative research. We offer relevant insights about the value of story, narrative and memories as emerging components of resilience beyond collective, community or national political containers. We argue that a missing link in the literature is the one between narratives, social memory and environmental resilience as a personally shared culture water. These insights have the potential to address participation and governance gaps through recourse to a trans-cultural understanding of socially networked communication about water management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents results of a research carried out with the objective of generating scientific knowledge about the quality of flows of information and practices of mediated and non-mediated communication among the social actors in the Tietê-Batalha and Tietê-Jacaré River Basin Committees, of the State of São Paulo. The study investigated, through content analysis, document analysis, and direct observation, communicative processes and forms of relationship between social actors of those instances of democratic deliberation. The results indicate the existence of information in online and offline media formats ranging from 37 to 70% of the total considered necessary, according to the theoretical and methodological context of the research, for the complete characterization of a public policy of sustainability. Records of activities in non-mediated contexts indicate scenarios with a predominance of tools of dissemination of information. Drawing on these results, the study provided indications of communication strategies and public relations that can contribute to the improvement of the debate around decision-making and public policies that focus on the management of water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents and discusses the main findings of a three-year research project which developed and tested teaching strategies for media education in a Brazilian secondary school. The research sought to make connections with the dimensions of language, coding/decoding and technologies of the core curriculum and responded to a funding policy encouraging investigations aimed to search for new ways to address poor performance in reading tests. Results were assessed by mixed methods, comprised of semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and class observations. The data indicate that the media education activities elicited positive responses towards language learning, besides fostering the development of skills to critically analyse media cultures, such as identifying hidden meanings and comprehending processes of coding and decoding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide variety of digital communication strategies and public relations has been implemented to provide transparency to the formulation, execution and evaluation of public policies in various areas, including environmental sustainability, with results that need to be more understood. This research had the goal of identifying and characterizing, in relation to seven categories of content analysis, information on public policies for environmental sustainability available on web pages of the São Paulo Environmental System, of the State of São Paulo (Brazil), accessed by Facebook social media. The results suggest the insufficiency of information in the content analyzed and indicate opportunities for improving the management of public communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este artigo contextualiza a dinâmica dos movimentos sociais pela democratização da mídia no Brasil contemporâneo, que culminou na formulação de um anteprojeto de lei que, desde o ano de 2012, busca coletar 1,4 milhão de assinaturas para ingressar no Parlamento como projeto de lei de iniciativa popular. Analisamos os pontos fortes e aspectos potencialmente controversos do anteprojeto, à luz de dois critérios: um determinado pela normatividade existente em função do arcabouço constitucional brasileiro, e outro trazido pela comparação com os aspectos normativos existentes na União Europeia. De forma geral, o anteprojeto pode ser caracterizado por inovações relevantes, mas imprecisões conceituais e impactos potenciais de complexa administração, que devem enfrentar grande resistência de setores hegemônicos, podem dificultar o suporte a artigos específicos, tanto na fase de busca de assinaturas quanto em uma eventual tramitação no Parlamento. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the dynamics of social movements for democratization of the media in contemporary Brazil, which culminated in the formulation of a proposed law that since the year 2012 has been seeking to collect the 1.4 million signatures it needs to be submitted to the parliament as an agenda initiative. We analyze the strengths and potentially controversial aspects of the proposed law according to two criteria: one determined by the existing normativity given by the Brazilian constitutional framework, and another brought by the comparison with normative aspects existing in the European Union. In summary, the proposed law can be characterized by significant innovations. However, conceptual inaccuracies and potential impacts difficult to be addressed, which could meet great resistance from hegemonic sectors, may hinder support for specific items, both in the phase of seeking support and in the legislative process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results of a research which undertook a comparative analysis of the web pages of the superior courts of the Judiciary in Brazil - Federal Supreme Court (STF), Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), Superior Labor Court (TST) Supreme Military Court (STM) - and its regulatory agencies - the National Council of Justice (CNJ), the Federal Justice Council (CJF) and High Council of Justice of Labor (CSJT) with the goal of assessing the quality of the exploitation of technologies. The methodology deployed content analysis in four categories: institutional information; transparency; services; and interactivity. The results indicate that the portals showed satisfactory performance in the categories of institutional information (87% of the web pages analyzed contain related information), transparency (78%) and services (74%), but an insufficient use of interactive resources was detected (39% of the pages analyzed contain input mechanisms from users). The data are interpreted in the context of recommendations of international institutions and studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public policies seeking to safeguard the rights of individuals with disabilities have expanded in Brazil, despite the many obstacles to their consolidation. Public communications made by governments through the internet stand as one of the factors that can either contribute to the fulfillment of the goals of such policies or undermine their execution. This paper presents the results of a content analysis of web pages with information on policies that meet the rights of people with disabilities. The information was taken from government portals from the five most populous states of Brazil -- Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Goias, Para and Bahia -- and the National Department for the Promotion of the Rights of People with Disabilities. We detected a significant insufficiency of information in the assessed sample, considering the normative considerations that come from the scientific literature that supported the research methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article brings a contribution to the comprehension of the path of recognizing the rights of children and adolescents in Brazil, in which there have been seen symbolic representations that often are created, modified or popularized by the media. Newspapers with the largest circulation in the state of São Paulo in a period after almost 20 year of the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA) coming into force were investigated with framing analysis. Results suggest that the ECA faces obstacles to its consolidation, in the form of superficial and fragmented media coverage of events that should be contextualized in relation to public policies and their specific understanding of causes and possible solutions applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As media education concepts and practices have been disseminated and strengthened in European countries and Americas, the policies responsible for that expansion remain little known, particularly in countries where the achievements have been recently noted. That is the case for Brazil, where there have been new opportunities for media education, considered as a valuable resource to help accomplish goals of the educational system. This paper looks into the contribution of media education to the enhancement of teaching and learning in the context of innovations brought by recent policies of the Brazilian Ministry of Education. After educational reform programmes which brought the opportunity for emerging fields such as media education, we produced teaching material and conducted a series of workshops with students and teachers from state secondary schools. By reading and producing multimedia information about local public services available to young people, pupils learned about democracy, citizenship, civic engagement, media language, and identity. Lessons from our experiment are discussed against the backdrop of education policies being implemented to ameliorate harsh conditions resulting from the recent economic crisis. We suggest that media education can help by creating a learning environment in which the students become aware of the value of educational attainments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An expansion of the professional field of Public Relations can be seen nowadays, influenced by factors such as the increasing use of information and communications technologies for the dissemination of information on public management and the potential creation of dialogue between government and citizens. Despite this trend, there is still a need for specific knowledge about normative aspects of public communication generated by governments on the internet and its role in the fulfillment of the right to information. This article offers a contribution to fulfill the gap of guidelines and standards for professional performance. It describes the results of empirical research which identified the potential contribution of government web portals of the main cities of São Paulo, in the southeastern Brazil, to the strengthening of citizenship, considered in its dimension of exercising the right to information about public policies, particularly those which have an impact on education. The depth and breadth of information were investigated according with twelve categories of evaluation: history; diagnoses; goals; goals; resources and current actions; planned resources and actions; efficiency; effectiveness; impact; cost-effectiveness; user satisfaction; and equity. The data found on the analyzed portals correspond to the average of 11% of which was considered, under the theoretical-methodological context of the research, as information necessary to comprise the full characterization of a public policy in relation to the categories of assessment. Opportunities to improve government web portals were detected, for which we suggest communication management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welcomed as a result of a complex process of evolution of the Brazilian legal and institutional framework, the Federal Law 12.527, known as the Right to Information Law, enacted on November 18, 2011 and regulated in the federal Executive Branch by Decree 7724 of May 16, 2012, meets the assumption of the right to information secured by the Constitution of 1988. However, historically constructed values and practices may bring major obstacles and resistance to its implementation. Features of the legal text itself, observed when one compares it with its international counterparts, also signal potential complicating factors. This article points to limits that the Right to Information Law may face, in terms of its consolidation, particularly those coming from Brazil's political and institutional culture, which become clearer by comparing some of its characteristics with those of other countries that have similar laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results of an evaluation of the quality of the coverage of issues associated to the preservation of rights of children and adolescents in the eight main newspapers of major cities of Bauru (Sao Paulo State) administrative region, from August 2008 to March 2009. In a total of 389 assessed stories, 66% portrayed acts of legal infraction and violence with children and adolescents as victims or perpetrators, with a fragmented and superficial perspective; 34% are greater approaches about public policies aimed at the preservation of social rights. The results show the existence of a smaller number, yet significant, of stories which presented extended and more contextualized approaches. From a general view, we can point out that the contribution given by the media as a form of vigilance over the execution of public policies has been limited, which justifies the concern of demanding, from the mass media, measures to fulfill the role attributed to them by contemporaneous democracies to the strengthening of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanisms of democratic participation provided by the new technologies of information and communication represent the possibility of widening the public space. The creation of channels such as online discussion forms and public consultations brings a promissing advance, but their results were not satisfactorily studied yet. This paper revises theories which have been supported investigations in this field, characterizes recent studies in Brazil and presents contributions to the an up-to-date research agenda, which considers the potential of the new technologies to the strengthening of democracy and indicates paths to evaluate if the technological support is adequately explored in order to help an effective insertion in the processes of definition and evaluation of public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, there is a demand to produce science in a participatory way, since agents of society - researchers, legislators, politicians, educators, entrepreneurs and citizens - must be involved in the scientific production process (from the construction of the agenda to the completion of the project and results) in order to foster the construction of a responsible society with the future. The challenges arising from this context have been object of theoretical approaches to Research and Responsible Innovation, which article describes, examines and contextualizes in the current scenario. The methodology includes bibliometric and bibliographic reviews, used in order to understand the dissemination of the term in the English and Portuguese (Brazil) languages, in addition to rescuing the context of the RRI, exploring its concepts and principles. We sought to reflect on the challenges of implementing RRI in Brazil. It is expected to contribute to the RRI dialogue in the country and to raise reflections on the importance of applying it to agents and initiatives responsible for the socioeconomic and environmental spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]