A morte estampada nas capas de jornais: uma análise semiótica do "Massacre de Realengo".

The press coverage of facts with strong emotional appeal, such as tragic and/or violent deaths, raises an important discussion about the limits between what is considered a moderated or a sensationalist mode of reporting. The establishment of clear-cut boundaries between both editorial profiles can be fragile. In order to verify this hypothesis, this article analyses twelve different approaches of Brazilian newspaper front pages depicting the case known as the "Realengo's Massacre" in the next day of the fact. In the episode, twelve schoolchildren of a municipal school in the city of Rio de Janeiro were murdered by an ex-student who ended up shooting himself. The semiotic analysis here presented allowed the identification of text marks and aesthetic appeals of the journalism called sensationalist in all examined newspaper covers. It was surprising to observe the proximity of O Globo - a mainstream well established newspaper in Brazil - to the most appellative pole of the continuum traced with all front pages, in a qualitative gradation of meaning effects. This position set up an expectation break, since the newspaper is recognized by its somehow moderate profile. The results showed that the clear-cut boundaries between moderated and sensationalist enunciation styles fall apart in the pragmatic and complex dimension of the journalistic praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]