O sensacionalismo do caso Rhuan Maycon pelo Balanço Geral

Abstract

Journalism frequently reports on incidents of violence, in some cases against children and adolescents. According to data released in 2021 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), from 2016 to 2020, at least 45% of male children aged five to nine have suffered some form of violence. Based on this scenario, this work focuses on the journalistic coverage of one of these cases of violence. The problem-question to be answered is: how did the Balanço Geral program construct the journalistic event of the Rhuan Maycon case? Therefore, the general objective of this research is to reflect on the journalistic coverage of the Rhuan case through the analysis of the construction of the journalistic event by the Balanço Geral program. Inspired by Content Analysis (Bardin, 1977), two reports from Balanço Geral on the Rhuan case are analyzed, based on the concepts of sensationalist journalism, melodrama, and journalistic ethics. As a result, it is highlighted that the journalistic event developed from the structuring of sensationalism, with the insertion of melodramatic strategies and ethical slips that condemn the accused to penalties greater than that of justice.