From the fifth estate to the fifth power: observations on the British context and perspectives on the Brazilian scenario

ABSTRACT

The objective of this work is to develop a reflection on the concept of fifth estate based on the concept of fifth estate, proposed by Dutton (2009), which is presented as the manifestations of citizens in the digital environment in order to charge and supervise the media, here assumed as the fourth power, and the other powers. The methodologies used will be: bibliographic and documentary research (Gil, 2008), important for understanding the British scenario, and Analysis of Audiovisual Materiality (Coutinho, 2016; 2018), which enables the investigation of audiovisual content in its entirety and without decomposition. The preliminary results point to an appropriation of the fifth estate in the Brazilian context and we have developed as an intermediate theory (Braga, 2016; 2020) the concept of fifth estate, which despite having characteristics similar to the fifth estate, takes on new nuances and characteristics.

Key words
Fifth state; Fifth power; Intermediate theory; Audiovisual materiality; Users

RESUMO

O objetivo do presente trabalho é desenvolver uma reflexão acerca do conceito de quinto poder a partir do conceito de quinto estado, proposto por Dutton (2009), e que se apresenta como as manifestações dos cidadãos no ambiente digital com o intuito de cobrar e fiscalizar a mídia, aqui assumida como quarto poder, e os demais poderes. As metodologias utilizadas serão: pesquisas bibliográfica e documental (Gil, 2008), importantes para a compreensão do cenário britânico, e Análise da Materialidade Audiovisual (Coutinho, 2016; 2018), que possibilita a investigação de conteúdos audiovisuais em sua totalidade e sem decomposição. Os resultados preliminares apontam para uma apropriação do quinto estado no âmbito brasileiro e desenvolvemos como teoria intermediária (Braga, 2016; 2020) o conceito de quinto poder, que apesar de ter características semelhantes ao quinto estado, assume novas nuances e características.

Palavras-chave
Quinto estado; Quinto poder; Teoria intermediária; Materialidade audiovisual; Usuários

RESUMEN

El objetivo de este trabajo es desarrollar una reflexión sobre el concepto de quinto poder a partir del concepto de quinto poder, propuesto por Dutton (2009), y que se presenta como las manifestaciones de los ciudadanos en el entorno digital con el fin de cobrar y fiscalizar a los medios de comunicación, aquí asumidos como el cuarto poder, y los demás poderes. Las metodologías utilizadas serán: la investigación bibliográfica y documental (Gil, 2008), importante para la comprensión del escenario británico, y el Análisis de la Materialidad Audiovisual (Coutinho, 2016; 2018), que permite la investigación de los contenidos audiovisuales en su totalidad y sin descomposición. Los resultados preliminares apuntan a una apropiación del quinto poder en el contexto brasileño y hemos desarrollado como teoría intermedia (Braga, 2016; 2020) el concepto de quinto estado, que a pesar de tener características similares al quinto estado, adquiere nuevos matices y características.

Palabras clave
Quinto estado; Quinta potencia; Teoría intermedia; Materialidad audiovisual; Usuarios

Introduction

Before starting the debate about the concept of fifth estate, developed by Dutton (2009), it is important to delimit the concept of fourth estate, which we have adopted in the present study as being a «symbolic power» (Bourdieu, 1987) and which is established from the media fulfilling a role of «guardian of the news» and oversight of the three institutionalized powers, namely: Executive, Legislative and Judiciary.

According to Traquina (2000), the emergence of the term fourth estate occurred in England, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when a deputy of the English parliament made the relationship of the term with the journalists who occupied a gallery, sitting in the same place as the three powers of the French Revolution, composed of the Clergy, Nobility/Bourgeoisie and the People. In this sense, it should be noted that with the emergence of the democratic state, the three powers began to be institutionalized as Executive, Legislative and Judiciary, these being the representative instances of society.

For Novelli (1994), the concept of fourth estate - here adopted as similar to the concept of fourth estate - emerged in England in the twentieth century and was intended to highlight the importance and influence of the media on public opinion. In this way, the author points to this «power» not as a real - and institutionalized - power, but rather a power of law and that would have the mission of acting as a watchdog of information.

On the other hand, Sodré (1999) states that the history of the press is intertwined with the history of capitalism itself, having its beginning marked by the French and American Revolutions. And in a similar way, Rizzotto (2012) reinforces Sodré›s (1999) statements by pointing out the submission of the press (even if partially) to politics, which influences the analysis and definition of the press as this «fourth power».

Furthermore, another view is that of Albuquerque (2009), who points to a conception of «fourth estate» that compares journalism in Brazil and in the United States, highlighting that the Brazilian scenario is different from the ideal established in the United States, in which journalism is intrinsically linked to objectivity, impartiality, representation of citizens before the Estate and maintenance of the balance between the three powers. To justify the exercise of «power» in Brazilian journalism, the author (2009) goes back to the time of the Brazilian Republic, in which there was an attempt to create a «moderating power» that would have the function of regulating and coordinating the action of the other public powers, ensuring the balance between them.

Considering the perspectives addressed, as well as adopting for the present work that journalism acts as a constructor of realities (Alsina, 1996; Silveira; Marôpo, 2014), we point to the existence of a «fourth power», represented by the journalism, which is not an institutionalized power but an extra-institutional or symbolic power, returning to Bourdieu (1987), since this would be a power that is exercised only if there is the complicity of those who are subject to this power or those who exercise it, something that is observed in democratic societies.

It should also be noted that the concept of fourth power is discussed in academia at the national and international levels, as we can see in Charaudeau (2012), who considers the media as an important space for covering issues relevant to society, but with the caveat that Journalism could not be pointed out as «power» because there are editorial standards and pre-established languages.

However, despite different positions about the «fourth power», we justify its performance and possibility as a concept that was developed and corroborated by several authors who previously focused on the theme and adopted the conceptualization of the term as possible and viable.

Added to this scenario is the digital expansion and the growth of the web and digital social networks as spaces for the production of content, especially from the differential of enabling producers and receivers to become the same thing (Castells, 1999), in addition to the potential for new social actors to position themselves as content producers.

Through the perception of growth of this new environment, which is digital and which poses itself as a possibility of breaking the programming grids, since everything is online 24 hours a day, as well as through the identification of a potential for action by users with regard to the inspection and collection of journalism, Dutton (2009) corroborates the perception of the media as a fourth power, which for the author would be called the «fourth estate» and proposes the concept of «fifth estate», which is linked to the perspective of accountability and the demand that is made by citizens for the content broadcast by the media.

From this conception, which takes place in the British context and which, therefore, differs from the Brazilian one with regard to the system of Government, which is a parliamentary monarchy, while Brazil is organized as a presidential federative republic, in addition to other issues such as the fact that Brazil does not have media regulation or effective and widespread strategies of education for the media - despite the fact that the agenda has recently been resumed by the Federal Government in 2023, with the Brazilian Week of Media Education¹ -, the concept proposed by Dutton (2009) is sought as inspiration to identify characteristics and advance in the conceptualization of a «fifth power», applied to Brazilian reality.

Fifth estate and the media in the british context

Taking as a starting point observations about the increasingly central role that the internet has been occupying in society since the early 2000s, especially in the British context, in 2009 researcher William Dutton sought to define what he called the fifth estate.

The concept emerges from a research project by Dutton that aimed to critically examine the role of the media as the fourth estate, as well as to analyze the role of the internet as a space capable of enabling new forms of democratic social responsibility and voice in comparison with the fourth estate - a term used to define the press as a «symbolic power» and that self-institutes itself as a watchdog of the news (Waisbord, 2000).

However, in order to approach the british context and, subsequently, analyze the Brazilian scenario, it is worth highlighting the differences between the relations of the two places with the press, starting with the fact that the british broadcasting system has as its great exponent the British Broadcasting Corporation or BBC, a public television broadcaster that is part of the cultural heritage of the United Kingdom and a world example of TV, being pointed out by Leal Filho (1997) as the best TV in the world, while in Brazil the broadcasting model that was established was that of public concessions that are exploited, above all, by commercial broadcasters which, according to Guareschi and Biz (2009), were historically oriented to privilege oligarchies and monopolies. To this context, we add the fact of concentration and perpetuation of a media oligopoly composed mainly of 5 large communication companies: Rede Globo, Rede SBT, Rede Record, Rede Bandeirantes de Televisão, RedeTV! (Marinoni, 2015).

When addressing the «best TV in the world», Leal Filho (1997) points out that in 1985 there was a call made by the Broadcasting Research Unit, an independent research body maintained by the BBC, the British Film Institute and the Markle Foundation in New York, in which the objective was to discuss the principles of the public service of radio and television, with eight standards being established: 1- geographic university, which consists of offering radio and TV services to the entire population; 2- universal appeal, which is based on the offer of services for all tastes and interests; 3- payment university, in which all users who have access to public services pay for them and avoid breaking the risks of independence of public broadcasting services; 4- independence, which consists of the removal of broadcasting services from private interests and the Government; 5- national identity and community, which is the promotion of identity and representation of british citizens; 6- minorities, which reinforces the importance of giving special attention to social, cultural, ethnic, religious minorities, etc.; 7- competition, which aims to stimulate competition for quality programs and for better formats and styles; 8- creation, which consists of the producers› freedom of projects (Leal Filho, 1997, p. 60-63).

In addition, the BBC has a channel open to the public for complaints, which facilitates contact between citizens and the broadcaster, as well as publicly publishes complaints of great interest to the public and which generates a significant number of complaints and raises significant issues. These questions and answers are published on the BBC›s own website².

Guided by the public service that values quality content, with its main exponent in the BBC, British citizens are inserted in a context of media regulation in which the regulatory agency is delimited by law and acts independently of the Government, unlike the Brazilian scenario.

During the end of the twentieth century, two independent bodies monitored and supervised the media: the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, which received complaints from viewers and program participants on issues related to invasion of privacy and impolite treatment, and the Broadcasting Standards Council, which monitored issues related to violence, sex, and language patterns used on TV and radio (Leal Filho, 1997).

Nevertheless, both bodies were replaced on 29 December 2003 by the Office of Communication (Ofcom), the regulatory body for British television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications media that receives complaints and complaints about all broadcasters, including the BBC.

Figure 1
Official page of the Ofcom website, «About Ofcom» tab

Independent and funded by fees that are paid by the companies it regulates, the Office of Communication (Ofcom)³ is a regulatory and competition authority for broadcasting spectrum, postal services, telecommunications and radiocommunications, which was created in 2001 and has a legal duty to represent citizens, their rights and interests, protecting the public from harmful or offensive content and functioning as a journalism watchdog where citizens can submit their demands, criticisms and suggestions.

From an analysis of the Office of Communication›s official website, it is possible to identify that the regulatory agency calls itself an institution that works for all people in the United Kingdom. In addition, among its principles, the following stand out: guarantee of quality broadband services, home and mobile telephony, TV and radio; guarantee of satisfaction with what the public hears and sees on radio and TV; receipt of complaints and complaints; and oversight against bad practices, so that citizens are not deceived and are protected.

Among the areas of activity of the Office of Communication are the annual reports, published since 2003 in order to account for what Ofcom has done in a discriminated manner; annual plans, which seek to deliver on the media regulator›s mission to make communications work for everyone across the UK; Ofcom Content panel, developed through the activities of the Content Council and which is responsible for understanding, analyzing and defending the voices and interests of the viewer, the listener and the citizen, seeking to define and reinforce the quality and standards for television and radio; news portal with updates regarding Ofcom›s actions.

Moreover, the importance of media regulation in Europe has been a topic of discussion since the beginning of the twentieth century, being ratified by civil society groups and actors, such as the «Article 19» movement, also in the British context, which in 2005 published a book entitled «Freedom and accountability: safeguarding free expression through media self-regulation». The work focuses on the regulation and regulation of countries on the south coast of Europe, including the United Kingdom.

In its chapter 3, the publication works with the issue of press councils in practice and self-regulation, pointing out cases that occurred in the United Kingdom that question the credibility of its journalism and discussing these cases openly, in the form of «self-regulation» of the media.

Movements such as those developed by Article 19 and others that are part of discussions on media regulation highlight the concern of European countries with the issue and raise debates similar to what Dutton (2009) conceptualized as the fifth estate, which emerges precisely because of failures in journalism as a state or power - even if symbolic.

For Dutton (2009), it is assumed that the existence of three powers that would be directly linked to the Estate (Executive, Judiciary and Legislative), a fourth power, represented by the media (Traquina, 2000; Albuquerque, 2009) and a fifth estate - which has its emergence in the digital and is strengthened by individuals in the network, creating a more pluralistic political environment for information.

Another face of this fifth estate would be the inspection and supervision of the content that is published by the media (in traditional or digital media) and the possibility of production, reproduction and co-production of materials, either to reflect what was conveyed by the press, or to produce new discourses and narratives, something enhanced in digital media.

Thus, if the fourth estate or power occupied a space of eyes and ears of the population and guardian of the news, being responsible for building realities, with the internet this logic is transformed, since it is possible for users to produce their own information, content and worldviews.

It is true that the Internet›s broad social role in government and politics can have many similarities to that of traditional media. Equally important, it also plays roles that differ from traditional media, and opens up other institutional arenas for greater social accountability—from everyday life to science

(Dutton, 2009, p. 3).

In addition, the process of globalization and the expansion of the internet as a possibility for the media, as well as the potentialities brought by this context in which users produce and reproduce materials based on their preferences and demands, is a way for the effectiveness and increasing diffusion of the fifth estate to become increasingly effective and widespread.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to highlight that in 2009, and in the british context, some initiatives of digital social networks or mobilization networks had emerged, but still without global impact, something that occurs from the 2010s onwards, since among the main social networks in the world such as Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X) and other digital social networks, were at the beginning of their trajectories as possibilities of channels of global diffusion. In the first decade of the 2000s, personal blogs and web pages were the main phenomena.

With regard to the Brazilian scenario, the first studies on social networks were developed by Recuero (2009), who points to interaction and connections as the main characteristics of this new environment. In seeking to understand the dissemination of information in journalism through the internet and social networks, Recuero (2009) points to three main possible relationships that help in understanding these changes caused in journalism by the digital environment: «a) as sources of information production; b) as information filters; c) as spaces for the reverberation of this information» (p. 43).

After the 2010s, digital social networks were the main potential of the internet, overlapping other initiatives that were also there. By allowing people from all over the world to connect through servers and in a few clicks, the internet and digital social networks become spaces for the emergence and consolidation of new social actors (Recuero, 2011). Here it is worth noting that youtubers, digital influencers and bloggers, who start to appropriate this connected environment not only with the intention of mobilizing in favor of the inspection of the room and other powers, but with the objective of becoming personalities who mobilize thousands or millions of people about their interests and issues worked on.

And in the same way, the rapid expansion of digital social networks promoted a movement of appropriation of the mass media, which found in these spaces the potential to expand the reach of their content, as well as to expand their credibility and legitimacy that they already carried from other media spaces.

This transposition of materials to other screens helps in the development of new consumer relations of their content by users, who can now interact through likes, comments, shares and add information to the products that circulate on the web, becoming content reproducers and co-producers.

In this new configuration of digital social networks, Dutton and Dubois (2015) seek to redefine the concept of fifth estate/power, taking into account this new connected environment driven by the algorithms that are behind each of the digital social networks.

On this matter, the authors propose six potentialities of the fifth estate, now also assuming the importance of digital social networks: 1- searches; 2- individual content creation; 3- ability to establish contacts; 4- leakage of information that can be accessible online; 5- collective intelligence; 6- collective observation.

However, despite having a potential for mobilizing and strengthening social relations on the internet, other paths have been observed in the applicability of what the author calls the fifth estate. Thus, this supervisory or managing power, capable of granting power to society, which Dutton (2009) points to a kind of idealization of the concept that occurs for various reasons and is linked to the expansion of websites and digital social networks.

In an interview given in 2021 - published in 2022, in Intercom: Revista Brasileira de Ciências da Comunicação (RBCC) - and considering the growing use of the Internet and digital technologies, Dutton points to a new way of acting in the fifth estate, which is associated with a mobilization and social and political oversight that occurs within the scope of civil society, whether in the production of new narratives or in the repercussion of these materials.

From the moment that content is produced by people and starts to circulate and «go viral» on the internet, such as in cases of aggression, racism, demonstrations, among others, it is observed that citizens, even if initially in an amateur way and with only a cell phone in their hands (Mata, 2019), fulfill a role that was once attributed exclusively to journalism - fourth estate -, which consists of recording and publishing these events, occupying, in a way, the place of «guardian of the news» and translator of realities about what happens in society. Though, with the evolution of technology and digital media, this can now be easily done by ordinary citizens who publish this content on digital social networks, blogs, etc.

I think the main role that the Fifth Estate plays is accountability – socially and politically. The most obvious example is the videos of police officers kneeling on the neck of a person arrested by them. This kind of video evidence is hard to deny and has to be explained. It may not make a difference in politics, but it creates another source of accountability, a role of inspecting and supervising society that is also the responsibility of the press. And indeed, of course, the press republishes and reveals what the Fifth Estate can supply and distribute

(Dutton; Pereira, 2022, p. 4).

Despite recognizing the potential of the internet and digital social networks, Dutton points out that not all individuals in the network are part of the fifth estate, differentiating users who use this space to inform and seek information from those who have malicious and malicious motivations.

Thus, an obstacle to the effectiveness of the fifth estate would be the action of malicious users who use the internet and digital social networks to spread disinformation and fake news, as well as those who commit fraud and those who steal data from other users.

And a final point to be considered in the British context is the clash between the fourth and fifth «states». For Dutton, the fifth estate naturally threatens all other powers, but the press or fourth estate is the one that feels most threatened, since the new digital media transform and undermine traditional models of journalism.

On the other hand, journalism itself has increasingly appropriated materials produced by citizens and broadcast on digital social networks.

More and more journalists are using content created by the fifth estate. Networked individuals are the people who actually see what›s going on and can show and describe exactly what happened at an event. So, I believe that all other states are concerned with the fifth estate, because the more powerful it becomes, the more strident the networked individuals who mobilize through that state are

(Dutton; Pereira, 2022, p. 12).

After presenting the concept from british thought, it is necessary to make an effort to delimit the concept of fifth estate proposed in 2009 and deployed in 2015 and 2021 by Dutton, as a starting point for the production of an intermediate theory about the fifth estate applied to the media context of Brazil, involving the mass media and the internet.

Methodology: intermediate theory of the fifth estate as a possible proposal

Having delimited the British context and the concept of fifth estate, we move on to a second moment, which consists of the identification and conceptualization of the fifth estate, applied to the Brazilian scenario and which, unlike what occurs with the British, does not have any mechanism for media regulation or media education.

To this end, we used Braga›s conception of intermediate theories (2016; 2020) that defends the development of intermediate theories as a way to contribute to the construction of knowledge in the area of communication, assuming its plurality and diversity, we seek in the present work to promote the conceptualization of the fifth power in the Brazilian scenario, in order to clarify this phenomenon.

By explaining how the processes of conception of intermediate theories occur, Braga (2016; 2020) proposes a work that starts from heuristic propositions, which are those based on sources and documents, followed by a stage of disentangling the communicational field, which in the present work occurred from the bibliographic research previously carried out on the concept of power, the organization of powers in Brazilian society and the idea of the fourth estate, which enables us to produce intermediate theories about the concept of the fifth power.

In order to bring contributions to the field of communication, it is necessary to answer two questions: 1- What is this phenomenon? 2- How to forward and substantiate your knowledge?

After conducting bibliographic and documentary research and concluding the stage of unraveling the field, we emphasize that the phenomenon of the fifth estate can be considered as an intermediate theory because it brings with it similarities with what Dutton (2009) calls the fifth estate. In addition, the phenomenon is explained by the increasingly recurrent manifestation of citizens in the digital environment, which favors practices of content production and reproduction, as well as enables greater oversight and accountability to the press and other powers.

Then, we seek to forward and substantiate knowledge. To this end, we used the empirical analysis, of an analytical nature, which consisted of the investigation of content published in the profile of Jornal Nacional on Twitter - currently called «X».

In this sense, in order to evaluate audiovisual content in its entirety and without decomposition, also observing the paratexts that make up these materials, something relevant to the present research, we took as a methodology the Analysis of Audiovisual Materiality, proposed by (Coutinho, 2016; 2018). To carry out the analysis of the contents of the profile of Jornal Nacional in «X», all publications in 2022 that had Covid-19 and its developments and politics and its ramifications as central themes were mapped, since the two subjects have high relevance in the year evaluated.

Initially, 123 audiovisual publications were found, which would allow us to analyze the text and its paratexts. Then, the following factors were defined as parameters for sample collection: likes, comments, and shares. The materials that obtained the highest sum of these factors were classified between 1 and 123. And in order to define a sample that would be representative for the corpus, we applied the following formula: [z2 * p(1-p)] / e2 / 1 + [z2 * p(1-p)] / e2 * N], which is often used in sampling surveys in the fields of statistics and market research and helps the researcher to find a sample that is neither too small nor too large⁴.

According to Qualtrics, to find the ideal sample size, we must take into account the following factors: 1- confidence level, which can vary between 90%, 95% and 99%; 2- population size/mapped publications; 3- margin of error, which can vary from 1% to 10%; 4- Ideal sample size, which is the final number of contents to be analyzed within a broader universe.

From then on, a confidence standard of 95% was chosen and 10% was used as the percentage margin of error, since it refers to a quali-quantitative research, which resulted in the selection of 54 publications.

After selecting the materials, the second stage of methodological application was carried out. According to Coutinho (2016; 2018), after the bibliographic research and object selection stage, the next step is the development of axes of analysis that will guide the empirical evaluation. To this end, it was decided to build four axes, namely: 1- Journalistic processes, interaction and engagement; 2- Legitimacy/credibility; 3- Journalism safety, accountability and narrative disputes; 4- Disputes between the fourth and fifth powers.

In axis 1, “Journalistic processes, interaction and engagement”, we detected that the JN profile does not develop perspectives of interaction or engagement with its audience, using the digital social network much more as a repository of the materials broadcast on the TV in clipping, than as a platform capable of generating interaction with users.

In this way, we identified that of the 54 contents analyzed, only three are made in an unconventional format, and none of them has a call to the public or anything like that. The exceptions occur only in three materials that reveal the backstage of Jornal Nacional, such as in a publication in which the profile of Jornal Nacional tags its reporter, Raquel Krahenbuhl, and the journalist herself reveals that she spoke exclusively with the president of Ukraine. The material, recorded by the reporter herself in a «selfie» format - which uses the front camera of the cell phone to make the recording - is made by the journalist, who not only introduces the subject, but also shows a backstage of the news program by presenting to the public the editing process being done at the time of recording the video⁵.

Furthermore, these three materials are the only ones in which it is possible to observe marks/characteristics of hypermedia and multimedia dialogues, since they are produced for the internet and reveal aspects of television - even if through the backstage - which points to the interface on screens, especially with regard to expanded television journalism (Mello Silva; Vidigal Rocha; Farias Silva, 2018).

However, in the other 51 materials, the digital environment is used only as a place to expand the content of the news program to new screens, so that the cuts are made only in order to adapt the content to the platform, and not to produce or reproduce a narrative adapted and designed for digital. And although digital social networks allow their users to experiment with formats and languages, it is observed that Jornal Nacional does not promote experiences and innovations in its profile, limiting itself, most of the time, only to reproduce its content using the same formats and the same language as television, with its profile becoming a kind of «repository of materials».

On the other hand, when analyzing the journalistic processes that involve the publications of the profile, it is possible to infer that there is an evident concern of Jornal Nacional in positioning itself as a credible means of communication, presenting at various times the stages of verification and verification of content, which is a differential in relation to other materials published on digital social networks.

With regard to axis 2, the conflicts regarding the credibility and legitimacy of Journalism are not only proven, but there is also a broader perception that citizens/users not only criticize, question and disagree, but also demand accountability from Jornal Nacional, which is detected in several comments that claim the presence of agendas supposedly silenced by JN, who complain about the angle given to the contents and who criticize the materials broadcast by the newscast. This is corroborated by the expansion of the discredit of Journalism as a source of reliable information (De Oliveira Ferro, 2017; Van Dijck et. al, 2018).

Conversely, it is identified that the profile of JN reinforces in its contents the concern not only to address the events or inform the population about something, but also to demarcate its place as guardian of the news and «fourth estate», thinking here of Journalism as a «symbolic power» and not institutionalized. An example of this are the Datafolha and Ipec polls that were commissioned and released by Jornal Nacional during the election period.

With regard to the investigation of the materials of the JN profile, a factor that draws attention is that in all 54 contents analyzed there are questions about the legitimacy and veracity of the contents. In addition, in most of the content broadcast by Jornal Nacional it is possible to identify a greater volume, in quantitative terms, of comments or «interactions» that criticize the outlet/news program and the content of its publications (which includes criticism of the agendas and sources heard/interviewed).

And in general, the comments take four forms of criticism: 1- questions about the quality and credibility of the news program as a source of information and a means of mass communication that exerts power over society; 2- criticism about the legitimacy of the vehicle/newscast; 3- attacks directed at the news outlet or the journalists who present the newscast; 4- Questioning journalism as the fourth power.

In this sense, it should be noted that this scenario is enhanced by the themes addressed in the materials analyzed, especially the content of interviews with two of the main candidates for the presidency at the time: Bolsonaro and Lula, which suggests a dispute of narratives that goes beyond the news program and collides with the political and ideological fields, but which do not exclude the accusations that Jornal Nacional lacks credibility and legitimacy.

Moving on to axis 3 - “Security, accountability and narrative disputes”, we resume the particularities of the national scenario in relation to the British context that was previously presented. This is because, unlike what happens not only in Great Britain, but also in other countries of the European Union and around the world, in Brazil there are no bodies or proposals in force to regulate the media and, moreover, it is possible to observe financialization and media oligopolies as a mark of a press that is born commercial and has profit as a priority.

Thus, with regard to the perspectives of accountability, we identified that the opening of digital as a space for dialogue between JN and the public is also placed as a place for demands made by users at different scales and in different ways, with emphasis on those related to the coverage of specific agendas, which also implies accusations that JN would be silencing certain topics, as can be seen in comments such as: «@arcanosprime «It was just missing to show him talking well explaining the questions and not happy the sealer missed a good opportunity to clear all his doubts. Regrettable».

Another ways of inspecting the news program are the charges for changes in the angle of the content broadcast, which flirts with accusations that the materials produced by Jornal Nacional would be biased or manipulated; possible accusations that Jornal Nacional would be producing content that is not true, which would be subject to disinformation and fake news; and attacks - and even threats - to journalism and, especially, to journalists, which is present in all 54 publications made by JN and analyzed in this work.

Finally, when we analyze axis 4 - “Disputes that are established between journalism/fourth estate and users”, we detect that most of the comments made in JN›s publications are in a critical, demanding and accusatory tone, which offers us a substrate to reflect on the existence of a fifth estate, as proposed by Dutton (2009), but with the particularities of the Brazilian context.

This is because it was possible to identify that there are several profiles that criticize the content broadcast by Jornal Nacional, ranging from users with few followers and movement on the network, to profiles that position themselves as authorities on certain subjects and have thousands and even millions of followers. In addition, in the analyzed excerpt, we observed that there are profiles that make dozens of comments in an inspection and critical tone to JN, positioning themselves as a power of opposition to the television news, although without great mobilization on the part of other profiles.

In this scenario of clashes, we detected three main forms of comments in order to establish this dispute between journalism and users: 1- comments that try to change the angle of the content published by JN, as well as we observed attempts by users to «guide» the news program in the sense of addressing themes that are important and relevant for these interactors; 2- comments in a tone of demand and questioning that seek to accuse the news program of lying and misinforming the population; 3- interactions made by users in order to tension the content conveyed by Jornal Nacional from materials produced by other media or social actors, which reveals a face of a «power» of the citizen that not only supervises and demands journalism, but also presents an opinion of opposition to what is being broadcast by the television news using other profiles to base its comments.

On the other hand, there are also users who position themselves as defenders of content carriers, albeit on much smaller scales and in a punctual way, not being a recurring observation, especially in the global comparison with the comments analyzed.

After carrying out the investigation of the materials, it was possible to observe a large number of criticisms, attempts at collection and inspection, search to delegitimize and discredit the materials published by Jornal Nacional and also disputes of narratives and power, issues that can be exemplified in comments made on the profile of JN on X, such as: «@PAAHSP124 «Bad interview. Poorly prepared questions. Once again this newspaper makes a point of showing how much it wants to manipulate the Brazilian people»; «@MariaGuinaraes «They won›t talk about it?????» + image with an alleged print of the publication of the profile «terrabrasilnoticias» on Instagram, with text that has the title «Lula›s campaign collapses» after statements by PT supporters calling acts of September 7 Ku Klux Khan: You have to apologize» and « @crisjmir «It was very difficult for me, very, very difficult to put on the #globolixo. This station is an enemy of our nation» (sic).

Final considerations

Reflecting on the concept applied to a typical product of the Brazilian scenario, we identified that this «fifth estate» manifests itself in different ways, but has peculiar and even different characteristics from what Dutton proposes, especially in relation to mobilization and accountability (Dutton; Pereira, 2022).

The first difference is that it is not possible to observe demonstrations in a mobilized and large-scale way, a premise for the realization of the «fifth estate» in the British context, but which does not prevent the action of the fifth power.

A second issue to be evaluated is the political and ideological scenario experienced by Brazil since the 2018 elections, which were intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2022 presidential elections. With this, it is worth noting that a significant part of the comments in a tone of criticism, questioning and even attack on the content produced by Jornal Nacional may be influenced by political monopolization.

Another apprehension that can be made from the analysis is that Jornal Nacional, in most of its contents, is concerned with demonstrating its production processes and placing itself as a source of security for citizens, even if through the reproduction of excerpts of content previously broadcast on TV.

However, although the digital environment allows interaction and dialogue, the comments made by users are not answered by Jornal Nacional, which creates an image that the news program is only a source of information and that there is no effective and dialogical interaction, which drives a scenario of less defense and more criticism and questioning by users.

In this way, the large number of comments in a tone of demands, attacks and even questions about the veracity and legitimacy of the contents of Jornal Nacional becomes the great exponent of the manifestations of this «power» that the user starts to have with digital social networks.

In addition, in the brazilian scenario, unlike the british one, there are no mechanisms for regulation/regulation of the media or digital platforms or media education strategies, so that the manifestations of the «fifth power» are made, for the most part, based on users› opinions that are conveyed as comments, but without these interactions becoming effective charges that can be reviewed in case of failure on the part of JN, something that occurs in the context of media regulation.

Having delimited these questions and taking into account the apprehensions obtained from the analysis of the profile of Jornal Nacional in X, we point out six characteristics of the fifth estate «Brazilian style» that are the basis for presenting this concept as an intermediate theory of communication. They are: 1- interaction and search for dialogue with the fourth estate; 2- criticism of the investigation or the material conveyed by members of the fourth estate; 3- supervision of the angle of the contents; 4- questioning about the silencing of agendas and demands for the insertion of topics that members of the fifth power deem relevant; 5- tensions of the fourth estate from the production/reproduction of materials from other media and digital social actors; 6- accusations that materials conveyed by Journalism/fourth power are not true and promote disinformation - even without proof of such accusations.

• 1
  Federal government promotes Brazilian Week of Media Education. Available at: https://www.gov.br/mec/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2023/setembro/governo-federal-promove-semana-brasileira-de-educacao-midiatica
• 2
  Space for submitting complaints about BBC programming. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints
• 3
  Ofcom›s official website. Available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom
• 4
  Qualtrics. Survey sample size: how to calculate the optimal sample. Available at: https://www.qualtrics.com/pt-br/gestao-de-experiencia/pesquisa-de-mercado/determine-sample-size/.
• 5
  Available at: https://twitter.com/jornalnacional/status/1549479994308657155?s=20

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• Responsible editors:
  Marialva Barbosa and Sonia Virgínia Moreira

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  20 Dec 2024
• Date of issue
  2024

History

• Received
  25 July 2024
• Accepted
  21 Oct 2024