MEDIA LANDSCAPE OF THE “SERTÃO”: a qualitative study of the media consumption practices of channel 4, in Currais Novos (Brazil)
News deserts; Consumption; Place; Media; North East.
This doctoral thesis presents a study of local media consumption practices carried out by viewers residing in the municipality of Currais Novos (Brazil), located in the northeastern Brazilian hinterland. The city, in addition to being the pioneer in the cable television system in the region, presents itself in a way that differs from the typical characteristics of municipalities that are considered news deserts in Brazil (ATLAS DA NOTÍCIA, 2021), with six television channels. television with local content. The empirical data developed in the field research are articulated with different theoretical contributions, governed by concepts such as consumption and consumption practices, news deserts in Brazil, local media and communicative flows. In order to understand how the consumption of local television media takes place from channel 4, in Currais Novos (Brazil), we developed a hybrid methodology, which began with the selection of 5 houses of local families, associating the semi-structured questionnaire for audience research, the study of consumer diaries developed exclusively for this thesis, participant observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews with a sample of 16 local media consumers.