Discourses on humor, freedom of expression, and offense in articles published by two Brazilian newspapers between 2012 and 2016

Abstract

This paper performs a discursive analysis of discourses on humor, freedom of expression, and offense in two important Brazilian newspapers. Journalistic articles published in Folhade S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo between 2012 and 2016 are examined. We demonstrate that controversies related to humorous expression in public debate are marked by discourses on collisions between fundamental rights. The analyzed corpus is composed of 36 texts, in which a predominance of a liberal discourse on freedom of expression predominates. Our discussion of the findings indicates that journalistic material is characterized by the invisibilization or the framing of the other through simplistic categories. In conclusion, we discuss the role of communication field in such debates, highlighting the urgent need of a media criticism that is ethically committed to the representation of otherness.