In the second half of 2018, Brazil faced one of its most polarized presidential elections. Since Bolsonaro took office, the world has been trying to make sense of Bolsonaro's Brazil. Fake News, Memes, WhatsApp Groups, the Amazon fires and Bolsonaro's populism: somehow it is all connected. Diggit Magazine tries to digg deeper into contemporary Brazilian political evolutions.
The article discusses processes of mythification employed to support Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's controversial reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mainstream and "new" media work together in the construction of myths with political ends.
According to Daniel Silva, the Amazon Fires can best be considered as political talk: as digitally formatted practices trying to communicate with Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro has harnessed new and legacy media in building an image of authenticity. This sucessful media strategy has helped catapult him to the presidency, despite his tendency towards offensive statements and hyper nationalism.
Brazilian presidential election of 2018 became internationally known by the extreme rise of fake news. In this context, traditional media reappears as a counter-force for the fast spreads of false information.
Big Man politics used to be an exotic and marginal phenomenon, but algoritmic populists such as Bolsonaro, Trump, Orbán and others made it one of the dominant formats of 21st century power.
