Entre crenças e conspirações: jornalismo e pós-verdade em Número Zero, de Umberto Eco

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the journalism representations in Umberto Eco's novel Número Zero (2015) and its relationship with the post-truth phenomenon. It starts from the hypothesis that this relationship is based on the editorial practices adopted by the editorial staff of the newspaper Amanhã, based on elements that dialogue with post-truth characteristics, and in the characterization of the character Romano Braggadocio as a caricature of conspiracyism. The specific objectives are to discuss the origins and main characteristics of post-truth; identify the predominant manifestations of this phenomenon, such as fake news, scientific denialism and conspiracy theories; analyze the setting and editorial practices of the newspaper Amanhã; and examine the characterization of the character Braggadocio. The research methodology combines bibliographic review and literary analysis. The discussion on post-truth dialogues with authors who have examined the topic in the last decade, such as D'Ancona (2018), Kakutani (2018), Bucci (2018), and Santaella (2019). The debate about the functioning dynamics of conspiracy theories is based mainly on Keeley (1999) and Lewandowsky and Cook (2020). It is concluded that the representations of journalism present in the narrative are related to post-truth in two axes: first, in the editorial practices of the newspaper Amanhã, through the wide use of emotional appeals in the production of supposedly factual content; second, in the character Romano Braggadocio's adherence to the signs of conspiratorial thinking, which confirms the initial hypothesis of the research. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]