Neurociência no jornal Folha de S. Paulo no período de 1986 a 2015: uma reflexão do caráter social da comunicação pública da ciência

Abstract

Assuming that media information shapes meanings and constitutes a powerful instrument for social legitimation of ideas circulating in public space and social debate, and therefore, through communication, it is possible to play the role of agents of maintenance or transformation. In reality, this thesis seeks to answer the question "How has neuroscience been disseminated in the Brazilian print media?" For this, we analyzed news about neuroscience written by journalists (n = 175) and published in the print version of the daily newspaper Folha de São Paulo. It was based on an exploratory study and systematic, longitudinal, qualitative and quantitative observation of a sample of texts collected in three subsequent ten-year periods: 1986-1995; 1996-2005; 2006-2015. The main methodological resource adopted was the set of Content Analysis techniques, according to Laurence Bardin. Two frames of meaning stood out for their relevance in the field of communication and health, in the context of public health policies: “biologization of the social” (biological determinism) and “creation of chronic patients” (determination of the limits of normality). In addition, 12 thematic categories were identified: basic functions; brain improvement; transversal themes; body conditions; psychiatric conditions; neurological conditions; treatments; individual differences; techniques and technologies; epigenetics; futuristic phenomena; and brain-mind relationship. Disclosure of uncertainty in scientific journalism texts is unusual. This practice seems to be relativized by the intentionality adopted by journalists, media companies or scientists, which corroborates the importance of such reflections about the social construction of science by neuroscience news. In general, research results are presented as "scientific advances", leaving no room for uncertainty, an aspect that is latent to every study and inherent to scientific reasoning. We conclude to be implicit in this process of disseminating scientific knowledge, the need for greater interaction between the actors involved, without any subservience and total exemption from each other, in order to build a critical and analytical discourse that goes beyond the institutional approach and allows democratize the knowledge and the formation of more critical citizens, main objectives of public communication of science.