"In analyzing Brazilian television, the corporatist framework helps explain how Television Globo has achieved more autonomy and power in government decision making than one might expect in a media system usually described simply as authoritarian. The mixture of corporatism with mass politics is nece
...
ssary, however, for understanding how Television Globo's hegemony, combined with that of the state, could still be temporarily undermined by a mass campaign for direct selections and civilian rule. The corporatist model may also be helpful in analyzing the current use of alternative media, particularly videocassette recorders, by opposition groups." (Abstract)
more
"This ambitious, broad-ranging study of one of the world's most interesting genres laudably tries to cover the telenovela industry, its creative process, the contents of novelas, and their reception by the working class. Besides having the descriptive richness one might expect of a book-length case
...
study, the work has a sophisticated and relatively thorough theoretical orientation [...] Overall this book is a very good introduction to Brazilian television and the telenovela in particular. It is also of considerable value to those interested in Bourdieu's ideas, questions of social class and audience in general, or ethnographic research about audiences in the Third World." (Book review by Joseph Straubhaar, in: Journal of Communication, Spring 1990, page 162-164)
more