From peasants to gunmen: The Brazilian Landless Movement in Veja magazine

The representation elaborated by the Veja Magazine about social movements that questions the Brazilian status quo shows a clear tendency of the magazine to broadcast facts from semantically negative constructions. This is particular relevant in the discriminatory treatment adopted by the magazine to refer to the Brazilian Landless Movement (MST), what consequently leads to an unfavorable interpretation of the movement. The goal of this article is to offer a critical analysis of the discursive strategies of Veja from the determinations and the social practices of the magazine in the production and the reproduction of the MST's identity. We have selected articles published in Veja from January 1984 to February 2009 in which the MST was the focus and divided them into 5 political periods. The findings show that the different selected political periods were significant in the construction of an increasingly negative image of the MST.