Selective emphasis and strategic interaction: the 2022 presidential election in the Free Electoral Broadcast Airtime

Abstract

The objective of this article is to understand partisan competition in the Free Electoral Broadcast Airtime during the Brazilian presidential election of 2022 based on the Saliency Theory. Thus, it contributes by discussing the explanatory power of this theory, originally developed with a focus on campaign manifestos, within the realm of television campaigns. Mobilizing techniques of Content Analysis and Social Network Analysis, we attest to the extension of the reach of the theory to televised propaganda, a space where parties tend, as in manifestos, to emphasize issues advantageous to them. However, this reach does not necessarily apply to the scope of interaction with opponents during the electoral campaign. The argument that the "selective emphasis" strategy is employed to the detriment of the "confrontation" strategy cannot be universally applied. By explaining the later through the concept of strategic interaction, we show that the 2022 election configured a network with two competition spaces: the first occupied by PT and PL, and the second opposing “third-way” candidates to PT and PL.