CITIZENSHIP, CITY COUNCILS AND MEDIA IN BRAZIL News as an incentive to strengthen democracy

The process of the strengthening of Brazilian democracy includes the now existing city councils, institutions of popular participation and citizenship which permit the expression of several community sectors and social actors in the regulation of public policies in areas such as public health care and educational systems, development and the rights of children, adolescents and the elderly. The media assume an important role in this context as they depict city councils' activities in a positive or a negative image, encouraging or discouraging participation. This paper indicates how these bodies were represented by ten newspapers from six regions of the State of Sao Paulo, offering parameters to evaluate the quality of the democratic culture composed by the media in the most densely populated state of the country. The media were found to be exerting a positive potential role in making democracy more effective on municipal levels.