Abstract
The media produce meanings about everyday phenomena, spreading them massively and creating value connotations about events. In Brazil, this has been the main vector when it comes to the subjectivities about the phenomena of violence and criminality. Taking as research object the repercussion of the G1 news portal about two cases where the protagonists are young boys involved in infractions, this study mapped the reports related to them in order to understand the produced subjectivities, promoting a critical reflection on the production of the “juvenile offender” in the media and its consequences. The method used to carry out the study was an on-line ethnography, in accordance with the principles of the Actor-Network Theory. The tracking of the subjects allowed to reflect on the production of the “juvenile offender”, being one of them the perception that, just like the policies of subjectivation vectored by these devices, the practices that criminalize the poor and young population happen in a very subtle way. The constant emphasis given by the media to specific moral elements and the arbitrariness with which the presence of psychological disorders is highlighted or not shows one case being treated as a deserved punishment and the other as a tragedy. This is how the news coverage involving young people serves as an important tactic of segregation and social exclusion, promoting social support for public safety and security practices that punish and exterminate poor young people.
Keywords:
Media; Subjectivity Production; Juvenile Delinquency; Ethnography Online; G1