Presupposition and assumptions in news about police interventions

Abstract

This work offers itself as an analysis of the total meaning of the news "Quatro homens morrem após confronto com policiais militares no sudoeste da Bahia" and "Confronto termina com três membros de facção mortos e cinco presos por policiais militares, no AP", both published by the G1 news portal on March 16, 2025 and April 14, 2025, respectively. For the study, it is used, especially, Motta (2004) to understand the effects of sense in journalistic communication; Lawrence (2010) to understand the function of semiotic elements in news about the use of police force; Zare, Abbaspour and Nia (2012) to understand the presupposition in the media; and Van Leeuwen (2008) to understand the factors of representation of social events. The methodology starts from an emic study based on the reading and pragmatic analysis of the object. In this way, it is observed that both selected news items go beyond the simple account of facts, since they are full of assumptions that carry a meaning beyond what has been said.