Necropolitics in two O Globo reports: The case of Evaldo Rosa and Luciano Macedo in Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes two reports published by the newspaper O Globo on the killing of Evaldo Rosa and Luciano Macedo, which occurred in Guadalupe (Brazil, RJ), with the aim of examining how these narratives construct meanings about state violence, urban militarization, and necropolitics. Based on the analysis of the texts “Direitos sob 80 tiros” (2019) and “Superior Tribunal Militar reduz para três anos penas de militares…” (2024), the study adopts a qualitative narrative analysis approach to identify forms of representation of state violence and structural racism. The results demonstrate how the narratives examined articulate the devaluation of the lives of Black and poor populations, both through the description of the military action and through the frames constructed around the military justice system. Likewise, the study observes how discourses by political actors, here understood as necrodiscourses, are mobilized in the analyzed texts, contributing to the legitimation of these deaths and to the naturalization of state violence. The article thus contributes to the understanding of the ways in which necropolitics is inscribed in journalistic narratives about urban militarization, highlighting the mechanisms through which meanings about violence in Brazil are produced.