ABSTRACT
The federal response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil presents a stark example of epidemiological denialism. As the country exhibited one of the highest exponential growth curves of daily deaths, President Jair Bolsonaro has virulently opposed instituting measures to stem the virus’ spread. Bolsonaro’s flippancy mirrors a general trend: the country has spent a negligible number of resources on either comprehensively mitigating the spread of COVID-19 or providing social welfare problems like unemployment insurance. In the face of this disregard, mainstream news media have largely found themselves spreading palace intrigue about discord between Bolsonaro and his cabinet or attacking sensationalist claims. Below the surface, addressing the larger and more pressing issue of systemic problems created or exacerbated by COVID-19 has been the purview largely of alternative news producers. To understand how these advocacy journalists are filling crucial gaps, this chapter addresses the work of three alternative digital news websites, Brasil 247, Brasil Wire, and Coletivo Papo Reto, that have adopted an explicit public health orientation. The result of this analysis will be a multifaceted model of advocacy journalism that shifts analysis away from the behavior of individual actors to the deadlier but less tangible culprit of systemic health inequity.
