As in the USA, Brazil has a regional press rather than a national one. The best of Rio and São Paulo compares well with anywhere in the world; elsewhere newspapers are at best mediocre but are always valuable for listings of local events. Brazil also boasts a lurid but enjoyable yellow press, specializing in gruesome murders, political scandals and football.
The best newspapers are the slightly left-of-centre Folha de São Paulo and the Rio-based right-of-centre Jornal do Brasil, usually available, a day late, in large cities throughout the country. Both are independent and have extensive international news, cultural coverage and entertainment listings. Stodgier but reasonable is the right-wing Estado de São Paulo, while the Gazeta Mercantil is a high-quality equivalent of the Financial Times or Wall Street Journal. Also widely available is O Globo, the mouthpiece of Roberto Marinho's Globo empire, right of centre, but with the advantage of Caruso, the best of Brazil's political cartoonists. In Brazil, as in Argentina and Chile, the political cartoon is a widely respected art form and often screamingly funny. The most enjoyable of the yellow press is Última Hora, especially good for beginners in Portuguese: limited vocabulary and lots of pictures.
There are also two very good weekly current affairs magazines , Veja and Isto É. For most Brazilians, however, they are expensive, around $3, since their readership is exclusively middle class. You will find Brazilian editions of most major fashion and women's magazines. The weekly Placar is essential for anyone wanting to get to serious grips with Brazilian football. Vogue Brasil, edited in São Paulo and published by Condé Nast, is a quality magazine offering great insight into the style of the Brazilian elite.
Apart from in airports, five-star hotels, Rio and São Paulo, where you can find the International Herald Tribune, the Economist and the Brazil Times, an English-language Brazilian paper aimed largely at the business community, English-language newspapers and magazines are very difficult to find in Brazil.
TV and radioBrazilian TV is ghastly, the worst you are ever likely to see, and therefore compulsive viewing even if you don't understand a word of Portuguese. There are several national channels, of which the most dominant is TV Globo, the centrepiece of the Globo empire, Latin America's largest media conglomerate. It was built up by Brazil's answer to Rupert Murdoch, Roberto Marinho, now over 80, one of the most powerful men in Brazil, very cosy with the military regime and prone to use his papers and TV channels as platforms for his ultra-conservative views. The other major national channels are Manchete, TV Bandeirantes, SBT and Record.
The channels are dominated by telenovelas , glossy soap operas which have massive audiences in the evenings; the most popular is Terra Nostra, a story about Italian immigrants in São Paulo at the beginning of the twentieth century. Football coverage is also worth listening to, a gabbling and incomprehensible stream of commentary, punctuated by remarkably elongated shouts of "Gooooool" whenever anyone scores - which is often, Brazilian defences being what they are. However, there are a few genuine highlights, notably Jô Soares , the funniest and cleverest of Brazilian comedians, who hosts a very civilized late-night chat show on SBT every weekday.
Radio is always worth listening to if only for the music, so a cheap transistor radio is a good thing to take with you. FM stations abound everywhere and you should always be able to find a station that plays local music. Shortwave reception for the BBC World Service is good in Brazil.
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