Dan Beeton directs communications for CEPR’s International Program. He has more than twenty-five years of experience working on international policy issues with organizations including the Center for Economic Justice, Haiti Reborn, and the US Campaign for Burma.
Prior to joining CEPR, he was associate director for Citizens Trade Campaign where he did research and advocacy on US trade policy. His writings on Haiti, Latin America, trade, and other topics have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera, Newsday, Fortune, the NACLA Report on the Americas, Third World Quarterly and other publications. He has also been a contributing editor for NACLA.
All from Dan Beeton
Berta Cáceres’ Legacy – and Unfinished Work – Live On
Dan BeetonVerso, March 16, 2016
We Can Afford a $12.00 Federal Minimum Wage in 2020
April 2015, David Cooper, Lawrence Mishel and John Schmitt
The Gains from Trade in a New Model from the IMF: Still Very Small
April 2015, David Rosnick
Escaping Economic Orthodoxy in Latin America
An Interview with Ha-Joon Chang by Dan Beeton
NACLA, March 4, 2015
The Greek Economy: Which Way Forward?
January 2015, Mark Weisbrot, David Rosnick and Stephan Lefebvre
Slower Population Growth Could Significantly Reduce Carbon Emissions, Paper Finds
December 11, 2014
Obama’s Change of Cuba Policy is Welcome and Long Overdue; Reflects Increasing U.S. Isolation in a Latin America Mostly Run by Left Governments, Says CEPR Co-Director
December 17, 2014
Central America’s “Alliance for Prosperity” Plan: Shock Doctrine for the Child Refugee Crisis?
On November 14, the presidents of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – the three countries that comprise Central America’s Northern Triangle – presented their “Alliance for Prosperity” plan [PDF] at an event at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
Will the EU and IDB Fund Human Rights-Free Zones in Honduras?
ZEDEs in Honduras are being promoted by some libertarian intellectuals and “activists” as perhaps “the freest cities in the world” despite the fact that the zones will shred property rights.
How Many Extra Votes Does Brazilian Opposition Candidate Aécio Neves Get from Media Bias?
The second round of Brazil’s presidential elections, taking place Sunday, could be close according to polls showing President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party (PT) favored by 52 percent over challenger Aécio Neves of the Social Democratic Party (PSDB) with 48 percent. As we noted with Mexico’s 2012 presidential elections, media coverage can have a strong impact on election turnout and voter preferences, and there is compelling research [doc] that Mexico’s TV duopoly was decisive in determining the outcome of Mexico’s 2006 election. While Brazil’s media is mostly opposed to the PT, it hasn’t been able to swing recent presidential elections – but it appears it’s not for a lack of trying.
Manchetômetro (literal translation: “headline meter”), an independent project affiliated with the Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, has analyzed major media coverage of the main candidates and parties in Brazil. Focusing on TV coverage on Brazil’s largest audience TV news program “Jornal Nacional,” and front-page coverage in Brazil’s three largest newspapers (Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo and O Estado de São Paulo), Manchetômetro has documented a pattern of lopsided coverage that has disproportionately put Dilma Rousseff and the PT in a negative light, while opposition candidate Aécio Neves of the PSDB (and first round challenger Marina Silva) have received much more positive treatment and much less negative coverage, proportionately. Manchetômetro’s analysis also reveals that this bias against the PT is not new; coverage favored Fernando Henrique Cardoso (of the PSDB) over Rousseff’s predecessor, Lula da Silva during the 1998 election, and there was also more favorable treatment of the economic situation under Cardoso than the current economic downturn under Dilma, though the former was significantly worse than the latter.
TV Coverage: “Jornal Nacional”
Globo’s decades-old “Jornal Nacional” is considered to be a leading news program on Brazilian television; with around 18 million viewers (in 2013) it has a total audience of about twice the combined viewers of the four leading U.S. Sunday morning news talk shows (“This Week,” “Face the Nation,” “Meet the Press” and “Fox News Sunday”). The program’s influence may not be surprising considering Globo’s dominant position in Brazil’s media landscape. In a 2009 book, Giancarlo Summa (who did communications for Lula’s 2006 campaign) noted that Globo controlled 61.5 percent of UHF television stations, 31.8 percent of VHF TV, 40.7 percent of newspaper distribution, 30.1 percent of AM radio, 28 percent of FM radio and – through an association with Rupert Murdoch – 77 percent of the cable TV market.
Manchetômetro found a strong bias against Dilma Rousseff in “Jornal Nacional” coverage. During the campaign period (beginning July 6, and up to October 22), 21 percent of the coverage of Rousseff was negative, the most of any candidate. The percentage of positive coverage that Rousseff received was just 1 percent, much less than any other candidate. (Rousseff also had 78 percent “neutral” treatment.)