Criticizing SUS (Brazilian National Health System) in Folha de São Paulo Newspaper: Discursive Construction of its Directors and its Users

Abstract

Current health literature points to the media biased cover of SUS (Brazilian National Health System), which emphasizes problems and depreciates successes. Aiming to investigate the discursive strategies used to criticize SUS, specifically its directors and its users, we analyze newspaper articles published by Folha de São Paulo during 2008. Doing critical discourse analysis, we identified the construction of the incompetence of the government, built upon five discursive strategies: The demoralization of the government; The valorizing of alternatives; Using the voice of the experts; The personalization of the government; and The focus on time. The indetermination of the participation of the user was built upon three discursive strategies: Depoliticization of the user; Limited politicization; and Judicialization. We consider that these meanings emphasize the government as the manager of the SUS and devalue the popular participation through social control, restricting the possibilities of improving the System and transforming journalistic review into criticism.