Newspapers and documentary mediation: a discourse analysis of the Brazilian Institute of Bibliography and Documentation (1954–1959)

Abstract

Examines the journalistic coverage of the Instituto Brasileiro de Bibliografia e Documentação (IBBD) between 1954 and 1959, with the purpose of understanding the role of the newspaper in the discursive and public constitution of this institution. The investigation is based on the conception of the newspaper as both a document and a discursive mediator, responsible for recording, interpreting, and legitimizing social and scientific practices. It is a documentary and historical research, with a qualitative and interpretative approach, grounded in Discourse Analysis and the perspective of documentary mediation. The corpus consists of twelve articles and eleven photographs published in six newspapers of national circulation, including Correio da Manhã, A Noite, Jornal do Brasil, and Diário de Notícias, among others, all consulted in the Digital Newspaper Library of the National Library of Brazil. The results reveal that journalistic discourse played a decisive role in legitimizing the IBBD by constructing a narrative of rationality, efficiency, and modernization. Initially, the press highlighted its creation and technical function; later, it emphasized its modernization and internationalization, until personifying its image through the leadership of Lydia de Queiroz Sambaquy. It is concluded that the press not only recorded the Institute’s trajectory but also proactively participated in its institutionalization, conferring legitimacy and historical value upon it. The study reaffirms the newspaper as a mediator of information and a document of memory, underscoring its relevance for understanding the social organization of knowledge in Brazil.