Risco, sofrimento e vítima virtual: a política do medo nas narrativas jornalísticas contemporâneas.

The article examines the discursive and political aspects of fear by analyzing the historically situated exposure of the suffering of strangers in the public sphere. The analysis of the relations between culture and suffering privileges four topics: (1) the transformation of suffering into a political question in the West; ii) the repertoire of states and conditions each historical period discerns as socially relevant and avoidable through political action; iii) the attribution of responsibility for the suffering of strangers and iv) how the audience of suffering is addressed. Research draws on newspieces in the print media and on TV news on crime, catastrophes and epidemics, published from the 1980s onwards and allows for a reflection about the ethical repercussions of the contemporary culture of fear, here conceptualized as the politics of virtual victim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]