Luís Miguel Nunes da Silva Loureiro

World Cup television

Abstract In the second year of the second decade of the 21st century, on the verge of breaking into the era of digital television, it is important to know what kind of television model is currently available in Portugal. An analysis of the news coverage of the FIFA 2010 World Cup certainly helps to provide some answers. In this article, the authors present a study that centres its focus on news formats related to this great media event, broadcast on both generalist as well as cable news networks between 11 June and 11 July 2010 (the opening and closing dates of the tournament). The analysis, based on 604 broadcasts, seeks to discover the means for viewer integration in television broadcasts, and also who was summoned by the television studios to participate in the discussions they promoted. The data collected clearly show that World Cup TV is still very much closed to public participation and is circumscribed to a small group of guests, most of whom come from the journalistic field. It seems impossible to envisage a third stage in the audiovisual world, in the face of this reality. Post-television can wait.