Education
University of California, San Diego, PhD
Biography
Professor Porto is a political communication scholar who studies the linkages between media and democratization, with a focus on Brazil. His research has examined the political dimensions of communication practices and genres, including journalism, telenovelas, political advertising, presidential debates, and social media. His forthcoming book Mirrors of Whiteness: Media, Middle-Class Resentment, and the Rise of the Far Right in Brazil (University of Pittsburgh Press) analyzes role of media representations in fostering a status panic in the white middle class, which in turn played a key role in the conservative revolt that took place in Brazil between 2013 and 2018.
Selected Publications
Mirrors of Whiteness: Media, Middle-Class Resentment, and the Rise of the Far Right in Brazil. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, in press.
Media Power and Democratization in Brazil: TV Globo and the Dilemmas of Political Accountability. Routledge, 2012.
With João Brant: “Social media and the 2013 protests in Brazil: The contradictory nature of political mobilization in the digital era”. In Lina Dencik; Oliver Leistert (eds.). Critical perspectives on social media and protest. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, pp. 181-199.
With Fabio Vaconcellos: “Televised presidential debates in Brazil”. In: Julio Juárez-Gámiz, Christina Holtz-Bacha, Alan Schroeder (eds.), Routledge international handbook on electoral debates. New York: Routledge, 2020, pp. 103-113.