The Media Discourse on Mozambique’s Hidden Debt

This research analyses ＂the construction of the media discourse on the Mozambican state’s external debt＂ between April and September 2015, when the subject was covered by the Mozambican media, with emphasis on the five weekly newspapers with the largest circulation at national level, namely Domingo, Savana, Canal de Moçambique, Zambeze and Magazine Independente, and aims to understand how this subject was constructed, thematized and figurativized by these media, more specifically, in the cover stories. It also aims to understand which communication strategies were established and used by these media outlets in order to understand the social meanings and implications that the various approaches to the subject suggest to the enunciators, as well as to identify the implicit or explicit ＂ideological＂ interests that surround the construction strategies of the journalistic texts referring to the hidden debt. We found that the press has played an important informational and ＂surveillance＂ role in the functioning of our democracies. Vigilant journalism is a vital safeguard against abuses of power.