THE MEDIA AND THE SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SPORT: THE ATHLETES AS MODELS OF BEHAVIOR

Abstract

The media has changed the communication processes and raised new communicative interactions between the social actors. These processes generate specific codes which  produces perception, reception and social behavior effects. This study intends to identify how the athlete is represented as a social actor of sport in the media dicourse. Reports of Revista Veja – national circulation and high visibility in the brazilian printed media –, in the sport section from January of 2007 to January of 2008 were analyzed. It was verified the mythical figure of the athlete as a social actor of sport, and his representations as a behavior model.