Eternal stretchers, eternal wretches

Abstract

This article analyses photographs of reports published by two daily newspapers of Londrina-Paraná. It shows the building of certain meanings around the concept of public health, especially on the phenomenon of hospital overcapacity in that town. The focus is on reports published in the year of 2004, all of them about the same theme. It begins with a description of subjective issues exposed in the newspapers, not corresponding to reality, but able to influence the imaginary of the readers. On a second moment, the essay analyses some photographs deeper and exposes the repetition of the images as an argumentative scheme for persuading and fixing a certain idea in the reader’s mind.