Marx and the press in the context of class society: light on the reality in Brazil today

Abstract

Marx is not always remembered for his journalistic activities, and his contributions to magazines and newspapers are  commonly overlooked. In this article, we seek to rescue  Marx’s contributions to the understanding of the press as  an ideological vehicle in class struggles. From the records of
his activities, we can identify these contributions and understand how Marx proceeded methodologically for the dissemination of ideas in the ongoing class disputes in the Revolutions and Counter-Revolutions of 1848 in Europe. Through a detailed analysis of the articles written by Marx in the Nova Gazeta Rhenish, we were able to extract the considered most important considerations about the social function of the press and the duties that Marx imputes to such ideological vehicle. The recovery of this debate  encourages reection on the role of the press in the face of the use of traditional and new vehicles to guide issues and form public opinion, in a context marked by political  polarization, considering the Brazilian particularity.