The process of the strengthening of Brazilian democracy includes
the now existing city councils, institutions of popular participation
and citizenship which permit the expression of several community
sectors and social actors in the regulation of public policies in areas
such as public health care and educational systems, development
and the rights of children, adolescents and the elderly. The media
assume an important role in this context as they depict city
councils’ activities in a positive or a negative image, encouraging or
discouraging participation. This paper indicates how these bodies
were represented by ten newspapers from six regions of the State
of São Paulo, off ering parameters to evaluate the quality of the
democratic culture composed by the media in the most densely
populated state of the country. The media were found to be exerting
a positive potential role in making democracy more eff ective on
municipal levels.
