Os equipamentos de captação de imagem na construção da informação televisiva em emissoras de Uberlândia - MG

Abstract

With the advancement of image capture technology, new devices have become allies to the traditional camcorders used by news crews – also called ENG (Electronic News Gathering) cameras – in TV journalism. Among them are DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras, which combine a digital sensor with a mirror mechanism and are capable of recording video; action cameras, which can, for example, capture underwater images; smartphones, which are portable and record high-quality video; drones, which allow aerial scenes to be captured in a simpler and more cost-effective way; and surveillance cameras which, scattered across different spaces, capture footage relevant to television journalism. The incorporation of these devices into the daily routine of newsrooms represents not only a technological shift but also a transformation in how information is visually constructed. New capture resources have come to influence the aesthetics, narrative, and meanings produced by journalistic coverage. Given this scenario, this master's thesis aims to analyze how image capture equipment is used in the construction of information in recorded reports and live broadcasts (links), including transmissions in which reporters conduct journalistic interviews, across television stations in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais. Through Content Analysis, this study surveys the main image-recording equipment used in television journalism materials by Band Triângulo, TV Integração (a Globo affiliate), and TV Paranaíba (a Record affiliate), in order to observe the specificities of these devices and how they have been utilized by professionals in the process of constructing information. The sample consists of local lunchtime newscasts broadcast by the three analyzed stations. For the study, three editions of each program were selected, representing the beginning, middle, and end of the first semester of 2025, aiming to encompass possible variations and trends in content over the period. Thus, the corpus brings together 122 journalistic productions broadcast between 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. The results indicate that the ENG camera remains the primary equipment in local television journalism, maintaining greater technical and aesthetic potential for constructing news reports, while the smartphone consolidates itself as a tool for logistical agility, especially in video journalism productions. The analysis also reveals that technical and operational limitations of the devices directly influence the narrative construction of the reports, conditioning framing, camera movements, and the reporters' management strategies. Furthermore, drones and surveillance cameras appear as complementary resources, used primarily to enhance visual impact and reinforce the documentary nature of the coverage.