Brazil Travel Guide

As in the USA, Brazil has a regional press rather than a national one. The best of Rio and São Paulo compares well with anywhere in the world; elsewhere newspapers are at best mediocre but are always valuable for listings of local events. Brazil also boasts a lurid but enjoyable yellow press, specializing in gruesome murders, political scandals and football.

The best newspapers are the slightly left-of-centre Folha de São Paulo and the Rio-based right-of-centre Jornal do Brasil, usually available, a day late, in large cities throughout the country. Both are independent and have extensive international news, cultural coverage and entertainment listings. Stodgier but reasonable is the right-wing Estado de São Paulo, while the Gazeta Mercantil is a high-quality equivalent of the Financial Times or Wall Street Journal. Also widely available is O Globo, the mouthpiece of Roberto Marinho's Globo empire, right of centre, but with the advantage of Caruso, the best of Brazil's political cartoonists. In Brazil, as in Argentina and Chile, the political cartoon is a widely respected art form and often screamingly funny. The most enjoyable of the yellow press is Última Hora, especially good for beginners in Portuguese: limited vocabulary and lots of pictures.

There are also two very good weekly current affairs magazines , Veja and Isto É. For most Brazilians, however, they are expensive, around $3, since their readership is exclusively middle class. You will find Brazilian editions of most major fashion and women's magazines. The weekly Placar is essential for anyone wanting to get to serious grips with Brazilian football. Vogue Brasil, edited in São Paulo and published by Condé Nast, is a quality magazine offering great insight into the style of the Brazilian elite.

Apart from in airports, five-star hotels, Rio and São Paulo, where you can find the International Herald Tribune, the Economist and the Brazil Times, an English-language Brazilian paper aimed largely at the business community, English-language newspapers and magazines are very difficult to find in Brazil.