No Brasil e no mundo, agências governamentais e partidos políticos têm explorado plataformas de redes sociais para espalhar notícias sensacionalistas ou falsas, censurar informações e minar a confiança na mídia, em instituições públicas e na ciência. É o que aponta um estudo recémpublicado pela Universidade de Oxford, da Inglaterra, 'Desafiando a Verdade e a Confiança: Um Inventário Global da Manipulação Organizada nas Mídias Sociais.’ Os pesquisadores acreditam que, na era digital, a manipulação da opinião pública através das redes sociais — como Facebook, Twitter, Instagram— é uma perigosa ameaça à democracia.”

(Tech Tudo, 10/08/2018. Disponível em:https://www.techtudo.com.br/listas/2018/08/como-acontece-amanipulacao-da-opiniao-publica-nas-redes-sociais.ghtml)

Uma importante ferramenta de comunicação que pode ser utilizada para combater a manipulação da opinião pública, além de outras utilidades, é:

A Lei Federal nº 12.527, de 18 de novembro de 2011, garante a observância da publicidade como preceito geral e do sigilo como exceção, além da divulgação de informações de interesse público, independentemente de solicitações, visando contribuir ao desenvolvimento da cultura de transparência na administração pública. Esse importante instrumento é conhecido como:

Em 1808, a Família Real Portuguesa muda-se de Portugal para o Brasil, fugindo das guerras napoleônicas no continente europeu. Ao se instalar no Rio de Janeiro, a monarquia passa a conduzir uma série de modernizações, até então restritas em território colonial. No campo da comunicação, a mais importante dessas ações foi a:

“Quanto mais a vida social se torna mediada pelo mercado global de estilos, lugares e imagens, pelas viagens internacionais, pelas imagens da mídia e pelos sistemas de comunicação globalmente interligados, mais as identidades se tornam desvinculadas – desalojadas – de tempos, lugares, histórias e tradições específicos e parecem flutuar livremente.”

(HALL, Stuart. A identidade cultural na pós-modernidade. Rio de Janeiro: DP&A, 2006, p. 75)

No trecho acima, o autor está caracterizando um importante fenômeno contemporâneo, conhecido por:

Em 1965, o pensador italiano Umberto Eco publica a obra “Apocalípticos e integrados”, em que realiza uma densa análise sobre a indústria cultural, definindo dois grupos antagônicos no que tange ao entendimento sobre as novas formas de comunicação que surgiam. Segundo o autor:

Um das mais célebres construções teóricas do pensador canadense Marshall McLuhan sobre os meios de comunicação é a de que o meio é a mensagem. Postulada juntamente com Quentin Fiore, em 1967, a afirmação serviu como prisma para a análise da comunicação de massas. Segundo os autores, essa ideia se justifica porque:

Text II

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.

Many things that are useful to people produce pollution. Cars spew pollutants from their exhaust pipes. Burning coal to create electricity pollutes the air. Industries and homes generate garbage and sewage that can pollute the land and water. Pesticides – chemical poisons used to kill weeds and insects – seep into waterways and harm wildlife.

All living things – from one-celled microbes to blue whales – depend on Earth's supply of air and water. When these resources are polluted, all forms of life are threatened.

Pollution is a global problem. Although urban areas are usually more polluted than the countryside, pollution can spread to remote places where no people live. For example, pesticides and other chemicals have been found in the Antarctic ice sheet. In the middle of the northern Pacific Ocean, a huge collection of microscopic plastic particles forms what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Air and water currents carry pollution. Ocean currents and migrating fish carry marine pollutants far and wide. Winds can pick up radioactive material accidentally released from a nuclear reactor and scatter it around the world. Smoke from a factory in one country drifts into another country.

Adapted from: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ pollution. Accessed on March 27, 2021.

The verb phrase in “(…) pesticides and other chemicals have been found in the Antarctic ice sheet.” (Paragraph 4) is in the:

Text II

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.

Many things that are useful to people produce pollution. Cars spew pollutants from their exhaust pipes. Burning coal to create electricity pollutes the air. Industries and homes generate garbage and sewage that can pollute the land and water. Pesticides – chemical poisons used to kill weeds and insects – seep into waterways and harm wildlife.

All living things – from one-celled microbes to blue whales – depend on Earth's supply of air and water. When these resources are polluted, all forms of life are threatened.

Pollution is a global problem. Although urban areas are usually more polluted than the countryside, pollution can spread to remote places where no people live. For example, pesticides and other chemicals have been found in the Antarctic ice sheet. In the middle of the northern Pacific Ocean, a huge collection of microscopic plastic particles forms what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Air and water currents carry pollution. Ocean currents and migrating fish carry marine pollutants far and wide. Winds can pick up radioactive material accidentally released from a nuclear reactor and scatter it around the world. Smoke from a factory in one country drifts into another country.

Adapted from: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ pollution. Accessed on March 27, 2021.

According to the text II, it is not correct to infer that:

While viruses do not respect borders, their spread and their chances of survival have long depended greatly on the laws, policies and acts of states. However, not all states are up to the job, writes Adam Roberts.

A.J.P. Taylor often observed that great events can have very small causes. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic is fresh evidence for this proposition. The cause is in all likelihood tiny and accidental: a genetic mutation in a virus, which then spreads into the human population. Like earlier epidemics throughout history, it could have happened with no human intentionality. Its consequences are already momentous and will be even more so before it is over.

The novel coronavirus can easily be seen as a profoundly anti-democratic force. In its first eight months, from early January to mid-August, it produced over 20 million cases of the COVID-19 disease. That disease has killed over 800,000 people and counting; put millions out of work; drastically curtailed travel; precipitated states of emergency; and caused citizens to be placed under detailed and intrusive administrative control, demonstrations to be banned, and elections to be rescheduled or postponed. Bitter disagreements have arisen about when and how to ease restrictions on movement. COVID-19 has generated a revival of conspiracy theories and unjustified recriminations, and prompted absurd denials of medical reality by certain political leaders. Among states, the pandemic has actually heightened some long-existing disputes, most notably those on trade and other matters between China and the United States. The capacity of the United Nations system to address epidemics has been called into question, not least in harsh American criticisms of the World Health Organization (WHO).

It is too simple to cast the pandemic crisis merely as a narrative of rampant authoritarianism versus embattled democracy. The long history of pandemics, earthquakes and other disasters reminds us of the enduring complexity of disaster management, and of the many controversies surrounding it, including the causes of and responses to plagues. States respond in different ways, raising questions regarding the relative effectiveness of democratic versus authoritarian states. International health organisations, especially the WHO, have important roles in dealing with epidemics, whether regional or global. Yet their formal powers are limited and their effectiveness depends on state cooperation. Epidemics, and action to control them, do sometimes play a part in increased authoritarianism, but they can also give rise to more positive initiatives of various kinds.

Adapted from: https://www.iiss.org/. Accessed on March 20, 2021.

The word However in "However, not all states are up to the job..." (Paragraph 1) can be replaced by the following word:

While viruses do not respect borders, their spread and their chances of survival have long depended greatly on the laws, policies and acts of states. However, not all states are up to the job, writes Adam Roberts.

A.J.P. Taylor often observed that great events can have very small causes. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic is fresh evidence for this proposition. The cause is in all likelihood tiny and accidental: a genetic mutation in a virus, which then spreads into the human population. Like earlier epidemics throughout history, it could have happened with no human intentionality. Its consequences are already momentous and will be even more so before it is over.

The novel coronavirus can easily be seen as a profoundly anti-democratic force. In its first eight months, from early January to mid-August, it produced over 20 million cases of the COVID-19 disease. That disease has killed over 800,000 people and counting; put millions out of work; drastically curtailed travel; precipitated states of emergency; and caused citizens to be placed under detailed and intrusive administrative control, demonstrations to be banned, and elections to be rescheduled or postponed. Bitter disagreements have arisen about when and how to ease restrictions on movement. COVID-19 has generated a revival of conspiracy theories and unjustified recriminations, and prompted absurd denials of medical reality by certain political leaders. Among states, the pandemic has actually heightened some long-existing disputes, most notably those on trade and other matters between China and the United States. The capacity of the United Nations system to address epidemics has been called into question, not least in harsh American criticisms of the World Health Organization (WHO).

It is too simple to cast the pandemic crisis merely as a narrative of rampant authoritarianism versus embattled democracy. The long history of pandemics, earthquakes and other disasters reminds us of the enduring complexity of disaster management, and of the many controversies surrounding it, including the causes of and responses to plagues. States respond in different ways, raising questions regarding the relative effectiveness of democratic versus authoritarian states. International health organisations, especially the WHO, have important roles in dealing with epidemics, whether regional or global. Yet their formal powers are limited and their effectiveness depends on state cooperation. Epidemics, and action to control them, do sometimes play a part in increased authoritarianism, but they can also give rise to more positive initiatives of various kinds.

Adapted from: https://www.iiss.org/. Accessed on March 20, 2021.

Choose the correct alternative according to the text: