This article discusses the relation between media communication networks and the symbolic constitution of government health policies, as illustrated by the Single Healthcare System (SUS - Sistema Único de Saúde). Given this angle, we focus our analysis on how the media interprets and reconfigures this healthcare field, from the point of view of power relations. We develop the idea that media communication does not take place outside a context of conflict, transformation and political struggle within society, which indicates, produces and reproduces a given form of interpretation of reality.
Persuasive communication; mass media; public health; public policy