The critical use of memory in the journalistic narratives about the rupture of the Vale dam/O uso critico da memoria nas narrativas jornalisticas sobre o rompimento da barragem da Vale/El uso critico de la memoria en las narrativas periodisticas sobre el rompimiento de la presa de Vale

To ascertain the critical use of memory in journalistic coverage of shocking situations is the aim of this article, which has as its proposal the reflection on two events occurred in the state of Minas Gerais in the 21st century. The purpose is to analyze the coverage of the Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo newspapers on the rupture of the Vale dam in Brumadinho in 2019, and its relation to the rupture of the Samarco dam in 2015 in Mariana through a content analysis, which presents as the operative axes the "memory bearers" identified as "Phenomena" and "Subjects", anchored in the concepts of happening and memory, in association with the journalism's witness role. It is noted that the coverage provided a relative highlight to the connection between the two happenings using the critical use of memory.