Travel logs and the formation of modern media around the categories of information and entertainment

Introduction. The present work considers some continuities present in the story of Antonio de Pigafetta where he recorded the first round the world (1519-1522) and the texts published in the French travel magazine "Le Tour du Monde" (1860-1914). The pertinence in the comparison of these texts lies in the fact that both are developed in a colonial context where they appear as premature forms of media, both having a central component that involves contact with non- European indigenous alterity. Methodology and results. Through a semiotic analysis methodology, we show how the notions of information and spectacle are linked to the meaning of otherness in these texts. Discussion and Conclusions. It is then discussed about the relevance of talking about "travel journalism" as a genre underestimated because it is not pure and hard information; more than a modern form of journalism, travel journalism is an antecedent of traditional journalism. Keywords: travel logs; alterity; colonialism; information; entertainment; journalism