ABSTRACT
Fundamental to the establishment of history as an academic discipline in Brazil was the post-1930 period, when the first generation of university professors and researchers began to emerge. Although they inherited from the 19th century intellectuals the presumption that there was a delay in the implementation of the press in Brazilian lands, there are other issues that mark their works. Instead of an evolutionary narrative about journalism, guided by the idea of overcoming cultural backwardness, represented by the colonial past and absolute progress in the imperial period, what comes to predominate are the problems of the country's underdevelopment and dependence, the gap between its sectors and the fragility of press freedom.
