The publication of Hallin and Mancini's book Comparing Media Systems was a turning point for comparative media studies. Given the tremendous impact of the book, the question soon arose whether it would be possible to apply the categories proposed by Hallin and Mancini in a broader, worldwide comparative effort. The authors themselves discuss this possibility in their book. On the one hand, they recognize that the consistency of the models they proposed is indebted in part to the fact they have studied a relatively limited and homogeneous group of countries (2004a: 6). On the other hand, they show some optimism in this regard, given that they believe that the models that exist in Western Europe and North America tend to prevail also in the rest of the world. In this chapter, I critically examine the categories proposed by the authors, and this proposition in particular, with a focus on the Brazilian media system.

In the first part of the chapter, I discuss the three-model system both from a theoretical and a methodological point of view. Two main problems are of concern. The first refers to the very concept of “model” as used by the authors. I argue that when they suggest that the Western models “tend to be dominant globally” they are in fact using two very different concepts of a model. When they apply the term to the Western countries, they use it in the sense of “models from…” – that is, methodological entities that exist only as research tools. When they apply the term “model” to non-Western countries, however, its status changes and becomes a “model to…” – that is, normative parameters that are used in the real world. The second problem refers to the way Hallin and Mancini define the Polarized Pluralist model and, in particular, their suggestion that it would explain some traits of media systems in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and most Asian countries (Hallin and Mancini, 2004b: 36). Here, I suggest that such a broad use of the concept risks converting it into a catch-all concept that includes everything that does not fit into the other two models.

After the great Afonso Dalboquerque had been informed by the Rulers of Mascate of all these affairs which I have mentioned, he ordered that some pieces of stuff which he had brought with him should be given to them, and having taken in water and supplies, he took his leave of them and sailed away direct to Ormuz without touching at any other place. On arrival he ordered that a salute should be fired in honour of the city, with all the artillery. Reys Hamed became so alarmed at the sight of the fleet and the soldiers on board the shipping, that he lost no time in sending Hacem Ale to pay a formal visit, on the part of the king, with a present of provisions; and in company with this personage came Miguel Ferreira, whom Afonso Dalboquerque had sent as ambassador to the Xeque Ismael, as I have already related. This Miguel had been staying there for some days, as well as an ambassador of the Xeque Ismael, who had accompanied him, waiting for favourable weather to make the passage to India; and after Miguel Ferreira had given a detailed account of his.

When all these matters had been brought to an end, the great Afonso Dalboquerque gave orders to his captains to weigh anchor; and thus he set sail away from the harbour of Adem, on the fourth day of the month of August, and with all his fleet hove in sight of Cape Guardafum, and from that headland tacked over to the other side, and bore up opposite Diolocindi, and from this point ran along in sight of the coast, and so at length arrived at Diu, where Miliqueaz received them very kindly, and offered them many presents, which he gave to all the captains. Afonso Dalboquerque remained in this port for six days, and took the opportunity of repairing the ships' boats, which had become very much dilapidated from constant service. At his arrival, Miliqueaz came down at once to pay him a visit on board ship, and they both conversed on matters of no importance.

Afonso Dalboquerque told him that he wished to leave in the port a ship laden with merchandise for sale, and begged him earnestly to order that the Portuguese factor and officers who remained with it should be well treated. Miliqueaz, who was not very well prepared with excuses, replied with ample offers, and Afonso Dalboquerque paid him in the same coin, and then took his leave with many marks of friendship.

The great Afonso Dalboquerque having thus arranged all the affairs of India, and supplied the fortresses with all things they required, and having a fleet ready prepared of twenty-six sail, of which were captains the following:—

who was captain of the ship Nazareth, having his uncle Afonso Dalboquerque on board,—proceeded to embark on the twentieth day of February of the said year, and after they were embarked, he summoned all the captains to his ship, and with them D. João Déssa, captain of the fortress of Goa, and D. Sancho de Noronha, chief Alcaide, there being present also Nicoláo Ferreira, ambassador for the King of Ormuz, who had arrived in September last from Portugal, bearing the king's reply to his mission.

The gates of the straits, which the Moors call Babelmandem, are exceedingly narrow. They lie in a latitude of twelve degrees and two-thirds, and in the very mouth of the straits there lies an island extended right across it which the Moors call Mium, and on one side stretches the territory of the Preste João called Jazem by the Moors, and on the other lies the mainland of Arabia. Between this island and terra-firma runs a passage or canal about one league only in breadth, through which pass all the ships of the Moors bound to Suez and all the other parts thereabouts, for they come with the east winds, and they lie to on the Arabian side of the land, which forms a very sheltered harbour for them. And in front of this island of Mium, in the same harbour and shelter from the east wind, lies a small islet, to which at low tide one can walk dry-shod on to terra-firma. It is in this island that the Rubães live, who are the pilots of the straits. In the middle of this canal the soundings are about twelve fathoms, and in the harbour sheltered from the east winds the soundings vary from seven to nine fathoms.

The present volume contains the translation of the Fourth and last Part of the Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, as written by his son. The interest in the career of the hero is sustained throughout, and a short summary of the principal events recorded herein may with propriety be introduced at this part of the work. The portrait which is placed as a frontispiece to this volume is a reduced photographic facsimile from that given in Correa's Lendas da India, at the place which treats of that period in the history of Portuguese India when the Lusitanian sceptre was practically swayed there by this great man. Its value as a contemporary portrait is undoubtedly great, and it may be compared with the portraits derived from other sources which have illustrated the previous volumes of this translation.

After setting affairs in order at Goa, under the chief captaincy of Pero Mascarenhas, Afonso Dalboquerque set sail on the 7th of February, A.D. 1513, with a body of seventeen hundred Portuguese and eight hundred natives, in twenty ships, intending, in accordance with instructions which he had received from the King of Portugal, to make the voyage to Adem, with a view of capturing that site, of the importance of which, from a military and strategic point of view, he was fully aware.

A few days after D. Garcia de Noronha had set out on his voyage, there arrived from Persia a caravan with many merchants from Tartary, and Russia, and all that part of the world, with their merchandise, whereby the city began to grow very much ennobled; and in company with them came a captain from the Xeque Ismael, who had set out from the Court with the object of seeing the great Afonso Dalboquerque, on account of the great reputation which he had there, whereat he was highly delighted.

And because it was but a little time past since the Xeque Ismael had had a fierce battle with the Turk, in which this captain had taken part, he asked him all about the engagement; and he told him that the Turks came down with thirty thousand horse, and a large force of infantry, to attack a pass in the mountain range, so as to be enabled to pass through it to Tauriz, and the captains of the Xeque Ismael who were in the van first reached the mountain, and took up a commanding position on it and withstood the passage of the enemy. But when the Xeque himself came up he was angry that they had not allowed the Turk to pass through, and ordered his captains to abandon the pass.

DESCRIPSAM DA FORTALLEZA DE ONOR.

A fortalleza de Onor Esta na terra firme do Concani do Ballagatte desoyto legoas de Goa para o sul Em Altura de Catorze graos e vinte e noue Minutos foy conquistada e feyfca pello Vizorrey Dom Luis d'Atayde que depois foy Conde da Atouguia, No Anno de quinhentos sesenta e oyto=Esta plantada esta fortalleza hum quarto de Legoa da Barra de hum Rio de Agoa salgada q' Vem sayr ao Mar, em Syma, de huma Rocha toda sercada do Muro de tres Brassas de Altura e quatro palmos de Largura co seus parapeytos: Tern em Roda quatro Çtas.

Now that the great Afonso Dalboquerque had expired, before any one came from the city he was immediately enshrouded and clothed in the habit of Sanctiago, with some buskins on his legs, and spurs on the boots, and a sword in his belt—after the customary manner of burying the Commendadors—and on his head was placed a velvet cap, and at his neck a stole of the same. And when the body had been thus attired, Pero Dalpoem gave orders to lay down carpets on the quarterdeck of the ship, and there they set out the body upon a bier covered with a pall of black velvet, with a cushion of the same material at the head. And Diogo Fernandez de Béja, who was the captain, ordered a boat to be made ready wherein the body was to be conveyed to land; and when morning came, the people of the city began to assemble in boats with a great outcry to accompany him, but when they heard that he was dead, so great was the crying and weeping on all sides that it seemed as if the very river of Goa was being poured out; and because the people were in a great throng he was immediately put into the boat and so carried to the city.

The great Afonso Dalboqnerque having all his forces collected together for re-embarking, Mira Merjão ordered an attack to be made upon him with the artillery which he had in a tower upon the Island of Cira, with the result of killing some of our men and wounding many. Seeing the damage which the large guns of the enemy inflicted upon him, and that he could not resist them because he had no scaling-ladders nor means of getting to close quarters with them, and his people much exhausted with their labour, and the excessive heat of the weather, Afonso Dalboquerque proceeded to embark—the high tide being already close up to the foot of the wall—much against every one's wishes, for they were desirous of returning again to the combat, and wanted Afonso Dalboquerque to order the heavy guns to be taken out of the ships and put on shore and trained on the wall, so as to effect an entry under cover of their fire.

After Pero Dalboquerque had set sail from Goa (as I have already related), he proceeded on his voyage straight to Çacotorá, with intention of taking in fresh supplies of water there; and in his passage across the sea he sighted three ships and boarded them; but as they proved to be bound from Calicut, carrying letters of safe-conduct from Afonso Dalboquerque, he let them go and left them to follow their voyage. On board of these ships were all the merchant Moors who had been carrying on their business in Calicut, and with them their wives, children, and property, for the the king had decreed their expulsion, as has already been shown. Pero Dalboquerque, after letting these ships go, shaped his course for Çacotorá, and cruised about in the adjacent parts for the whole of the summer, during which time he took ten very richly-laden Moorish ships, which were bound for the straits. And as the season was now far advanced, and the favourable winds would not hold out sufficiently long to enable him to go and have a look at Adem, as Afonso Dalboquerque had instructed him, he tacked out and stood over to Ormuz, at which port he arrived at the end of May; and as soon as he had cast anchor in the bay, the King Terunxa, who was then upon the throne, —for his brother Ceifadim had died of poison—sent Hacem Ale, a Moor born at Grada, to pay him a visit on board ship; and by him he sent word to say that the city was at the service of the King of Portugal, and that he considered himself that king's vassal.

Inasmuch as the Xeque Ismael was very greatly desirous of drawing all the Kings of India over to friendship with him, and of persuading them to follow his religious tenets, he frequently sent his ambassadors, in pursuance of this policy, to the King of Cambay, and to the Çabayo, for he knew that if these two, being of superior power and great estate, could only be persuaded, all other rulers would yield without demur to that which he wished to accomplish. Hence it was, that in the year '13, when Afonso Dalboquerque penetrated the straits of the Red Sea, the Xeque again sent his ambassadors to the same kings as before, each one of them being equipped with a hundred saddle horses, and with very richly-furnished tents for their lodging, and silver services of plate for their tables. The instructions which were carried by these ambassadors were to the effect that the kings must accept his cap, [and so acknowledge his supreme power], and cause the especial book of prayer which he used to be read in their mosques.

The brothers of Reys Hamed, who found themselves put out of the business, with their people (although what with the blowing of trumpets and beating drums incessantly, because they had been ordered so to do, they had perceived nothing of what had happened indoors), nevertheless, on account of the suspicions which they experienced, drew near with axes, intending to break the doors in, and force the entrance. But Afonso Dalboquerque, desirous of preventing this, ordered a gun to be fired. This was the signal which he had preconcerted with the captains of the train-bands, and as soon as they heard it, they made their way directly to the gate, and compelled Reys Hamed's brother and all his people to withdraw. And when they began to skirmish with these, Dom Garcia came up and bade them, on the behalf of Afonso Dalboquerque, to take care what they were about, for there were adherents of the king and of Reys Nordim mixed up with these Moors.

At the beginning of January, in the year [fifteen hundred and] fourteen, the great Afonso Dalboquerque reached Goa, and there he found ambassadors from the Kings of Pegú and Siam, and another from the king's mother, with presents of very rich things, and letters of many compliments, showing in them how much they desired the friendship of the King of Portugal, and wished to make arrangements for carrying on in peace the trade in Malaca ; and as he was, on his part, also desirous that the commerce of this state should be widely celebrated among all the kingdoms of those parts, he was much pleased with their mission to him, and treated the ambassadors with great entertainment.

In the company of these ambassadors came Manuel Fragoso, whom Afonso Dalboquerque had sent with Antonio de Miranda to the King of Siam, to prepare for him a written report of all the matters, merchandise, dresses, and customs of the land, and of the latitude of their harbours; and this report Afonso Dalboquerque sent immediately, together with the presents, to Dom Garcia de Noronha, in order that he might convey them to the King D. Manuel, in the ships of burden that were ready to set sail for these kingdoms [of Portugal].