The main issue of this article is to discuss the data in relation to the different types of sociability suggested by the social representations about the urban violence, which the media have contributed to establish. Thus, we analyze the narratives about this theme, focusing on the riots promoted by French students in April and May 2006, fighting against the Contrat Première Embauche / CPE (first job contract). We follow the hypothesis that the Brazilian media had covered these manifestations focusing on the violence rather than on the questions related to the employment, which were the core of the discussions and the students’ claims. We have worked with the O Globo, one of the most influential newspapers in Brazil.