This article addresses the importance of the local community in the preparation of mega-events, taking the case of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Using the news e-clipping of three Brazilian newspapers, we conducted a quantitative analysis of the topics addressed and the voices present in the news. In addition, we conducted a qualitative analysis of the news in which there is an association between protests and the 2016 Olympic Games. As a result, we detect a distance between the interests of the organization of the mega-event (dominant) and the interests of the community (devalued), as well as the role of the media in the representation of both.