Climate Change

in the Brazilian News Media

A comparative analysis of 50 newspapers from

July 2005 to June 2007
July 2007 to December 2008

Prepared by: Support:

 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

The Climate Challenge

T
he primary symptoms of the crisis humanity faces today were foretold by science at least a half
century ago. Nonetheless, the political and economic forces that shape the course of our planet
have not been able to respond adequately to the phenomenon. As we all know, the problem is
rooted in a development model which failed to take into account the environment as a key component
of the development equation.

Clearly, climate change represents the most serious manifestation of this omission. And while existing
channels are available to respond effectively and with the requisite urgency to the magnitude and com-
plexity of the challenge posed by the phenomenon’s intensification, these are invariably bound to the
construction of a new development paradigm.

To be sure, the task at hand does not fall simply to the environmental sector. Rather, it requires a trans-
versal approach involving every area of human development. If the effective commitment of world
leaders to rational resource use continues to occupy a prominent place on the agenda, we must not
underestimate the importance of participation by other sectors in the discussion and decision-making
processes, including the populations most imperiled by climate change.

Clearly, we have an arduous process of consensus building before us, requiring intensive social mobili-
zation and expanded public debate. It is ANDI’s view that in this context, in which communications will
play a vital role, journalism has a unique responsibility.

There are a number of factors that make quality journalism a critical element for ensuring the public
debate on climate change is promoted effectively. One involves the airtight scientific case on the causes
of the phenomenon and the means to confront it. Another centers on the intentionally ambivalent posi-
tions adopted by a majority of government officials, both at the domestic level and within international
climate forums. No less relevant are the frequently polarized approaches emanating from the represen-
tatives of key sectors, including environmental NGOs and the business community.

In addition to its capacity to provide contextualized information on the multifaceted aspects of climate
change, the news media has the power to contribute toward transforming the phenomenon into a prior-
ity issue and to overseeing the corresponding climate measures, programs, and policies, while gauging
the performance of those charged with their implementation.

Cognizant of the magnitude of the mission, over the past three years ANDI has sought to develop tools
to support the Brazilian media’s coverage of climate change. These include analytical reviews of the
daily content of news publications throughout the country undertaken in partnership with the British
Embassy and the British Council in Brazil. The 42-month monitoring survey presented in the pages
that follow offer a thorough evaluation of the merits and limits of the editorial treatment. Beyond the
diagnostic analysis, we believe the considerations and findings emerging from the study could serve as
an effective foundation for the efforts of news professionals and their organizations to enhance the qual-
ity of their reporting. Similarly, they could prove equally useful to the information sources with which
news organizations maintain an ongoing dialogue. Enjoy!

Veet Vivarta
Executive Secretary
Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights – ANDI
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Contents

E Executive Summary 4

I Introduction 8

A Analysis of Results
1- Agenda-Setting 25
2- Information in Context 36
3- The Media as Watchdog 51

C Conclusion 61

B Bibliography 63

Annex I 65

Annex II 66

Credits 67
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Executive
Summary
E T
his study presents the key results from the analysis of 50 newspapers in
26 Brazilian states and the Federal District from July 2005 to Decem-
ber 2008. The objective of the study was to evaluate the extent to which
issues related to the phenomenon of climate change resonate in the national
news media and to assess the quality of the published content.
4

The study was performed in three stages. The first encompassed a 24-month
period (July 2005 to June 2007). In order to identify possible shifts in the
trends identified, ANDI applied the media monitoring methodology to the
coverage of climate change in the first half of 2008. The comparative findings
were sufficiently substantive to warrant a third analysis designed to incor-
porate the periods omitted in the previous evaluation, covering the final six
months of 2007 and 2008, respectively.

Based on the investigation, this publication sets out to consider the editorial
treatment of climate change in the Brazilian news media. To more clearly
illustrate the distinct approaches adopted by news dailies, we employ com-
parative data from the two consolidated monitoring periods:

1st period (2005/2007): July 2005 to June 2007 (24 months)

2nd period (2007/2008): July 2007 to December 2008 (18 months)

General Findings of the Coverage

The results of the media content analysis between 2005 and 2007 re-
vealed a significant increase in the number of stories on climate change
beginning in the second half of 2006 and continuing through June 2007.
From the second half of 2007, coverage of the issue registered a decline
that extended into 2008, a similar trend to that identified in interna-
tional studies.

In 2005/2007, each sample news daily published an average of one article

every four days; in 2007/2008 that figure fell to one story every 5.5 days.

Despite the drop off in the number of stories, a number of factors bear
consideration:

• The volume of news reports produced between late 2006 and the first six
months of 2007 was driven by an international agenda marked by develop-
ments of sufficient significance as to draw news media interest.

From 2006 to 2007, a number of de-
velopments in the climate change
arena attracted widespread media at-
tention, including:
• Release of the Stern Review in Octo-
ber 2006;
• The debut of An Inconvenient Truth
in November 2006, a documentary
starring former Vice-President Al
Gore, and the Oscar awarded to the
film the following year;
• The Noble Peace Prize bestowed to
Al Gore and the IPCC in October
2007 for their efforts in disseminat-
ing information on climate change
worldwide;
The major climate change events over
the following year did not have the
same media impact.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
• Beginning in the second half of 2007, the quantity of “journalistic hooks”
(documentaries, reports, awards ceremonies) dropped, leading to a rela-
tive loss of interest on the issue, not just in Brazil but among the global
media as well.
• Despite the reduction in relation to the October 2006 to December 2007
period, the number of published stories in 2008 (one every six days) re-
mained above the average identified in the initial 12 months of the study
(July 2005 to June 2006), when approximately one article was published
every nine days.
5
• The coverage of climate change was heavily concentrated in the national
dailies (Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo, O Globo, Correio Bra-
ziliense, Valor Econômico, and Gazeta Mercantil – the latter two focused
primarily on the financial and economic aspects of the issue).
• From July 2005 to June 2007, the six national dailies accounted for 37%
of the coverage. In the second monitoring period, July 2007 to December
2008, the major newspapers were responsible for an even larger share of
the total – 45.5%.
• Among the six leading newspapers, the average number of stories pub-
lished per outlet during the 42-month analysis was one every 2.2 days. The
figure for the local dailies was one article every nine days.
Enhancing the Value of the Coverage of Brazil
• Among the news stories centered on specific localities, references to the
Brazilian context rose from 42.7% (July 2005 to June 2007) to 72.3% (July
2007 to December 2008).
Key Topics Addressed
• Between 2005 and 2007, the media focused primarily on three sub-topics:
the Greenhouse Effect (26.1%), Energy Issues (13.5%), and the Conse-
quences and Impact of Climate Change (12.1%).
• In 2007 and 2008, a shift occurred with greater emphasis given to: Mea-
sures to Confront Climate Change (26.8%); Consequences and Impacts
(9.8%); Climate Change in General (8.5%), and Collective International
Action (8.3%).
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies
• The percentage of stories with references to mitigation strategies reached
significant levels in all of the analyzed periods, registering a slight increase
from the 2005/2007 period to the 2007/2008 period: 45.5% to 51.1%.
• Adaptation measures were cited in only 3.6% of the news pieces in the
2005/2007 period, a figure that rose to 6.8% in the 2007/2008 period.
• Among the mitigation strategies referenced in the content, in the 2005/2007
period greatest emphasis was devoted to the energy sector (45.1%), while
in the 2007/2008 period soil and forest use (25.4%) took precedence.
Emission Reduction Targets
• The data collected by ANDI indicate significant enhancement of the dis-
cussion on the need to invest in direct emission reduction measures. Ref-
erences to emission targets climbed from 15.4% to 32.9% in the periods
surveyed.

• References to Brazil’s position on emission targets also
increased from 3.7% to 11.8%.
The Issue in Context
• The research methodology assessed the media’s em-
ployment of four major contextual variables in con-
nection with climate change and their corresponding
share of the coverage:
a) References to concepts related to the phenomenon
(1.3%);
b) References to evidence demonstrating the existence of
the problem (24.4%);
c) References to aspects that explain the gravity of the
problem (32.7%); and
d) References to statistical data (46%).
• References to legislation, deemed a key differentiating
feature of the coverage of climate change, remained
above 40% throughout the period surveyed (42.1% for
July 2005 to December 2007 and 43.1% for July 2007
to December 2008).
Causes, Consequences, and Solutions
• References
to causes and solutions for climate phe-
nomena remained stable in the two periods:
Causes – 36.5% (2005/2007) and 36.6% (2007/2008)
Solutions – 41.8% (2005/2007) and 41.1% (2007/2008)
• References to consequences, meanwhile, declined
significantly: from 58.5% (2005/2007) to 34.4%
(2007/2008).
• Among the entities and sectors identified by the me-
dia as having primary responsibility for confronting
the climate change challenge, governments occupied
an important position. Of the total number of stories
examined in the July 2005 to June 2007 period, 24.2%
of the published content assigned responsibility for
formulating responses to climate change to the Bra-
zilian government and to the governments of other
countries. A nearly identical percentage (23.7%) was
identified in the following period – July 2007 to De-
cember 2008.
• However, the data points to a shift in the reporting
on this question. Whereas initially responsibility for
presenting solutions to the problem was attributed to
foreign governments (24%), in the second phase of the
analysis that responsibility was transferred to the Bra-
zilian executive (32.2%).
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
• The news coverage singled out the environment as
the area most severely impacted by the phenomenon,
despite a reduction in the volume of content on this
question between the first and second survey periods
(72.6% and 56.5% of the published content, respec-
tively). Further, the number of references to econom-
ic effects increased (from 16.8% to 24.6% between
2005/2007 and 2007/2008).
Sourcing
• Another encouraging result was the drop in the num- 6
ber of articles in which the primary source could
not be identified, from 24.9% (2005/2007) to 14%
(2007/2008).
• The sources cited most often in the survey period
were: experts and technical specialists (18.6% and
17.8%, respectively) and government officials (17.6%
and 19.7%).
• In addition, the number of sources connected to for-
eign governments fell from 11.5% (2005/2007) to 6.7%
(2007/2008), while the number of sources tied to the
business sector jumped from 7.0% to 12.1%.
Related Issues
• Of the specific issues intimately bound to the climate
change agenda, questions related to energy and green-
house gases (GH) received particular attention.
• From July 2005 to June 2007, 46% of the selected sto-
ries made some reference to energy; in the second sur-
vey period, the total was 42.7%.
• The discussion on energy continued to center on fos-
sil fuel use (31.6% and 25.9%, respectively). However,
the debate on clean energy sources was the subject of
considerable analysis as well, in particular ethanol,
which was cited in approximately 10% of the analyzed
content.
• More than 50% of the published stories on climate
change in the two periods referred to GH (55.8% and
59.9%, respectively).
• More than half of the pieces cited the emission source,
with a slight increase registered from the first to the
second period surveyed (50.7% to 56.4%).
Framing
• The environmental perspective constituted the domi-
nant framing of the climate change story in the two
survey periods – 43.6% (June 2005 to July 2007) and
45% (July 2007 to December 2008).
• In addition to environmental framing, a considerable
(and increasing) number of news reports broached
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

the issue from an economic (15.5% and 18.7%, respectively) and political
(11.5% and 15.8%) angle.

• The development perspective registered a slight increase in the two peri-

ods: from 15% of the analyzed content (2005/2007) to 19% (2007/2008).

Institutional Focus
• The institutional focus of the coverage displayed no significant changes
between 2005/2007 and 2007/2008. The two periods were characterized
by expanded emphasis on the governmental sphere (internal and exter-
nal), particularly the executive branch. This particular focus increased yet 7
further beginning in July 2007, accounting for 32.7% of the analyzed con-
tent – nearly ten percentage points above that registered in the July 2005
to June 2007 period (23.3%).

• In 2005/2007, the coordinated efforts undertaken at the international level

occupied a prominent position in the coverage (46.7%). By contrast, in
2007/2008 greater emphasis was placed on the Brazilian government sec-
tor (60.2%, including the federal, state, and municipal governments).

Public Policies
Two key findings emerged from the analysis of the media’s reporting on pub-
lic policies in the climate change field:

• In the first survey period, references to government (national or foreign)

measures were already significant (July 2005 to June 2007): 23.2%.

• This percentage continued to rise – to 32.7% – in the July 2007 to Decem-

ber 2008 period.

General Considerations
After reaching its peak between the last half of 2006 and early 2007 – driven
by the release of important research work on the impact of climate change
and the resulting mobilization of the international community – the atten-
tion devoted by the Brazilian news media to the issue began to fall off. Not-
withstanding this trend, two points bear mention:

• The overall rise in the number of articles in 2008 in relation to the total
registered in the second half of 2005 and the first six months of 2006.

• The sharp contrast in the volume of coverage offered up by the national

dailies in comparison to the regional newspapers, with the first group sus-
taining a substantial level of reporting on the topic throughout the period
surveyed.

In addition, the coverage manifested significant advances in respect to edi-

torial treatment of the subject, as reflected by the shift from a risk-based
approach – which tends to emphasize climate impacts – to a broader assess-
ment centered on the strategies to confront the problem, that is, preventive
measures.

A final and critical point involves the focus given to agenda items linking
temperature changes to specific aspects of the Brazilian context. While still
in its early stages, this trend was evident in the continuing increase in refer-
ences to localities within the country, the initiatives of the federal govern-
ment, and the debate on the adoption of domestic emission targets.

I “C
Development in
Jeopardy
The 2004 Up and Smoke report by the New
Economic Foundation argues that climate
change threatens to reverse the gains of hu-
man development. “The organizations that
have come together to produce this report
fear that without the necessary urgent and
radical action by government, many of the
gains of human development are now in je-
opardy and may be reversed,” declares the
document. According to the study, there is a
real risk that the Millennium Development
Goals, aimed at cutting poverty by 2015,
will not be achieved due to the effects of cli-
mate change.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
Introduction
limate change could be the biggest story of the twenty-first cen-
tury, affecting societies, economies and individuals on a grand
scale.”1 This assertion not only identifies climate change as a cen-
tral component of the news media’s agenda, but underscores two key aspects
for measuring the sheer scope of the phenomenon: in addition to the inten-
8
sity of the expected consequences, we face a challenge that will significantly
affect all regions of the planet.
The breadth of the agenda extends well beyond any specific knowledge area
or social field. The debate is not purely scientific or even environmental (in
the strictest sense of the term). The climate change alert will lie at the center
of the development question for Nation States and their societies moving
forward – and directly touch the political, economic, health, as well as seve-
ral other spheres.
At the same time, climate change poses a shared challenge for the inter-
national community. As the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP)’s Human Development Report 2007/2008 notes, almost anecdo-
tally, it makes no difference if the excess CO2 derives from a burning house,
an automobile, or tropical deforestation. “When greenhouse gases enter
the earth’s atmosphere, they are not segmented by country of origin: a ton-
ne of CO2 from Mozambique is the same weight as a tonne of CO2 from the
United States.”
In contrast to other international flash points, in response to which the
most powerful nations can usually adopt unilateral measures, confron-
ting climate change requires a global consensus. With this in mind, the
UNDP report offers two warnings – “the world has less than a decade
to change course” and “no issue merits more urgent attention – or more
immediate action” – which effectively lay out the precise dimensions of
the scenario we face.
Climate and Development
It is worth recalling that climate change has only recently become a topic
of global concern. One of the landmarks in drawing attention to the crisis
was the publication and mass distribution of the report prepared by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In its fourth edition
in 2007, the document lays the responsibility for climate change squarely at
the feet of human beings, in the most emphatic terms: there is today 95%
certainty regarding the role of human beings in climate change. These stu-
dies, in turn, have given renewed impetus to efforts to prioritize a reorien-
1  James Fahn, Global Director for environmental Programs at Internews.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

tation of production/consumption patterns and the prevailing economic

development model in the coming decades.

Another seminal reference in the

climate debate is the 2006 British
government commissioned study
The Economics of Climate Change
Key Agenda Item (or the Stern Review, as it is more
for Children commonly known), prepared by
British economist Nicholas Stern,
Since 1996, ANDI has distinguished itself – and received wide who pronounces in its opening 9
public recognition – for the production of a substantial volume of pages: “The scientific evidence
media analyses on an array of topics, in particular those related is now overwhelming: climate
change is a serious global threat,
to children. The results of these studies are available in a set of and it demands an urgent global
publications released by the Agency – some translated into En- response.”2
glish and Spanish. In addition to content on issues of relevance
to younger generations, some of the texts consider questions of To Stern, climate change repre-
central importance to the social and environmental agenda in sents the largest-scale market fai-
Brazil and/or Latin America. Human Development and Poverty, lure the world has ever known. In
sum, those who emit greenhouse
Business Social Responsibility, Social Technologies, Human Ri- gases impose costs on the planet
ghts, and Science and Technology are just some of the subjects and future generations without
addressed. The objective of these analyses has centered on promo- suffering any direct consequen-
ting effective cooperation with journalists and information sour- ces for their actions – whether
ces through media monitoring efforts. This contribution is aimed through market mechanisms or
at enhancing the discussion on issues and, by extension, encoura- other means. In addition, becau-
se they are not forced to bear the
ging the implementation of a development model that takes into associated costs, these actors have
account the guarantee of the human rights of all population seg- no economic incentive to reduce
ments and the sustainable use of natural resources. In this light, emissions. In the jargon of eco-
the public discussion on climate change, beyond its widespread nomists, human-induced climate
implications, falls well within ANDI’s traditional field of action: change is an externality that can-
promoting and safeguarding the rights of children. not be corrected solely by the ma-
rket. Rather, the remedy requires
State regulation and international
agreement.

Another central aspect of Stern’s

argument is that the shift to a low emission production model has the
potential to generate development opportunities over the long term. As
Stern sees it, States must send a clear signal to the market that confron-
ting climate change should be viewed as an investment. The logic is strai-
ghtforward: the benefits of urgent action to tackle the problem greatly
outweigh the high costs of inaction in the near future.

The Power of Communication

Because confronting the challenge necessarily requires a global effort
coupled with a comprehensive reformulation of the development model
pursued to date, it is essential that the issue consistently gain greater
prominence on the agendas of public decision-makers and that it be
widely disseminated among the general public. In this light, the media
assumes a leading role in consolidating the public debate on climate
change by projecting it beyond the halls of science and the narrow in-
terests of specific groups, in order to ensure new policies are effectively

2   STERN, Nicholas. The economics of climate change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 2006.

A search on the Scielo system
(http://scielo.br) – the largest data-
base of academic articles published
in Brazilian scientific journals – of
“climate change,” “global warming,”
and “greenhouse effect” produced no
results of research studies on news
coverage of climate change in the
Brazilian media.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
implemented. This is the position advocated by the UNDP’s Human
Development Report:
Apart from their role in scrutinising government actions and holding
policymakers to account, the media are the main source of informa-
tion for the general public on climate change. Given the immense im-
portance of the issue at stake for people and planet, this is a role that
carries great responsibilities.
This view is shared by a wide body of specialized literature, which sees the
media as a driving force in the development of nations – a subject extensi- 10
vely explored in the field of “Communication for Development.” There is,
therefore, growing recognition that qualified action by the media directly
contributes to improving social and environmental conditions – as does the
Human Development Index (HDI).3
An exponent of this perspective is the Director-General of the United Na-
tions Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koïchi-
ro Matsuura. In the preface to Media and Good Governance, Matsuura stres-
ses the need to reaffirm the importance of protecting the fundamental rights
of freedom of expression and the press, in particular because these rights
help ensure development:
Without these rights, democracy cannot prevail and development remains
unattainable. Independent, free and pluralistic media have a crucial role
to play in good governance of democratic societies, by ensuring transpa-
rency and accountability, promoting participation and the rule of law,
and contributing to the fight against poverty.
Based on this premise, namely that the news media is a central actor in con-
temporary democracies and in ensuring human rights – and, consequently, a
key cog in the development process of nations – the Brazilian News Agency
for Children’s Rights (Agência de Notícias dos Direitos da Infância – ANDI),
with the support of the Climate Change Communication Program of the
British Embassy in Brazil, performed a series of studies to evaluate the res-
ponse of the Brazilian news media to the climate challenge (in addition to
other aspects of the relationship between journalism and climate change, see
box below). The present publication outlines the results of this singular and
pioneering effort, presenting the data from the media analyses conducted
over a three-and-a-half-year period and a comparative review of two distinct
sub-periods.
The text evaluates the editorial treatment of the discussions on various as-
pects related to climate change in 50 Brazilian dailies (see the full list on page
23). This snapshot covers 42 months, from July 2005 through December
2008. The findings emerging from the investigation, as we will see below,
offer an important contribution toward enhancing our understanding of the
mass media’s role in the wide-ranging global discussion of the planet’s chan-
ging climate conditions and the potential consequences of the phenomenon
moving forward.
3   See Press freedom and development: An analysis of correlations between freedom of
the press and the different dimensions of development, poverty, governance and peace,
UNESCO, 2008; Broadcasting, Voice and Accountability, World Bank, 2008; The right to
tell: The role of mass media in economic development, World Bank, 2002; Human Develo-
pment Report 2002: Deepening democracy in a fragmented world, UNDP, 2002; Develop-
ment and Freedom, Amartya Sen, 2000.

Actions to
Enhance the Coverage
In addition to media analyses, ANDI pursues a
diversity of strategies and actions to contribute
toward enhancing the coverage of climate change
by Brazilian news outlets.
The British Embassy, the British Council and the Da-
nish Embassy are key partners in these initiatives.
Portal
Designed to serve as a reference, the www.mu-
dancasclimaticas.andi.org.br portal is continuou-
sly updated with new content and offers a dyna-
mic and comprehensive body of information.
The channel’s 26 sections – consisting of over 150
web pages – address various aspects of the climate
change phenomenon: scientific evidence, interna-
tional negotiations, public policy, the Amazon,
mitigation and adaptation, to name just a few. In
additional, the portal includes a selection of mul-
timedia resources, from videos, audio recordings,
and exclusive articles to a database of informa-
tion sources and a glossary.
Capacity Building
In an effort to provide different capacity-building
opportunities to news media professionals and
information sources, in 2009 ANDI organized
two editions of the Journalism, Policy, and Cli-
mate Meeting (Encontro Jornalismo, Política e
Clima), bringing together experts, representatives
of government in international negotiations and
journalists to expand the discussion on the in-
tersection between the three topics. Additionally,
capacity-building workshops are held directly in
media outlets.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
THE MEDIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Monitoring media coverage of climate change – at least
at the international level – is not a recent exercise. Whi-
le often critical of the related news content, studies have
nonetheless identified substantial coverage of the climate
debate dating back to the 1980s.4
Yet, what specific factors have reinforced this trend
over time? A number of surveys have analyzed the
elements contributing to the active engagement of
media outlets in the phenomenon. This involvement 11
began in the 1960s when the Conservation Founda-
tion sponsored a major event on the subject in the
United States, at the same time that the President’s
science commission warned of the human causes of
climate change.
The topic gained renewed momentum in the 1970s
when, according to researchers Peter Weingart, Anita
Engels, and Petra Pansegrau,5 several statements by the
German scientific community regarding the tangible
challenges posed by climate change received substantial
media attention. In 1988, James Hansen, a scientist at
NASA, testified before a US Senate committee – “coin-
cidentally” chaired by then-Senator Al Gore – that cli-
mate change was the product of anthropogenic factors,6
among other causes, a position which generated con-
siderable media attention as well. At the 1990 World
Climate Conference in Geneva, 700 scientists called for
immediate action to confront the causal factors under-
lying the phenomenon.
Clearly, therefore, the warnings from scientists regarding
the impact of human activity on climate change and the
gravity of this impact are not a recent phenomenon. Al-
though influenced by the economic cycle, the issue has for
some time garnered prominent coverage in the news me-
dia of other countries – although only more recently within
Brazilian news organizations.
4   Examples are available in:
UNGAR, Sheldon. The rise and (relative) decline of global
warming as a social problem. The Sociological Quarterly, v.
33, n. 4, p. 483-501, 1992.
BELL, Allan. Media (mis)communication on the science of
climate change. Public Understanding of Science, v. 3, p. 259-
275, 1994.
_____. Climate of opinion: public and media discourse on the
global environment. Discourse Society, v. 5, n. 1, p. 33-64,
1994.
5 WEINGART, Peter; ENGELS, Anita; PANSEGRAU, Petra.
Risks of communication: discourses on climate change in
science, politics, and the mass media. Public Understanding
of Science, v. 9, pp. 261-283, 2000.
6 BOYKOFF, Maxwell T., e BOYKOFF, Jules M. Balance as
bias: global warming and the US prestige press. Global Envi-
ronmental Change, v. 14, p. 125-136, 2004.

The data provided refer specifically
to the July 2005 to December 2008
period; however, in a presentation
during the Climate Change: the Bra-
zilian Setting, the COP-13, and Media
Coverage – a Workshop for Journalists
conference, Cláudio Ângelo, scien-
ce editor for the Folha de S. Paulo,
presented evidence demonstrating a
sharp increase (from 50 in 1995 to 350
in 2007) in the number of stories pu-
blished by the news daily referencing
the term “greenhouse effect.”
An example is the work of the En-
vironmental Change Institute at
Oxford University, which monitors
the coverage of 50 newspapers distri-
buted throughout 20 countries on six
continents. The data reveal a sharp
rise in the number of stories beginning
in 2006. http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/rese-
arch/climate/mediacoverage.php
The Kyoto Protocol entered into force a
full eight years after it was opened for
signature on 11 December 1997. The
delay was due to the political impasse
triggered by the US’s absence from the
accord, generating speculation regarding
the accession of Russia, which accounted
for more than 17% of global emissions
– enactment of the treaty required rati-
fication by any combination of countries
responsible for at least 55% of global
emissions. Ultimately, the Protocol be-
came effective on 16 February 2005,
following ratification by the Russian go-
vernment in November 2004.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
To take the American example, studies point to 1988 as a seminal
moment when the range of aspects associated with climate change
began to draw greater attention from the country’s news media. 7 In
addition to James Hansen’s testimony on Capitol Hill, other factors
converged to boost the issue’s profile. One was an address delivered
by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the Royal Society in
London in which she acknowledged the relevance of the climate deba-
te. In that same year, the United States experienced one of its warmest
summers on record, triggering a series of severe environmental and
agricultural challenges throughout the country. The crisis prompted
12
Vice-President George H. W. Bush, then a candidate for President of
the United States, to declare, in direct contravention of Reagan admi-
nistration policy, that the greenhouse effect would be countered with a
White House effect.
Exclamation Point
Although somewhat of a late bloomer on the issue, in recent years the Bra-
zilian news media has clearly awakened to the climate change challenge – as
the data arising from the study performed by ANDI and the British Em-
bassy demonstrate. The expanded coverage corresponded to a period of
international ferment that, as set forth in the following pages, became more
pronounced beginning in 2006.
The Brazilian news media, and that of other countries, was decisively in-
fluenced by the “overwhelming evidence” (meticulously assembled by the
IPCC) cited above and the conclusions of an establishment economist, Ni-
cholas Stern, who effectively transformed a problem to that point viewed
exclusively through the narrow prism of environmental impact into an eco-
nomic imbroglio.
Other factors influencing coverage of the climate question included
high international oil prices and the clean energy agenda. Lastly, as
University of São Paulo physicist José Goldemberg,8 one of Brazil’s le-
ading climate change scientists, argues, the awareness we face a global
problem requiring global solutions has contributed to nurturing the
notion that the issue is not strictly environmental, confined to a parti-
cular corner of the planet.
However, the scientific agenda alone does not explain the increase in media
coverage. At the same time, Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Tru-
th provided powerful images – as those broadcast in 1988 – that contribu-
ted to transform the abstract concept of climate change into an inescapable
fact (from melting ice caps, to Katrina, to the personal stories of individuals
affected by the phenomenon).
Another series of developments in the 1990s served to garner greater media
attention. Among these was approval of the United Nations Framework Con-
vention on Climate Change at the ECO/92 Conference in Rio de Janeiro; esta-
blishment of the Kyoto Protocol and its complex ratification process; and im-
plementation of an innovative carbon market.
7 BOYKOFF, Maxwell T., e BOYKOFF, Jules M. Balance as bias: global warming and
the US prestige press. Global Environmental Change, v. 14, pp. 125-136, 2004.
8 GOLDEMBERG, José. Mudanças climáticas e desenvolvimento. Estudos Avan-
çados, 14 (39), 2000, pp. 77-83

Originally developed by Norwegian
researchers Johan Galtung and Mari
Ruge (1965), the theory of news values
sets out to explain why some issues
garner media attention while others
do not. Put another way, this requi-
res examining which values within a
particular event are capable of taking
a story to the “next level” where it be-
comes “newsworthy.”
On 30 November 2007, 150 of the le-
ading global corporations published a
double-page spread in the Financial
Times reaffirming, in respect to the
Conference of States Parties in Bali,
that: “The economic and geopoliti-
cal costs of unabated climate change
could be very severe and globally dis-
ruptive. All countries and economies
will be affected, but it will be the po-
orest countries that will suffer earliest
and the most. The costs of action to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions in
order to avoid the worst impacts of
climate change are manageable, espe-
cially if guided by a common interna-
tional vision.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
In sum, the scientific evidence, powerful images, linkage of the issue to the
economic development agenda, and the shared responsibilities of countries
ultimately served to shape the intrinsic news value of the debate.
Further, these additional factors have contributed to more direct engage-
ment by other important actors beyond the scientific community and envi-
ronmental organizations: the private sector and the national governments
of countries previously absent from the debate that were suddenly forced to
take a stand on the issue, even if to deny the gravity of the crisis. To be sure,
the more active intervention of these sectors in the discussion reinforces the
issue’s status as one of the news media’s primary areas of concern. 13
Coverage in Brazil
A systematic review of the news published in the period under analysis – July
2005 to December 2008 – reveals that climate change has emerged, without
a shadow of a doubt, as a major topic within Brazilian journalism. The num-
ber of news stories on global warming and climate change increased signi-
ficantly, particularly from the second half of 2006 through June 2007. In the
second half of 2007, reporting on the issue began to drop off, manifesting a
trend to level off and stabilize at the levels registered in 2008 – as laid out in
detail in the sections below.
The growing importance of the climate question in the pages of the country’s
newspapers, however, was not merely reflected in quantitative terms. The data
emerging from the study executed by ANDI and the British Embassy reveal sig-
nificant progress in the quality of the reporting.
Included on this front was the increased value attached to topics linking cli-
mate change to specific aspects of Brazilian reality. Although more recent, this
trend was readily evident in the growing number of references made to loca-
lities within Brazil, to the initiatives undertaken by the Brazilian government,
and to the discussion on the adoption of domestic emission reduction targets.
Other factors influenced the increasingly domestic orientation of the issue, in-
cluding the rising frequency of natural disasters and, principally, the publication
of scientific evidence regarding temperature fluctuations and their impact on the
country, as presented in Chapter 1 of this publication (see box on page 33). Despi-
te the advances secured in expanding the space devoted to public policies in the
national news media, it is important to recognize that the Brazilian government’s
initiatives in this area are incipient and very recent. As an example, the National
Climate Change Plan (Plano Nacional de Mudanças Climáticas) was launched in
December 2008. Therefore, the emerging linkage between the phenomenon and
the national setting cannot be attributed exclusively to the policy arena.
Experts on the issue have strenuously advocated the importance of local pu-
blic policies as alternatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the deve-
lopment of adaption strategies to address the impacts of climate change – for
which purpose mobilization of the news media is critical. In a July 2, 2008,
article published on the Sustainable Planet site, the Assistant Coordinator
and Researcher at the Center for Sustainable Studies of the Getúlio Vargas
Foundation (Fundação Getúlio Vargas – GVces), Raquel Biderman, stresses
that widely publicized measures are invariably more effective:
Local action has the power to convince, to persuade. There is nothing like
bearing witness to the measures implemented within our nation’s territory
to convince us that the problem is real and must be confronted. As long
as the discussions languish in the halls of the UN, it will be difficult for
ordinary citizens to understand that the challenge falls to them as well.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Public Policies in Focus

As mentioned earlier, the growing number of references to public policies –
actions taken by the executive branch – represents one of the key advances
identified in this study. Another positive aspect involves the frequent citation
of legal frameworks, in particular the Kyoto Protocol and the negotiations
on its successor, forecast to take effect in 2012. As shown below (see page
15), journalism is an important tool to strengthen the sustainable develo-
pment of nations to the extent it provides, among other things, ongoing
critical assessments of State action – whether undertaken in the executi-
ve, legislative, or judicial branch. Therefore, evaluating the news to deter-
mine not only the frequency with which a particular issue is reported, but 14
the consistency of the published reports, interviews, articles, columns,
and editorials, and their capacity for ensuring oversight and accountabi-
lity, is of fundamental importance.

At the same time, tracking public policies involves more than identifying
ethical lapses or combating corruption. As an instrument for discussing in-
novative actions designed to develop effective solutions, journalism repre-
sents a valuable qualitative element, one which, to be sure, made measurable
progress in the period surveyed. For example, the data from the final survey
months reveal greater focus on references to measures aimed at confronting
climate change (whether through mitigation or adaptation strategies) and
disseminating specific targets in this area, including emission limits and the
efforts to stem continued deforestation.

Another aspect that bears mention regards the continuing tendency of the
Brazilian news media to approach the issue primarily from an environmen-
tal standpoint. While the economic and political angle have gained greater
prominence, the content still falls far short of offering truly transversal (mul-
tidisciplinary) coverage capable of offering a consistent contribution to a
challenge that urgently demands enhanced focus on the phenomenon from
a diversity of fields of human knowledge.

Despite the generally positive aspect of the data presented in the sections be-
low, it is important to underscore persistent limitations in the coverage that
need to be addressed. One refers to the reduced volume of reporting on cli-
mate change questions in local dailies. After three years of analysis, coverage
of the phenomenon continued to be concentrated in the national outlets.
Yet, local publication warrant recognition for devoting attention to aspects
of the phenomenon directly linked to the Brazilian climate change agenda
and their impact on individual states and municipalities. The expectation,
ultimately, is that in time the smaller dailies will enhance the quantity and
quality of their reporting on climate change.

Diversification of the specific areas of focus is related – as revealed by the

study’s findings – to the profile of the information sources cited in the con-
tent. In the 42 months covered by the survey, the news media relied on expert
(scientists and other analysts) and government sources. A wider range of
sources could serve to foster a more comprehensive approach to the issue
capable of promoting a diversity of ideas and mobilizing the interest of other
sectors of society.

The following pages represent an effort to map this setting. There is no doubt
climate change is a key issue on the Brazilian media’s agenda. What the data in
this document strives to sort out is how the news media reports this important
public debate.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

RESEARCH PREMISES
Journalism, as mentioned above, is a pivotal actor in the global effort to con-
front the challenges posed by climate change. It is on the basis of this premise
that ANDI and the British Embassy in Brazil have undertaken a series of
actions aimed at contributing to enhancing the Brazilian news media’s cove-
rage of the phenomenon. The basic pillars of the study can be summarized
as follows:

• Climate change is an issue of major significance to contemporary so- 15

cieties.

• Because of this, it should constitute a priority agenda item among the ge-
neral public and, above all, decision and opinion makers.

• Given its significance, the production and dissemination of “contextuali-

zed information” on a regular basis is essential.

• Because public policies (specific and transversal) to respond to the clima-

te change challenges are continually developed, the news media must be
prepared and qualified to offer adequate coverage of the discussions and
decision-making processes leading to the formulation of those policies –
and to provide critical follow-up of their respective implementation and
evaluation stages.

• In potential conflict and shortage scenarios (at the local, regional, or glo-
bal level), guarantees on the access to information and freedom of the
press in respect to climate change could be threatened. In this context,
quality news journalism – that is pluralistic, independent, critical, and
responsible – emerges as an essential element of good governance and
transparency in democratic societies, particularly in moments of extreme
polarization of interests, knowledge, and practices.

• Journalism exercises a critical function in contemporary democracies:

• Agenda-setting of priority issues in the public arena;
• Delivery of contextualized information;
• Oversight (or watchdog) of the government agencies tasked with formu-
lating and executing public policies, collaborating, in this way, to augment
the public transparency (accountability) of those agencies.

Guiding Principles of the Analysis

These three critical functions of the news media in democratic societies –
agenda setting, the delivery of contextualized information, and public po-
licy oversight – represent the guiding principles of the media-climate change
relationship, and anchor the considerations outlined in the pages below. In
practice, the three perspectives will serve to collate the figures arising from
the analysis, helping, in this way, to consolidate the primary results of the
survey in three chapters (divided on the basis of each function).

Before moving to a detailed presentation of the data, a point about the

three pillars of the analysis. Quite apart from representing intrinsic ele-
ments of the coverage of climate change, the three functions are applica-
ble to a host of subject matters and have, in fact, provided the foundation
for a significant body of research centered on the relationship between
the media and development. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at
each component.

Climate Change
on the Agenda
Researchers specifically engaged in covering cli-
mate change underscore the media’s agenda-set-
ting power: According to Maxwell Boykoff and
Jules Boykoff in Balance as Bias: Global Warming
and the US Prestige Press, “people get their infor-
mation on scientific issues basically from the me-
dia.” In Mass Communication and Public Unders-
tanding of Environmental Problems: the Case of
Global Warming, published in 2000, University of
Washington researchers Keith Stamm, Fiona Cla-
rk, and Paula Reynolds Eblacas found that jour-
nalists were the primary source of information on
global warming for residents in the greater Wa-
shington metropolitan area. For their part,Craig
Trumbo, of the University of Wisconsin, and Ja-
mes Shanahan, a professor of communications
at the University of Cornell, argue in their 2000
study “Social Research on Climate Change: where
we have been, where we are, and where we might
go,” that the public attaches more or less impor-
tance to global warming based on the volume of
media coverage devoted to the issue.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
AGENDA-SETTING
One of the news media’s most important – and most
widely studied – roles regards its capacity to influen-
ce the agenda-setting process. Frequently, the issues
reported in the news constitute priorities of public
decision-makers – and social and political actors in
general – significantly affecting their lines of action.
By contrast, those issues “ignored” by journalists will
not likely attract the attention of the public and, con-
sequently, government.
16
By focusing on specific areas of a topic and highlighting
them in the news coverage, journalists contribute to-
ward shaping how the public interprets a given story. As
a result, journalism has a major impact on the political
deliberation and decision-making process, helping to
determine which issues are viewed as social problems,
who is responsible for them, and what should be done
to solve them.
The Origins of Agenda-Setting Research
The discussion surrounding the media’s influence on
the public agenda is anchored in the agenda-setting
hypothesis. The prime source of this perspective is
“The agenda-setting function of mass media,” a se-
minal article co-authored by Maxwell McCombs and
Donald Shaw fthat first appeared Public Opinion
Quarterly in 1971. In their analysis, the two resear-
chers expound on the theory that would go on to be-
come the subject of extensive debate among students
of the media: “The mass media set the agenda for
each political campaign, influencing the salience of
attitudes towards the political issues.” The theory ar-
ticulated by the authors is based on Bernard Cohen’s
celebrated axiom:
The press may not be very successful in telling its re-
aders what to think, but it is stunningly successful in
telling its readers what to think about.
Cohen aptly summarizes the general view of the
media’s ability to influence which issues will dominate
the agenda of society as a whole and decision-makers
specifically through the content it chooses to publish
and to omit.
This perspective involves considering how the media
contributes to shaping the political process by setting the
agenda of issues the public will deem central to its politi-
cal and electoral decisions. Over time, the study of agen-
da-setting has expanded beyond the narrow confines of
the media’s relationship to politics. Indeed, the concepts
underlying this line of research have contributed to the
analysis of the media’s influence on the social and envi-
ronmental agenda as well.
With the rapid expansion in the potential areas of Sta-
te intervention – due largely to the various orders of
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

rights for citizens and future generations – it has become increasingly

imperative to prioritize a select number of the demands put forth in the
public sphere each day. Therefore, our assumption here is that the news
media exercises a central role in contemporary democracies through pu-
blic agenda-setting.

Because priorities must be defined and because more than one selection
criteria is required to this end, heightened focus by the media on given
topics will contribute toward ensuring they occupy a prominent position
on the agenda.
17
Therefore, a substantial body of news content on climate change will, ac-
cording to agenda-setting theory, invariably lead to greater emphasis on the
issue from voters and, by extension, decision-makers.

CONTEXTUALIZED INFORMATION
Beyond setting the agenda, journalism professionals have a singular social
responsibility: to provide citizens with quality information on government
actions and a variety of other public interest issues. Often times, the news
media is the only channel through which the population has access to infor-
mation regarding critical public services or fundamental rights.

Journalism dedicated to contextualized news enhances citizenship by ensu-

ring the public is clearly aware and capable of demanding its rights – reinfor-
cing and expanding, in this way, social capital.

Quality journalism, therefore, does not rest solely on introducing agenda

issues. Rather, the conveyed information must be adequately contextuali-
zed. Emphasis is placed on “adequately” to underscore the need to filter out
any and all ideologically-motivated information – the adverb indicates the
news media’s duty to provide the public with the largest possible number
of elements in order to ensure full understanding, including in respect to
opposing views. In other words, the attention devoted to specific attributes
of the agenda must be examined, that is “how” the issue is posed in the
news media.

In addition, it is important to highlight that the news media strengthens

democracy by filling, even if only partially, the information gap between
the holders of power and voters. By delivering updated and reliable infor-
mation, the news media provides guidance on many of the positions taken
by the public.

As Nobel-laureate economies Joseph Stiglitz argues, the media’s role in the

political arena is similar to that of a central bank in the economic life of
a society: by providing updated and reliable information, the media con-
tributes toward shaping the views of citizens, thus helping them to make
better decisions.

Framing as an Analytical Approach

The concept of “framing” provides another approach to analyzing whi-
ch issues are placed on the agenda and “how” a particular topic is repor-
ted. Newsrooms may “frame” (address) the same topic in different ways.
For instance, climate change might be covered from an environmental
angle, from an economic or political perspective, or even from a public
health standpoint.

In “Filling in the tapestry: the second level of agenda-setting,” a chapter

contribution to Communication and democracy: exploring the intellectu-
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

al frontiers in agenda-setting theory, Professor Salma Ghanem advances

an original theory of the news media’s agenda-setting role, arguing that
journalistic coverage affects both the issues the public thinks “about” and
“what” it thinks about those issues. The concept of “media framing” re-
fers to interpretive patterns contained in the reporting – how the media
addresses a given topic, the views it transmits, or the information sources
it cites. These patterns result in a specific (and directed) understanding of
developments and events.

According to University of Southern Illinois researcher Sanghee Kweon

in “A Framing Analysis: How Did Three U.S. News Magazines Frame 18
about Mergers or Acquisitions?” published in the Journal of Media Ma-
nagement in 2000, “a frame connects ideas within a news story in a way
that suggests a particular interpretation of an issue.” The author goes on
to add, “One important aspect of framing is to define a problem or a sug-
gestion way to go. What aspects of the issue are most important, and how
are they presented?”

According to researcher Mauro Porto in his book Enquadrando Mídia e

Política (Framing the Media and Politics), research conducted in the field
of psychology played a decisive role in the development of the concept of
“framing.” The renowned research of psychologists Daniel Kahneman and
Amos Tversky in Choices, Values, and Frames, published in 1984, describe
how changes in the way a problem is formulated can produce significant
differences in individual preferences.

In one study, the authors encouraged subjects to choose the best course
of action in a hypothetical epidemic affecting 600 people. A program de-
signed to save the lives of 200 people was selected by 72% of interview
subjects, while only 22% opted for the program that would lead to 400
fatalities – even though the mortality rate in the two scenarios was identi-
cal. The conclusion of the research work is that, among other factors, how
particular problems are framed has a significant influence on the decision-
making process of individuals.

THE MEDIA AS WATCHDOG

Over time, journalism has served as an instrument for the public oversight
of government initiatives – that is, the programs, projects, and actions aimed
at sectors of public interest.

Experts refer to this media activity as the “oversight role.” Often, the term
watchdog is employed to indicate the potential of news content to inform
society of the things government gets wrong and of those it gets right.

The watchdog role dovetails with the democratic process. Government

actions in democratic systems presuppose that authorities be held to a
basic standard of accountability, that is, transparency and the ability to
respond and account to voters. This has been a long-standing issue for
those concerned with the media’s influence on politics, leading, more re-
cently, to more in-depth research into the question of how the media can
play a central role in the oversight of government actions. An influen-
tial synthesis of this perspective frames the media’s public oversight role
within the concept of “accountability to society.” As researcher Catalina
Smulovitz and Enrique Peruzzotti of the Universidad Trocuato Di Tella
in Buenos Aires argue, that role is:

[...] a mechanism of vertical, yet not electoral, oversight based on the

action of a series of citizen and media associations and movements ai-
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

med at exposing inadequate government practices, introducing, in this

way, new agenda issues or prompting action by horizontal government
oversight agencies.

The authors of “Societal Accountability in Latin America,” published in

the Journal of Democracy, Johns Hopkins University Press, argue that pu-
blic oversight through media action complements the set of mechanisms
through which individual citizens exercise direct oversight of their elec-
ted representatives – through elections – while augmenting the oversight
maintained by government audit and enforcement agencies.
19
As an instrument of public oversight, the news media has become a tool
through which citizens are able to demand answers from their elected re-
presentatives, combat corruption and clientelism, and overcome the obsta-
cles to democracy and sustainable human development.

The media has a duty to inform the public any time it uncovers corrupt acti-
vities, the misappropriation and embezzlement of funds, and ineffective pu-
blic policies. At the same time, complaints against the government published
in the media generally tend to elicit a faster response.

The watchdog role also contributes to ensure large-scale human ri-

ghts violations do not occur on a more frequent basis. In his classic ar-
gument, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen postulates that no democracy
with a free press has ever experienced a famine because the public ba-
cklash generated by the resulting news coverage would effectively cripple
the government.

Monitoring Policies
However, the news media can do more than expose unethical or corrupt
government actions: it has the ability to analyze/monitor the outcomes of
public policies, verifying whether they fulfill the expected and promised re-
sults, including by providing the pertinent social actors the opportunity to
express their views.

In practical terms, this requires not only covering the launch of official pro-
jects, but tracking their implementation, their execution in accordance with
the applicable legal and ethical standards, and the related outcomes. This
task is – or should be – a daily exercise among news professionals.

At the same, it is important to recognize that media oversight cannot be

restricted to governments alone. The media must train a close and criti-
cal eye on the demands of all actors (individuals and organized groups)
capable of intervening in the public sphere through their ability to exert
pressure. In the case of climate change, it is imperative to follow-up on
the actions of international organizations (such as the IPCC), universities
and the scientific community, environmental NGOs, and corporations,
among others.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Through its 2007 partnership with the British Embassy, ANDI launched a pio-
neering study to analyze the editorial treatment of climate change in the Bra-
zilian news media. The first stage of the survey drew on the content produced
by 50 dailies from July 2005 through June 2007. This was followed by two
additional stages: one corresponding to the first half of 2008 and another en-
compassing the months omitted in the previous survey, specifically the second
half of 2007 and 2008, respectively.
20
ANDI’s monitoring effort was based on a sample analysis of 1,755 news sto-
ries (including editorials, columns, articles, interviews, and reports) publi-
shed from July 2005 through December 2008 in 50 newspapers distributed in
every state capital and the Federal District. The present publication includes
a discussion of the analysis and the broader setting revealed by the data, pro-
viding a consolidated assessment of the climate phenomenon as reported in
the Brazilian media.

From a methodological standpoint, the goal of the three surveys was to pro-
vide a quantitative evaluation, identify key trends, and reflect on the likely
qualitative implications of the climate change coverage. To this end, the study
employed a research methodology widely applied in media surveys known
as “content analysis.”9

According to Anders Hansen10, this approach combines a set of techniques to

systematize and describe from a quantitative perspective the topics addres-
sed by the media, to identify and quantify the presence and frequency of
specific characteristics in news stories, and, based on these factors, to draw
conclusions regarding the message and meanings of the content.

In contrast to discourse analysis, content analysis seeks to identify possible

subjectivities, intentionalities, and potentialities employed in the linguistic
resources. As Hansen argues, the method:

[...] follows a clearly defined set of steps, one of its attractive featu-
res, but also vulnerable to abuse. Fundamentally, those using content
analysis for the study of media content should recognize that content
analysis is little more than a set of guidelines about how to analyze
and quantify media content in a systematic and reliable fashion.11

Operational Flow
The three stages of ANDI’s research study employed identical parameters
to ensure the required comparative criteria. The analyses were performed
through accomplishment of the following tasks:

• Determination of research samples;

• Determination of the keywords used to select news content;
• Electronic capture of news content;
9  McCOMAS, Katherine; SHANAHAN, James. Telling stories about global climate change:
measuring the impact of narratives on issue cycles. Communication Research, v. 26, n.1, pp.
30-57, 1999. p. 34.
10  HANSEN, Anders. Mass Communication Research Methods. New York University
Press, NY, 1998.
11  Ibid., p. 123.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

• Determination of a tool for analyzing the news content;

• Training of the professionals tasked with classifying the news content;
• Classification of the news content;
• Random checks to evaluate performance of classifiers;
• Input in a database;
• Generation of aggregate results; 21

• Analysis of results.
The first stage in 2007 included the contribution of a group of consultants
with expertise in climate change, which worked in tandem with ANDI to
identify the keywords used in the electronic capture of content and develop
the research instrument.12

Both the keywords and the questionnaire adopted for the first stage of the
study provided the basis for the remaining stages.

SAMPLE
The data was compiled based on a sample of news content on climate chan-
ge published throughout the period surveyed (July 2005 through December
2008). The decision to employ a sample research method derived from the
impossibility of analyzing the full gamut of news articles (given their sheer
number). In situations of this nature, the best alternative is to analyze a ran-
dom, yet representative, selection of days in the survey period.

However, although the same research methodology was employed in every

stage of the study, each of the data collection systems used in the three stages
included certain specificities, as described below.

Specific Features of the First Analysis Stage

The first stage of ANDI’s analysis – covering the news content published in
the July 2005 to June 2007 period – was based on a broader approach than
that applied in the subsequent stages. Because of the project’s unprecedented
nature, application of specific comparative parameters was required for the
sample content.

To this end, a second set of news content with information on a broad range
of environmental issues was selected. The objective was to assess how the
general coverage of environmental issues evolved in relation to the reporting
on climate change specifically, and vice versa.

In sum, two groups of news content were selected, one specifically on climate
change and one on the environment in general. The first group encompassed
all of the stories on climate change published in the sample newspapers, in-
cluding those in which the references to the phenomenon failed to exceed a
minimum threshold. The stories in this category were divided according to the
density of the content, in accordance with the following criteria:

• Minimum – Climate change was addressed in at least one line of the news
story;

12  The names and profiles of the participating consultants are provided in Annex I.
Annex II sets out the list of keywords used to select the sample stories.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

• Average-minimum – Climate change was addressed in one paragraph of

the news story;

• Average – Climate change was addressed in a sub-section of the news

story; or

• High – Climate change was addressed throughout the news story.

Exclusive Focus on Climate Change
Because the comparative parameters of the coverage of climate disequili-
brium were thoroughly outlined in the initial study, the analysis of the first 22
six months of 2008 looked only at climate change stories, discarding what we
might call the control group (stories on the environment in general).

Another difference regarding the compilation of news reports in this period

involved the density of the selected content. Given the stated objective of
conducting a research study specifically centered on climate change, a de-
cision was made to narrow the research sample to those stories devoted in
large measure or primarily to the phenomenon – in others words, those with
a content density rating of average or high as reflected in the classification
criteria applied to the 2005/2007 sample universe.

The data collected in the third monitoring stage – the last six months of 2007
and 2008, respectively – adhered to the exact same criteria established for the
content compiled in the first half of 2008. On conclusion of the process, the
results of the second and third stages were consolidated in a single database.

Ensuring Comparability
Because of the different approaches applied in each individual research stage,
it is important to clarify for readers that the data provided throughout this do-
cument draw a direct comparison between the climate change stories with a
content density classification of average or high in the 2005/2007 period – initial
monitoring stage – and those collected in the second and third stages of the
analysis. This was of fundamental importance to ensure the sample content re-
tained the same characteristics and scope.

Additionally, items with fewer than 500 characters were not considered.

Building the Sample Step by Step

The samples were based on three underlying pillars:
1. The clipping method (electronic);
2. Sample newspapers (where possible, the two leading newspapers in
each state, in addition to the financial and business dailies);
3. The random selection method for the survey days (Composite Mon-
th and Composite Week).

1. About the Electronic Capture of Content

The news stories were selected through an electronic clipping method per-
formed through a thorough scan of each sample newspaper’s site. The scans
were conducted using a set of keywords to identify the content on climate
change (see the list of keywords on page 66).

2. Monitored Newspapers
As mentioned above, the same 50 newspapers were tracked throughout the
survey period – July 2005 to December 2008 (see next page).

Monitored
Newspapers
A Gazeta – Acre
O Rio Branco – Acre
Gazeta de Alagoas – Alagoas
Tribuna de Alagoas – Alagoas
A Crítica - Manaus – Amazonas
Diário do Amazonas – Amazonas
Diário do Amapá – Amapá
A Tarde – Bahia
Correio da Bahia – Bahia
Diário do Nordeste – Ceará
O Povo – Ceará
Correio Braziliense – Distrito Federal
Jornal de Brasília - Distrito Federal
A Gazeta - Espírito Santo
Diário de Vitória - Espírito Santo
Diário da Manhã – Goiás
O Popular – Goiás
O Estado do Maranhão – Maranhão
Estado de Minas - Minas Gerais
Hoje em Dia - Minas Gerais
Correio do Estado - Mato Grosso do Sul
A Gazeta - Mato Grosso
Diário de Cuiabá - Mato Grosso
Diário do Pará – Pará
O Liberal – Pará
Correio da Paraíba – Paraíba
O Norte – Paraíba
Diário de Pernambuco - Pernambuco
Jornal do Commercio - Pernambuco
Meio Norte – Piauí
Folha de Londrina – Paraná
Gazeta do Povo – Paraná
Jornal do Brasil - Rio de Janeiro
O Dia - Rio de Janeiro
O Globo - Rio de Janeiro
Diário de Natal - Rio Grande do Norte
Tribuna do Norte - Natal – Rio Grande do Norte
Diário da Amazônia – Rondônia
O Estadão do Norte – Rondônia
Folha de Boa Vista – Roraima
Correio do Povo - Rio Grande do Sul
Zero Hora - Rio Grande do Sul
A Notícia - Santa Catarina
Diário Catarinense - Santa Catarina
Folha de S. Paulo - São Paulo
O Estado de S. Paulo - São Paulo
Valor Econômico - São Paulo
Gazeta Mercantil - São Paulo
Jornal da Tarde - São Paulo
Jornal do Tocantins – Tocantins
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
3. Composite Month and Composite Week
A number of sample methods can be applied to the
analysis of news media content. Among the most com-
mon are those for which a pre-determined number of
days is selected within the sample period. The selection
can take various forms. One is a method Anders Han-
sen refers to as the Composite Week, which consists of
choosing seven days from each month, on the basis of
specific parameters, for a total of 84 days over the cour-
se of an entire year. Another option is the Composite
Month, consisting of the random selection of 31 days 23
in a given year.
The two sample methods are founded on the pre-
sumption that the coverage of different news outlets
exhibits similar characteristics during the course of
the week. In other words, if we were to consider an
infinite number of Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays,
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, we would
find that the quantitative profile of the coverage on
each day – in terms of its general characteristics – is
very similar. The critical requirement for the two me-
thods is that a balance be struck between the months
and days of the week.
This logic does not apply to coverage which falls within
a defined time frame. For example, in studying the edito-
rial treatment of a vaccination campaign, we would not
want to employ a random sample approach – after all,
the specific days of, as well as those immediately prior
and subsequent to, the vaccination drive would have to
be included in the sample universe. By the same token,
if the objective were to assess the media’s coverage of the
release of a particular IPCC report, the analysis would
have to encompass the release period.
Yet, if the intention is to examine the coverage devoted to
health as a whole or climate change in general, tracking a
sequential period of time or specific days is unnecessary,
particularly when a large volume of published content is
involved. A sequential, instead of random, evaluation (for
example, one week in a given month) could
give undue weight, in the context of the overall coverage, to
an issue that may have only garnered significant attention
in that particular week.
Because our objective was to determine the general cha-
racteristics of the news media’s approach to the topic of
climate change, either sample methodology could be
used. For the most part, the composite week is preferable
to the composite month for shorter time periods, gene-
rally less than one year.
For the study, the initial monitoring process was perfor-
med using the composite month sample. By contrast,
the subsequent two stages were based on the composite
week approach.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

DATA PRESENTATION
The two methods described above are perfectly compatible. As such, either
approach can be selected without compromising data comparison. The only
difficulty in adopting the two sample methods resides in the impossibility of
consolidating the respective databases. Therefore, the analysis of the indica-
tors presented in this document is divided into two periods:

• Period 1: covering the 2nd half of 2005 to the 1st half of 2007 (identified in
the tables as 2005/2007) and

• Period 2: covering the 2nd half of 2007 to the 2nd half of 2008 (identified in 24
the tables as 2007/2008).

The Sample Universe

Based on the procedures outlined above, we arrived at the following totals:

• Between July 2005 and June 2007, an analysis was performed of 643 news
stories on climate change. For purposes of statistical approximation, the
total corresponds to 7,716 news stories published by the 50 newspapers
surveyed over a two-year period.

• From July 2007 to December 2008, 1,112 news stories on climate change
were examined. For purposes of statistical approximation, the total cor-
responds to 4,815 news stories published by the same 50 newspapers over
a period of 1½ years. ◆
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Agenda-Setting
1 I
Analysis of Results

n assessing the ability of the media to set the climate change agenda, the
first factor to analyze is the quantity of news pieces published in a given
period. Identifying the volume of news content on a specific topic al-
lows us to gauge the relative value media outlets attach to the subject.
25

To be sure, a quantitative analysis by itself is not sufficient to determine the

extent and pertinence of the discussion within the media; yet, it offers a
reliable guide as to the issues to which the media gives particular attention.

With this in mind, the present chapter sets out to discuss a number of vari-
ables that help explain the extent to which the Brazilian print media contrib-
utes to setting the climate change agenda. In addition, we seek to identify the
sub-topics on which the media places greatest emphasis.

QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS OF THE COVERAGE

Table 1 provides information to evaluate some important elements of the
Brazilian news media’s coverage of climate change. As the figure indicates, an
average of 0.14 articles was published by newspaper per day, corresponding
to one story per week.

For comparative purposes, the results of other ANDI surveys bear mention. As
an example, the daily average number of news stories on basic education in 2007
was 2.4 per news publication.

For its part the coverage of science and technology in the same year was approxi-
mately 1 news story per newspaper.

Table 1

General profile of the sample stories on climate change (July 2005 to December 2008)*
(figures calculated based on the total number of stories on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
General Business and
Component Local newspapers National newspapers
Sample financial dailies
Estimated yearly average of news 49 37 178 162
stories published by newspaper
Daily average number of news stories 0,14 0,11 0,48 0,44
published by newspaper
Percentage of news stories analyzed in 100% 60,62% 26,68% 12,71%
relation to sample total
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Graph 1
Distribution of news stories on climate change In light of these figures, we need to reflect on the
by quarter importance the Brazilian media attaches to the is-
(Jul/2005 - Dec/2008)* sue of climate change. Is the topic a priority of news
media outlets?
(figures calculated based on the total number of news sto-
ries on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008) The answer to this question is not straightforward, and
requires that we consider a set of variables. First, aware-
jul/sept 2005
ness of the subject in the national media is a recent phe-
nomenon, particularly when compared to traditional
out/dec 2005 agenda issues such as education.
26
jan/mar 2006
Second, the trends identified in different outlets vary
apr/jun 2006 significantly, hampering efforts to draw general conclu-
jul/sept 2006
sions regarding the media’s coverage. These variations are
clearly illustrated in the number of news stories published
oct/dec 2006 in the national newspapers (Folha de São Paulo, O Globo,
jan/mar 2007
Correio Braziliense, O Estado de São Paulo), the financial
and business dailies (Valor Econômico and Gazeta Mer-
apr/jun2007 cantil), and local newspapers.
jul/sept 2007
As Table 1 indicates, the newspapers within the first
oct/dec 2007 group published a news story on climate change every
jan/mar 2008
1.7 days. The average for the financial and business dai-
lies was one every two days. Lastly, the local publications
apr/jun 2008 ran a story on climate change every eight days.
jul/sept 2008
The key aspects of this imbalance are discussed below.
oct/dec 2008 For now, suffice it to say that the coverage of the sub-
ject displayed significant fluctuations throughout the
* The graph considers news stories rated with a climate first three quarters surveyed (July 2005 to December
change content density of average or high. 2007). Specific peak periods were identified – particu-
larly in the first quarter of 2007 – followed by sharp
drop-offs. In 2008 alone, the topic’s inclusion on the
agenda stabilized, although at lower levels than those
registered in the previous period, as demonstrated in
the section below.

Peaks and Valleys of the Coverage

Graph 1 presents the distribution of news stories on cli-
mate change in the 14 quarters analyzed by ANDI. The
data indicate stable coverage in the 1st and 5th quarters,
with a slight uptick in the 2nd quarter (immediately follow-
ing Katrina). However, beginning in the 6th quarter, the
coverage on climate change rose dramatically, a trend that
continued through 2007.

In the 2nd half of 2007, media interest in the issue de-

clined. Yet, 2007 remains noteworthy as a period of
prolific reporting on climate change in the Brazilian
news media. In the opening months of the year an
average of one news story (editorial, column, article,
interview, or report) was published per newspaper ev-
ery 2.2 days. The yearly average was slightly lower –
one news story published every five days – but above
the number registered in 2006 (one news story every
seven days).

The IPCC is a global alliance of the World Meteorological Orga-
nization – WMO and the United Nations Environmental Pro-
gramme – UNEP which is engaged in evaluating the impact of
climate change and recommending measures to confront the phe-
nomenon based on international studies. Throughout 2007, the
IPCC released three climate change reports. The first, published
in February, assessed the planet’s climate conditions; the second
(April) identified the key vulnerabilities in respect to the phe-
nomenon; and the third (May) examined the options for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. In November, the organization released
a summary report.
The event was held in conjunction with the 62nd session of the
UN General Assembly in New York and sought to provide a blue-
print of which measures should be implemented post-Kyoto. The
issue has generated disagreement among decision-makers in var-
ious countries, insofar as it would require the adoption of strict
emission targets and a long-term commitment by developed and
developing nations alike.
The COPs (acronym for Conference of States Parties) are periodic
meetings held among the member States to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (CQNUMC), the pri-
mary objective of which is to reach agreement on reducing green-
house gas concentrations to safe levels.
More than 180 countries gathered at the COP 13 in Bali to present
a Roadmap for the post-2012 agreement, enhancing the negotiating
process on a series of new objectives related to the climate phenom-
enon aimed at achieving a reduction of up to 40% in greenhouse
gas emissions by 2050 based on 1990 levels. Among other issues,
the document centered on the issue of clean technology transfers, the
provision of financial resources (including the creation of an assis-
tance fund for the most vulnerable countries); and the development
of mechanisms to reduce deforestation.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
The appreciable rise in the number of news stories
published by Brazilian newspapers is related to the
issue’s prominence at the global level in the sec-
ond quarter of 2006 and even more so in the initial
months of 2007, when a number of developments
produced a powerful impact on the media, fueling
the coverage of climate change. The developments
include:
• Release of the Stern Review in October 2006; 27
• Debut of An Inconvenient Truth, starring former Vice-
President Al Gore, in November 2006;
• Release of three reports by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change - IPCC in 2007;
• The UN High Level Meeting in New York in Septem-
ber 2007 to evaluate the first stage commitments estab-
lished in the Kyoto Protocol;
• The COP-13 meeting in Bali in December 2007, and,
lastly;
• The Nobel Peace Prize award to Al Gore and the IPCC
for their efforts in raising awareness on climate change
worldwide.
As laid out above, this period of peak coverage in 2007
was followed by a drop-off in the related news content
in 2008, which stabilized over time. The average num-
ber of stories published by newspaper in 2008 was one
every six days.
The decline in media coverage of the topic in 2008
was not restricted to Brazil. A number of international
media studies identified a similar trend. An example
was a survey of the nightly news broadcasts on three
major American networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, con-
ducted by Robert J. Brulle, a researcher at the Univer-
sity of Philadelphia, which found a reduction in media
coverage in that same year in relation to 2007. Accord-
ing to Brulle, the natural phenomena caused by global
climate change lost its status as “big news,” conferred
in 2007.
Understanding the coverage in 2008
The apparent waning of the climate change issue in the
pages of Brazilian newspapers requires special consid-
eration. Specifically, three variables need to be exam-
ined: the impact of the international agenda; the in-
crease in coverage relative to the initial 12 months of
the survey period; and the disproportionate concentra-
tion of coverage in the national newspapers.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

1. Impact of the international agenda

The period spanning July 2006 to June 2007 corresponded to a distinctive
moment in the climate change debate. As discussed above, coverage of the
issue was driven by an international agenda that exercised a powerful im-
pact on the media.

2008 saw a decline in “news hooks” (documentaries, reports, award ceremonies),

resulting in a relative loss of interest in the topic within media outlets worldwide,
as the results of Robert J. Brulle’s survey – described above – demonstrate.

2. Increase in coverage compared to the initial 12 survey 28

months
Despite the decline in relation to the October 2006 to December 2007 period, the
number of stories published in 2008 (one every six days) exceeded that registered
in the first 12 months of the analysis (July 2005 to June 2006), when the average
was approximately one story every nine days.

Environment
and Climate Change
In the July 2005 to June 2007 period, ANDI’s analysis included a com-
parative component: to assess the Brazilian media’s coverage of climate
change in relation to the space devoted to the environment in general.
In sum, the survey found an inverse relationship between the media’s
coverage of the two topics. Specifically, as the number of stories spe-
cifically centered on climate change grew, the attention given to other
environmental subjects decreased. Between July and September 2006,
for example, the 50 newspapers surveyed published a total of 5,436
stories on the environment in general. Less than a year later (April to
July 2007), that number had dropped to 3,492. In regard to climate
change, the trend was reversed, as reflected by the increase in pub-
lished stories from 516 to 2,304 during the same period.
The national media’s growing attention to the phenomenon, therefore,
was accompanied by a reduction in the volume of content on the ur-
ban environment, biodiversity, extrativism, environmental education,
wildlife and fisheries, and countless other topics.
The finding suggests that climate change stories did not in fact secure
new dedicated space in newspapers, but that they occupied the pages
previously devoted to other environmental topics. Therefore, the in-
creased reporting on the phenomenon from the second half of 2006
through the first half of 2007 reflected the new priorities of environ-
mental editors.
As the results of the study indicate, the concentration of stories on
the phenomenon in the national newspapers was not observed to the
same degree in the reporting on environmental topics in general. In
this, case the 44 local newspapers accounted for 80% of the published
content. On the issue of climate change specifically, the local outlets
were responsible for 60.6% of the stories, while the national newspa-
pers, including the financial and business dailies, contributed 39.4%.
The shifts in this trend, or its consolidation, were not examined in
the remaining stages of the analysis, providing, therefore, a potentially
interesting avenue for future study.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

3. Concentration in the National Newspapers

Another important aspect involves the variables related to a key element
of the climate change agenda in the Brazilian media: the difference be-
tween the coverage provided by local newspapers and those of national
circulation. The latter group includes the Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de
S. Paulo, O Globo, Correio Braziliense, Valor Econômico, and Gazeta Mer-
cantil (the last two focused primarily on financial and business news).

During the period surveyed, coverage of the issue was concentrated in Bra-
zil’s national newspapers, including the financial and business dailies. As an
example, in 2006, when the Brazilian media’s interest was at its lowest ebb, 29
the national newspapers ran one story every 2.2 days, while local outlets ran
only one story every 10 days.

This disparity grew in step with the increase in coverage in 2007. The in-
tense international agenda had a more significant impact on the four na-
tional newspapers, which began running an average of nearly one story a day,
while the local dailies continued to publish approximately the same volume
of news content registered in the earlier period – one story every seven days.

Despite the overall decline in 2008, the national newspapers (including the
financial and business dailies) continued to provide reasonably substantial
coverage, publishing an average of 0.55 stories per day, corresponding to one
news piece every 1.8 days.

The results indicate that the issue of climate change is fast taking hold as a
permanent fixture on the agenda of the national newspapers and the ma-

Table 2

General profile of the sample news stories on climate change by category of newspaper category
(July 2005 to December 2008) *
(figures calculated on the basis of total number of news stories on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
Financial
General National Local and busi-
Topic examined sample newspapers newspapers ness
dailies
2005** 23 63 17 60

Estimated average number of stories 2006 50 150 36 168

by newspaper 2007 62 301 56 215
2008 54 196 40 203
2005** 0,13 0,35 0,09 0,33

Average number of daily stories by 2006 0,14 0,41 0,11 0,46

newspaper 2007 0,17 0,82 0,15 0,59
2008 0,15 0,54 0,11 0,56
2005** 100% 22,12% 67,36% 10,52%

Percentage of news stories analyzed 2006 100% 23,80% 62,90% 13,30%

in relation to sample total 2007 100% 29,40% 57,00% 13,60%
2008 100% 31,40% 55,20% 13,40%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
** Figures calculated based on the number of months surveyed July to December).
Challenges to consolidating the issue
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

jor financial and business dailies, while continuing to constitute, at best, an

incipient topic in local publications. This conclusion becomes all the more
evident when considering the contribution of each newspaper category to
the total number of stories reviewed in the two different periods – July 2005
to June 2007 and July 2007 to December 2008.

Table 3 As Table 3 demonstrates, the share

of news stories appearing in regional
newspapers fell in relation to the
Distribution of news stories on climate change by total number of published pieces
category of newspaper*
(% of total news stories on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008) – from 63% in the first period to 30
54.4% in the second. For their part,
Types of newspapers 2005/2007 2007/2008 the national outlets (including the
financial and business dailies) ac-
National newspapers 24,0% 31,7% counted for 45.5% of the coverage,
Local newspapers 63,0% 54,4% corresponding to an increase of
more than eight percentage points
Financial and business dailies 13,0% 13,8% over the first period surveyed. It is
Total 100,0% 100,0% worth recalling that the survey sam-
ple was composed of 50 newspapers,
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high. highlighting the imbalance of the
coverage provided by the media out-
lets in each of the three groups.

In view of the findings, it is worth considering for a moment why local

newspapers appear to have encountered greater difficulty in maintaining
the issue on the agenda. One possibility is a lack of interest and qualified
knowledge on the part of journalists. Another may reside in the reduced

The International Climate Change Agenda

in 2008
Despite the somewhat reduced impact of the international agenda on the coverage of climate change in the Bra-
zilian media in 2008, several significant events contributed, in some measure, to stimulate reporting of the issue.
These include:
• In February 2008, the Global Forum of Legislators G8+5 was held in Brasilia. The event brought together
lawmakers from member countries to offer a political assessment of the proposed post-2012 climate change
strategy.
• In April, the We can solve it campaign sponsored by the Alliance for Climate Protection, an NGO headed by
Al Gore, was launched. Described by its creators as a nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign, the initiative seeks to
“build a movement that creates the political will to solve the climate crisis”;
• In May, the 9th Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), brought
together heads of State from around the world to Germany to discuss the implementation of “Target 2010”;
• In June, Germany hosted the Climate Change Talks, an event organized by the UNFCCC – UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change. The event is part of the UNFCCC’s annual agenda and takes place every
year in Bonn.
• In November, the governors of Brazilian states with tropical forest areas and cabinet-level officials from the
United States, Brazil, India, Mexico, and Canada, among others, met in Los Angeles during the Governors’
Global Climate Summit.

The National Climate Change Plan was
released in December 2008 to wide-
spread criticism from experts, who cited
a lack of clear guidelines for effective ac-
tion and the failure to establish manda-
tory carbon emissions and deforestation
targets. The lone response to the loud
protests of civil society was to establish
a deforestation reduction target of 72%
by 2017. On the eve of the COP-15,
the Brazilian government appears to
be shifting its stance. Recently, Foreign
Minister Celso Amorim acknowledged
that Brazil must present a “reference
target” on greenhouse gas emissions at
the Climate Conference.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
effectiveness of interest groups with the capacity to incorporate the topic
on the local agenda.
An important caveat worth noting is that the data represent a sample rather
than the total news content on climate change published in the period sur-
veyed. The results presented in these pages refer solely to the body of sto-
ries primarily centered on the phenomenon. In addition, news releases with
fewer than 500 characters were not included in the study (for more on this,
see the chapter on the Research Methodology).
Enhancing the Coverage of Brazil 31
An examination of the Brazilian media’s coverage of the internal and ex-
ternal agenda yielded a number of interesting findings. While the volume
of coverage remained directly associated to the global context – a decline
in the number of international news hooks led to a corresponding re-
duction in the number of news stories – an area of significant progress
was the growing importance attached to the internal setting, particularly
beginning in 2008. This trend derived directly from Brazil’s dynamic po-
litical and scientific landscape through the course of the year and to a
number of severe climate-related disasters.
In addition to a series of research studies and scientific reports produced in
Brazil, 2008 saw approval of the National Climate Change Plan, the Bra-
zilian government’s energetic defense of ethanol production, and the wide-
spread media coverage of severe rain storms in Santa Catarina toward the
end of the year, resulting in a number of fatalities and a toll of more than
70,000 homeless.
An examination of Table 4, which lays out the percentage of articles by
type of locality cited, indicates a pronounced jump in the number of sto-
ries with reference to localities in Brazil, from 42.7% of the total news
content (first survey period) to 72.43% (second period). The finding is
highly encouraging to the extent it demonstrates a greater concern with
providing coverage centered not only on the potential or real impacts of
climate change on the country, but on the policies required to confront
the phenomenon as well.
Table 4
Locality referenced*
(% of total article on climate change in which a specific locality is referenced –
82.6% in 2005/2007 and 48.9% in 2007/2008)
Locality 2005/2007 2007/2008
In Brazil 42,7% 72,43%
Outside Brazil 26,7% 17,65%
Both 28,6% 9,01%
Could not be identified 1,9% 0,92%
Total 100,0% 100,0%
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

A closer look at the contribution of different newspapers to the coverage

of the domestic setting reveals that the media outlets with the greatest
capacity to influence the national political debate (more specifically, the
four major national dailies) have a more internationalized agenda than
the local publications.

Local outlets have traditionally sought to connect issues covered through a

broader prism in other newspapers to the local milieu. The major dailies, in
turn, strive to report on their agendas from a wider perspective to reflect the
diversity of their audience. With this in mind, the data presented in Table
5 indicate that the distribution of news stories in local and national dailies 32
adhered, as evidenced by the localities referenced, to a logical and predict-
able pattern.

However, careful examination of the table also reveals that beginning in 2007
the domestic setting came to dominate the coverage in all three categories,
accounting for a whopping 82.3% in the financial and business dailies, which
registered the sharpest increase (a full 50 percentage points above the first
period surveyed), 79.8% in the regional publications, and 55.3% in the na-
tional outlets. While these figures do not invalidate the argument set our
above, they do call attention to the growing value attached to Brazilian reality
in the three categories.

Yet, the increase in the number of news stories with reference to chal-
lenges affecting Brazil was accompanied by a concomitant drop in the
number of pieces in which a specific locality was cited, whether in Bra-
zil or abroad. While 82.6% of the content published from July 2005 to
June 2007 referred to a specific locality, in the July 2007 to December
2008 period, only 48.9% of the news made mention of a particular loca-
tion. In other words, a considerable percentage of journalists chose to
approach the climate change issue in general terms without placing it in
geographic context.

Table 5

Locality cited by newspaper type *

(% of total articles on climate change focused on a specific locality – 82.6% in 2005/2007 and 48.9% in 2007/2008)

Locality

Not
In Brazil Outside Brazil Both
Type of newspaper identified

2005/ 2007/ 2005/ 2007/ 2005/ 2007/ 2005/ 2007/

2007 2008 2007 2008 2007 2008 2007 2008

National Newspapers 36,8% 55,3% 31,6% 31,2% 29,5% 12,9% 2,1% 0,6%

Local Newspapers 53,5%% 79,8% 22,5% 11,5% 22,9% 7,4% 1,2% 1,3%

Business and Financial Newspapers 32,7% 82,3% 30,8% 11,3% 36,5% 6,5% 0,0% 0,0%

Total 46,8% 72,4% 25,8% 17,6% 26,3% 9,0% 1,3% 0,9%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Table 6

Stories focused on a specific

locality* The Brazilian Setting
(% of articles on climate change –
2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
2008 was marked by the release of several studies demonstrat-
Specific 2005/ 2007/ ing the impact of global warming on the country from a variety
locality 2007 2008
of perspectives. Some of the most notable of these are enumer-
Yes 82,6% 48,9% ated below:
No 17,4% 51,1% • Costs and Benefits of the Reduction of Carbon Reduction for 33
Deforestation and Degradation (Custos e Benefícios da Redução
Total 100,0% 100,0%
das Emissões de Carbono do Desmatamento e da Degradação
*The table considers news stories rated with a cli- REDD) in the Brazilian Amazo, a research study prepared by the
mate change content density of average or high. Amazon Institute of Environmental Research (Instituto Brasileiro
de Pesquisa Ambiental Amazônica – IPAM);
• Climate Report (Relatório de Clima), a study released by the Na-
tional Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas
Espaciais – INPE);
• Climate Change and Energy Security in Brazil (Mudança
Climática e Segurança Energética no Brasil), an analysis pre-
pared by the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute of Graduate Studies
and Research in Engineering – COPPE/UFRJ;
• Global Warming and the New Geography of Agricultural Pro-
duction in Brazil (Aquecimento Global e a Nova Geografia da
Produção Agrícola no Brasil), a study developed by the Brazil-
ian Agricultural Research Corporation (Empresa Brasileira de
Pesquisa Agropecuária – EMBRAPA) with the State University of
Campinas; and
• Climate Change, Migration, and Health: Scenarios for the
Brazilian Northeast (Mudanças Climáticas, Migrações e
Saúde: Cenários para o Nordeste Brasileiro), an analysis pro-
duced by the Regional Development and Planning Center of the
Federal University of Minas Gerais in partnership with the Os-
waldo Cruz Foundation.
The studies offer an examination of the risks posed to Brazil by
climate change and lay out the measures required to mitigate fu-
ture impacts. They call particular attention to at-risk regions of
the country, including the Northeast and the Amazon, as well as
the need to adopt measures related to agribusiness, a key compo-
nent of Brazilian gross domestic product and a major contribu-
tor to deforestation and the CO2 emissions generated from wide-
spread burnings.
The major policy development in 2008 was the approval of the Na-
tional Climate Change Plan in December. The Plan establishes quan-
tifiable and measurable goals to reduce deforestation - the primary
source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Among its objec-
tives is a 72% cut in deforestation in the Amazon by 2015. (For more
on the Plan’s development, see page 31).
In June, a bill to establish the National Policy to Combat Climate
Change was submitted to the National Congress, and is currently
pending approval.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

THEMATIC FOCUS
Despite significant, yet subtle, differences among the newspapers surveyed,
the quantitative data clearly demonstrate that the Brazilian print media has
incorporated the issues encompassed under the broad umbrella of climate
change on its agenda.

Before moving ahead with the analysis of the data, it is worth stopping for a
moment to consider how the climate change question is reported. A first step
in this effort is to identify the sub-topics–based on the various encompassed
within the coverage of global warming – to which the news media has at-
tached priority. 34

Table 7 offers an interesting finding: a shift in the print media’s priorities

in the years surveyed. From July 2005 to June 2007, the coverage centered
predominantly on the greenhouse effect, which accounted for 26.1% of
the content. This was followed by the discussion of renewable energy
sources (13.5%) and the consequences and impacts of climate change
(12.1%), respectively.

Beginning in the second half of 2007, a clear shift occurs toward emphasis on
the measures undertaken to confront

Table 7

News topic*
(% of total articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)

Topics 2005/2007 2007/2008

Measures to confront climate change 7,3% 26,8%
Consequences and impacts of climate change 12,1% 9,8%
Climate change in general 3,6% 8,5%
Collective international action 2,8% 8,3%
Fuel 13,5% 8,0%
Global warming in general 4,6% 7,0%
Greenhouse effect 26,1% 6,5%
Scientific research and technological issues 3,4% 4,8%
Causes of climate change or global warming 5,2% 4,6%
Agriculture 2,0% 2,8%
Legislation 3,9% 2,3%
Development 1,4% 2,2%
Severe climate-related events 3,1% 1,8%
Industry 1,4% 1,6%
Vulnerabilities 0,5% 1,3%
Ozone layer 1,1% 0,5%
Desertification 1,9% 0,1%
Others 5,5% 3,1%
Total 100,0% 100,0%
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.

Downs’ theory centers on five stages:
• The problem exists, but has yet to
draw media attention;
• Discovery of the problem, focused
on the associated harm and conse-
quences;
• Analysis of solutions and the associ-
ated costs;
• Loss of interest in the topic;
• The post-problem stage, when the is-
sue is dropped from the agenda.
For more, see DOWNS, Anthony. Up
and down with Ecology: the issue-at-
tention cycle. Available at: http://www.
anthonydowns.com/upanddown.htm.
Accessed: 18 May 2009
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
the problem. The content on the responses to climate change grew from
7.3% of the total in the first period surveyed to 26.8% in the second pe-
riod. By contrast, coverage of the greenhouse effect fell sharply from 26.1%
to 6.5%. of the total. Stories on the consequences and impacts of climate
change also decreased, falling from 12.1% of the total to 9.8%. The energy
discussion registered a similar trend, dropping from 13.5% to 8%. Lastly,
the number of stories on global warming in general rose from 2.8% to 8.3%
of the total content.
This shift in the news media’s issue focus with regard to climate change is best
analyzed on the basis of the “Issue-Attention Cycle” method developed by 35
researcher Anthony Downs to explain how certain issues gain prominence,
impact, and finally disappear from the public agenda.
Based on Down’s approach, the Brazilian print media’s coverage is migrat-
ing from a second stage – in which the reporting on the climate change
centers on the challenges posed by the phenomenon – to a third stage
focused on laying out solutions to the phenomenon. In a general sense,
where the coverage initially honed in on the greenhouse effect (description
of the problem), the content now reflects a growing concern with discuss-
ing the measures to confront the phenomenon (identification of solutions
and the associated costs).
However, climate change is not a finite story, as opposed to most of the issues
reported in the print media – which, as a result, evolve naturally to the fourth
and fifth stages in Downs’s theory (loss of interest in the topic).
The key challenge for news outlets lies in identifying alternatives to maintain
the interest of different social segments in the climate change discussion and
ensure the issue is not dropped from the public agenda. The scientific evi-
dence points to the urgency of the question. Consequently, it is essential that
journalists are qualified to follow and enhance the debate on the root causes
of climate challenge and the attendant responses.
Additionally, the data suggest that the increased importance the Bra-
zilian news media attaches to the measures required to confront the
problem is associated to the prevalence of this question in the interna-
tional arena, where priority is given to the discussion on greenhouse
gas emission targets. ◆
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Contextualized
Information
2 A
Analysis of Results

s discussed earlier, the role of the print media is not restricted to su-
pplying information to the public – but includes the responsibility to
ensure minimum quality standards for the information conveyed in
order to provide the reader with access to a set of contextual elements capa-
ble of connecting isolated events to general aspects of social life.
36

Assessing whether news coverage provides the means to offer a broad un-
derstanding of a given subject is not an easy task. It is critical to identify
factors that, when presented in the public arena, guarantee the delivery of
a larger and more qualified body of information to the target audience. In
the case of climate change, a series of concepts, scientific evidence, statistical
data, and practical and everyday examples can be employed to elucidate the
impacts and point the way toward the required solutions. Further, putting
this, or any other, phenomenon in its proper context requires discussion of
legal frameworks, related issues, the contributions of sources, and an array of
other variables that lend substance to a news story.

In this section, we discuss some of these elements, which are then applied to
a critical assessment of the quality of the Brazilian print media’s coverage of
climate change over time.

THE NEWS IN CONTEXT

The body of available scientific evidence demonstrating the reality of climate
change and dissecting its causes and effects is so vast as to make it highly
difficult for any interlocutor, including the print media, to cast doubt on the
phenomenon. Indeed, the certainty regarding global warming can be com-
pared to that underlying the media’s unquestioning coverage of the wisdom
of polio vaccination campaigns.

Yet, to take the example above, not questioning the relevance of a particular
vaccination campaign is not sufficient. Journalists cannot limit their covera-
ge to simply announcing the respective vaccination dates. Rather, informa-
tion should be offered on the scope of the campaign, its methods, and the
associated costs.

By the same token, it is important to identify whether the Brazilian media’s

coverage of climate change reflects such a high degree of certainty regarding
the phenomenon as to produce content that fails to provide readers with full
context. In the absence of context, an agenda is treated as a given, while the
associated discussion of which is opened and closed by virtue of its mere
mention – ultimately undermining framing of the problem and full debate.

In other words, just as merely announcing an upcoming polio vaccina-

tion campaign does not constitute good journalism, disseminating, in rote
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

fashion, the existence of climate change and the urgency of addressing the
phenomenon represents substandard professional practice. With this in
mind, and to verify the extent to which the national media’s coverage dis-
played a tendency to decontextualization of the issue, ANDI’s study analyzed
four basic aspects: presentation of the concept, publication of data demons-
trating the existence of the problem, information pertaining to its gravity,
and inclusion of statistical data.

Presenting the evidence and framing the gravity of the problem

The results of the study reveal that media outlets had significant difficulty in
offering a cogent presentation of the concept of climate change. During the 37
entire period surveyed, a full presentation of the concept appeared in only
1.4% of the news stories, as indicated in Table 8. The finding underscores that
given the complexity of the topic the vast majority of information sources in
news pieces – including decision and opinion makers – are not well educated
on the issues underlying the topic; thus the importance of employing these
concepts in the news content.

In turn, data confirming the existence of the phenomenon were provided in

slightly more than 24% of the stories, a significant percentage, particularly
when compared to previous data. However, an average of 75% of the news
stories presented the existence of the phenomenon as a given, without offe-
ring evidence or concepts to substantiate this assertion.

The findings are more encouraging with regard to the efforts of media ou-
tlets to lay out the gravity of climate change and the use of statistical data. On
the first point, nearly 1/3 of the stories surveyed between July 2005 and De-
cember 2008 endeavored to highlight the seriousness of the issue. Similarly,
almost half of the content (49.5%) in the second period surveyed included
statistical and scientific figures, registering a slight increase over the first pe-
riod (42.6%). In addition, more emphasis was given to data comparisons:
whereas in the first stage 36.7% of the stories offered comparative analyses,
in the second period the total rose to 54.7%, a considerable volume.

Finally, the data on the presentation of concepts, evidence of the phenome-

non, and calculation of its scope exhibited little change over the three and a
half years of the analysis. As Table 18 shows, the indicators varied only mar-
ginally, if at all, during the survey periods.

Table 8

Contextualizing the problem*

(% of total articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)

Contextual elements 2005/2007 2007/2008

Concept 1,4% 1,3%
Data demonstrating the phenomenon 24,7% 24,1%
Gravity specified 31,9% 33,6%
Statistical data cited 42,6% 49,5%
Statistical data compared ** 36,7% 54,7%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
** Percentages calculated according to the total number of articles citing statistical data.

The document represents one of the
most important strategies related to
the mitigation of climate change and
is considered a first concrete step to-
ward addressing the problem - it was
negotiated in 1997 at the COP-3 in the
Japanese city of Kyoto.
The Protocol is a legal instrument es-
tablishing binding commitments to li-
mit and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions in developed countries. The
document provides for an average re-
duction of 5.2% over 1990 emission
levels by 2012. At that point, the ac-
cord will be replaced by a new agree-
ment that will be developed during the
COP-15 in Copenhagen (Denmark) in
December 2009.
The development of a regulatory fra-
mework to implement effective measu-
res to confront climate change is still in
its infancy in Brazil. As mentioned in
an earlier section, the National Policy
to Combat Climate Change bill was
submitted to the National Congress in
June 2008, but has yet to be approved.
Climate change is currently governed
by the National Climate Change Plan,
which does not have the force of law.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
LEGISLATION: THE KYOTO PROTOCOL
The inclusion of legislation significantly enhances the coverage of climate
change – in the period surveyed, legislation was cited in 40% of the sam-
ple stories. A brief review of the results of other research studies reveals the
significance of this finding. The analyses of the coverage of children’s issues
performed by ANDI since 1996 found that the news media devoted a far
more limited space to legislation in this area: in 2007, for example, the figure
was only 4%.
Among the various international agreements, the Kyoto Protocol was cited
most frequently, accounting for 42% of all the references to legislation in 38
the first period surveyed and 50% in the second period. The repeated refe-
rences to the document were tied to the discussion of what the print media
has referred to as the post-Kyoto or post-2012 agreement, an international
instrument with new greenhouse gas emission targets and guidelines inten-
ded to replace those in the current Protocol, which lapses in 2012. The new
agreement is expected to be signed in December 2009 at the COP 15 in Co-
penhagen, Denmark.
Table 9
Reference to legislation*
(% of total articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
Reference to legislation 2005/2007 2007/2008
Yes 42,1,% 43,1%
No 57,9% 56,9%
Total 100,0% 100,0%
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
Environment legislation in Brazil includes a number of important instru-
ments to ensure the general safety and security of populations from climate
change impacts. Unfortunately, national legislation was cited in a mere 2%
of the stories reviewed between July 2007 and December 2008.
CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, AND SOLUTIONS
One of the most important elements to enhance the coverage of a particu-
lar issue consists of effectively presenting the related causes, solutions, and
consequences. The studies of Stanford University professor Shanto Iyegar
indicate that the specification of causes and solutions makes it possible to
identify those with primary responsibility for specific issues on the agenda,
insofar as analyses of the reasons underlying a given phenomenon or pro-
blem invariably reference the pertinent actors. A similar logic applies to the
coverage of solutions.
Several studies on the relationship between the news media and cli-
mate change, including those conducted by Keith Stamm, Fiona Cla-
rk, and Paula Reynolds Eblacas, 1 point to increased emphasis on the
1 STAMM, Keith R.; CLARK, Fiona; EBLACAS, Paula Reynolds. Mass communica-
tion and public understanding of environmental problems: the case of global war-
ming. Public Understanding of Science, v. 9, pp. 219-237, 2000.

In search
of solutions
Table 7, presented in Chapter 1 of this do-
cument, highlights the significance attached
to the discussion of solutions to the climate
challenge. As the figures indicate, the num-
ber of stories on climate change centered on
measures to confront the phenomenon rose
from 7.3% to 26.8% of the total between the
two periods surveyed. Reporting on preven-
tive factors gained momentum beginning in
the second stage of the analysis, appearing
in 47.6% of the sample stories from July
2007 to December 2008 and surpassing the
coverage of climate change risks (27.1%),
the discussion of climate change impacts,
and the adverse consequences of the pheno-
menon.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
Table 10
Causes, consequences, and solutions*
(% of total articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
Causes, consequences, and solutions 2005/2007 2007/2008
Causes cited 36,5% 36,6%
Consequences cited 58,5% 34,4%
Solutions cited 41,8% 41,1%
39
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
negative consequences of the phenomenon in news stories and less on
the measures to confront the challenge.
The results of ANDI’s study reflect a major shift in the perspective of the Bra-
zilian print media’s coverage: a growing preference for discussing potential
solutions and strategies to address climate change to the detriment of repor-
ting on the negative consequences and risks of global warming, as discussed
throughout this document.
In the two periods surveyed, reference to the causes of global warming re-
mained fairly stable, accounting for about 36% of the content. Stories on the
consequences of the phenomenon fell from 58.5% of the total to 34.4%, while
reports setting out possible solutions accounted for 41% of the total in the
two periods surveyed.
Natural causes vs. man-made causes
While the proportion of stories in which causes were discussed varied
only slightly in the two periods surveyed, changes were observed in the
specific factors addressed. A good example was the increasing recogni-
tion that human activity exercise a direct impact on climate disequili-
brium across the plant.
In fact, from the initial survey years the Brazilian news media identified hu-
man activity as one of the primary causes underlying the problem. In the
first period surveyed, 59.4% of the coverage made reference to the impact of
human beings, a percentage that rose to 63.9%.
By contrast, the discussion of climate change as a naturally occurring
process – beyond the control of human beings – progressively decreased.
Reference to “natural causes” of the problem in the media’s coverage fell
from 42.6% of the stories surveyed to 36.1% in the two periods.
Identifying the accountable actors
Among the primary actors identified as potential agents of the pheno-
menon were national and international public officials. An average of
24% of the stories reviewed between July 2005 and December 2008 as-
signed some measure of responsibility for climate change to an agency
of the State. In addition to government, the general public, and the pri-
vate sector received special attention in the second period surveyed,
with references to the sectors made in 16.9% and 15.2% of the news
stories, respectively.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Similarly, government was identified as the primary channel for developing

solutions to the problem. An intriguing finding was the increasing weight
given over time to the idea that the Brazilian government has more of a role
in formulating a response to climate change than international bodies. For
example, references to the executive branch rose from 20.1% in the first pe-
riod surveyed to 32.8% in the second period, while those to foreign govern-
ments fell from 24.5% to 16.2%, respectively.

Chapter 3 of this document offers a more in-depth analysis of the division of

responsibility in the climate change area among the various stakeholders, with
respect to causes and solutions alike. The goal is to consider the debate from the 40
Table 11 perspective of public oversight theory – specifically, emphasizing the State’s role
in the conduct of public policy and the print media’s role in policy oversight.

Areas impacted* Environmental impacts vs Economic impacts

(% of articles on climate change As with so many areas identified in the coverage, the analyses of the sectors
citing impacts – 58.5% in 2005/2007 most affected by climate change registered significant progress, as reflected
and 34.4% in 2007/2008) by the drop in the percentage of news pieces, 72.6% to 56.5%, in which the
consequences of global warming are linked exclusively to the environmental
Areas 2005/ 2007/ sphere. By contrast, examination of the economic repercussions of the phe-
impacted 2007 2008 nomenon rose, with reference to the issue made in one of every four stories
Environ- – against one in every six stories in the first survey period.
72,6% 56,5%
ment
The result reinforces the hypothesis discussed below that the economic im-
Economy 16,8% 24,6% pacts of climate change have begun to assume greater importance in the me-
Public dia. This is an encouraging finding given that climate change, as the Stern Re-
4,8% 3,9% view notes, could trigger a significant drop in GDP by the end of the century
Health
on the order of 5% to 20%, or £ 3.7 trillion (approximately R$ 15.12 trillion).
Security 2,1% 8,1% According to Stern, the cost could vary depending on the speed of technolo-
Socio-cul- gical innovation and the investment decisions of policymakers.
2,7% 3,9%
tural
However, while the narrow focus on environmental impacts is slowly giving
Not
identified 1,1% 2,9% way to the economic question, challenges remain in associating the pheno-
menon to other equally significant repercussions. Discussion of the impacts
Total 100,0% 100,0% on public health, for example, was limited to approximately 4% of the stories
reviewed in the two survey periods in which consequences of climate change
*The table considers news stories rated with a cli- were referenced. A similarly low percentage of stories, 3.3%, on average, cited
mate change content density of average or high.
the socio-cultural impacts of the phenomenon.

INFORMATION SOURCES
An additional quality indicator involves the plurality of the sources cited in
a news story. News content is substantially enhanced when its capacity to
serve as a forum for debate is increased. The diversity and quantity of sour-
ces consulted reflects the level of participation of various social sectors in
the debates promoted through the media. After all, different actors not only
present a range of ideological perspectives and interests, but often offer com-
plementary knowledge on the same issue.

In this context, it is important to note the significant reduction in the num-

ber of stories in which information sources were not cited. While in the first
period surveyed, 24.9% of the content lacked any sourcing, in the second
period the total dropped to 14%.

The specific sources consulted in the two periods remained stable, as de-
monstrated by Table 12. At both stages of the analysis, a balance was main-
tained between expert sources (cited in 18.6% of the sample content in the
first period and 17.8% in the second) and government officials (referenced in
17.6% and 19.7% of the reports, respectively).
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Table 12

Information sources*
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)

Information Sources 2005/2007 2007/2008

Brazilian Government 17,6% 19,7%
Foreign Governments 11,5% 6,7%
International Organizations 6,5% 10,8%
41
State Enterprises 0,5% 0,0%
Non-State Enterprises 7,0% 12,1%
Civil Society Organizations 9,5% 9,0%
Labor Unions and Faederations 0,2% 0,0%
Experts/Technical Specialists 18,6% 17,9%
Other 3,7% 8,9%
No Information Sources Consulted 24,9% 14,0%
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.

Another important finding was the prominence given to international or-

ganizations in the second period surveyed. Consulted in only 6.5% of the
stories in the prior survey period, international organizations were cited in
10.8% of the content in the second period. References to private sector actors
also expanded, climbing from 7% to 12.1% of the total.

Coverage grounded in consensus

Despite the notable progress made in including a diversity of social actors
in the coverage, the journalistic content on climate change was centered on
securing consensus, as reflected in Tables 13 and 14. A comparative analysis
reveals that while more than 40% of the stories cited more than one source,
only 10.2% presented divergent opinions in the first period surveyed and 7.4
% in the second.
Table 13
In that regard, it is important to emphasize a basic tenet of journalism: to
cite and identify diverse and opposing opinions, even where the understan-
Articles with more than one ding of a particular phenomenon (causes and consequences, for example)
information source * has been effectively established.
(% of articles on climate change
citing information sources – 75.1% in Yet, the issue is not straightforward. The argument put forth on one side
2005/2007 and 86% in 2007/2008) – although not always valid for all categories of news – is that a fundamen-
tal principle of journalism is to provide balanced editorial treatment of di-
More than vergent opinions. At the same time, researchers such as Maxwell and Jules
2005/ 2007/
one informa- Buyoff2 note that the theory of balanced coverage – same number of lines for
2007 2008
tion source
every side of an issue – is a potential trap: it is easier to report the status quo
Yes 41,5% 43,7% than to redefine the dominant discourse.
No 58,0% 56,3% The two arguments have raised an interesting debate in the field of media
Total 100,0% 100,0% analysis, although both seem somewhat off the mark when we consider that:
*The table considers news stories rated with
a climate change content density of average
or high.
2 BOYKOFF, Maxwell T.; BOYKOFF, Jules M. Balance as bias: global warming and
the US prestige press. Global Environmental Change, v. 14, pp. 125-136, 2004.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Table 14
• Presenting differing opinions does not imply endorsing them, much less
decontextualizing them. For example, if 10 scientific articles are published
Articles with casting doubt on whether human activity lies at the root of climate change
divergent views*
(% of articles on climate change and 900 arguing the opposite view, readers should be informed of this.
citing information sources – 75.1% in
2005/2007 and 86% in 2007/2008) • Presentation of these views requires discussion of the background and
credentials of sources. For example, where did the funding for the research
Divergent 2005/ 2007/ study originate?
views 2007 2008
• Although there may be issues on which there is substantial consensus wi-
Yes 10,2% 7,4% thin the scientific community, there are others on which sharp differences 42
No 89,3% 82,6% persist, whether among researchers or decision makers. Democracy re-
quires that these disagreements be duly noted in the record.
Total 100,0% 100,0%

*The table considers news stories rated with

a climate change content density of average
or high.

Uncertainty
and Probability
One interpretation raised in the specialized literature on media and
the environment argues that two competing currents are emerging in
the coverage of climate change: one grounded in the science, laying
out the probabilities and possibilities, and one shaped by the news
media, rooted in certainties and assertions.1 On this basis, issues
would only be included on the print media’s agenda after a minimum
degree of consensus was secured, while questions on which there is
wide disagreement and doubt would be excluded. While understan-
dable, this view begs the following question: is the perception that
the media tends only to deal with certainties not perhaps connected
to the idea that science journalism tilts heavily to the exact sciences?
To elucidate the issue, let us consider an illustration of the polarity
between certainty and uncertainty in media discourse. In an election
campaign, for example, newspapers do not venture predictions as
to who will win or lose. Rather, they merely report the uncertainty
drawn from opinion polls. In other words, it is indeed possible to pro-
duce journalism through the various stages of a story. If there is no
doubt regarding particular aspects of an issue, all the better – these
should be presented. However, if there is uncertainty, they need to be
discussed. Probabilities do not hamper the work of journalists, or of
policymakers.
In its 2008 report, the UNDP makes an interesting argument which
can be applied to our discussion: our uncertainty as to the losses cli-
mate change will trigger and where those losses will occur does not
negate the need to take precautions, for we know that the risks are
real, the harm wrought by the greenhouse effect is irreversible, and,
as long as nothing is done, the harm will only tend to increase.

Given this, the role of the print media cannot rest solely in repor-
ting on the certainties regarding climate change. To the extent we are
confronted with a dynamic and shifting setting, it is important that
journalistic coverage channel differing approaches to the topic – so-
mething which has not occurred for the most part.

1 For more, see Weingar Peter et al.. Risks of communication: discourses

on climate change in science, politics and mass media. Public Understan-
ding of Science, v. 9, pp. 261-283, 200.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

RELATED TOPICS
The study performed by ANDI assessed a number of specific issues clo-
sely linked to the climate change agenda that can provide broader context
to the discussion. Some of the specific aspects considered relate to the
energy field – which itself includes a number of important discussions
in the current context of climate disequilibrium – and references to gree-
nhouse gases and their effects (primary greenhouse gases and their emis-
sion sources, for example).
43
THE USE OF HYDROCARBONS
AND CLEAN ENERGIES
The data indicate that significant space was devoted to energy issues in the
coverage of climate phenomena. From July 2005 to June 2007, 44% of the
sample stories made reference to energy; from July 2007 to December 2008,
the figure stood at 42.7%.

Table 15

Energy sources*
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)**

Type of energy 2005/2007 2007/2008

Fossil fuels/hydrocarbons 31,6% 25,9%
Ethanol 10,3% 9,4%
Clean energy 5,1% 6,9%
Hydroelectric 2,9% 5,8%
Biodiesel 5,8% 4,5%
Wind 3,8% 4,0%
Solar 3,9% 4,0%
Nuclear 2,7% 2,8%
Agro-energy 0,3% 0,2%
Hydrogaen 0,4% 0,8%
No reference to energy sources 56,0% 57,3%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
** Multiple references possible

Energy issues on the
agenda
Table 7, presented in Chapter 1 of this do-
cument, indicates that the subject of energy
was a central topic in 13% of the published
content from July 2005 to June 2007 and
8% between July 2007 and December 2008.
While apparently modest, the percentages
were sufficiently substantial to rank energy
as the fifth most reported issue among a list
of 17 sub-topics.
Table 15 quantifies the coverage of renewable energy centered on the use
of fossil fuels, a topic cited in 31.6% of the sample pieces in the first period
and 25.9% in the second. A closer look at the data, however, reveals that the
reporting on clean energy is still in its infancy. Several sources identified as
clean energy sources, including ethanol, biodiesel, and hydroelectric power
garnered considerable attention.
Among the alternatives cited by the print media, particular prominence was
given to ethanol – referenced in 9.4% of the articles published from July 2007
to December 2008, a figure not far below the 10.3% registered from July 2005
to June 2007.

The crisis erupted in early 2008 follo-
wing widespread increases in food pri-
ces across the globe. According to the
United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), the price spike
was due, initially, to increased de-
mand – primarily in emerging econo-
mies -, higher oil prices, and unfavora-
ble climate conditions. The connection
to biofuels, the respective raw mate-
rials (cane, corn, and others) used for
the production of food items as well,
remains a source of controversy given
the lack of scientific evidence demons-
trating widespread conversion of food
producing areas to biofuel production.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
The number of stories on ethanol in the Brazilian print media reached its
highest level between May and June 2008 at the time of the 9th UN Con-
vention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Climate Change Talks (a
meeting sponsored by the United Nations Framework Convention on Cli-
mate Change), both in Bonn, Germany - the first held from 19-30 May
and the second from 2-13 June. The coverage of the two events highlighted
the commitment of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration to
counter the allegations that biofuels produced from sugarcane could trig-
ger a world food crisis.
Other events converged to fuel the coverage of ethanol, including German 44
Prime Minister Angela Merkel’s visit to Brazil in early May 2008, during whi-
ch she raised the issue of biofuel production in the country. At the time, she
called particular attention to the conditions of farm workers and deforesta-
tion activities aimed at sugarcane cultivation.
At the World Food Security, Climate Change, and Bioenergy Conference in
Rome in June 2008, President Lula defended the production of biodiesel,
refuting assertions that sugarcane plantations set aside to produce the raw
material for biodiesel could lead to a reduction in agricultural area and a
corresponding hike in food prices.
A positive aspect of the reporting on the energy topic involved the repeated
references to the need to reduce coal use – 70% and 61.1% in the periods
surveyed. Among the cited coal reduction strategies, particular attention was
devoted to carbon credits, the development of clean energies or a non-fossil
fuel energy matrix, the substitution of fossil fuels with other sources, and
enhanced efficiency in CO2 consumption.
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
As discussed in Chapter 1, the first stage of the study revealed that the gree-
nhouse effect was a central topic in a substantial portion of the new content
(26.1%). Although a shift did occur in the issue’s framing from the first to
The social implications
of ethanol production
Although the Brazilian government has advanced ethanol as a stra-
tegic measure to reduce the effects of climate change, it is important
to note that while the ethanol production process can be less environ-
mentally detrimental it is often founded on practices that violate hu-
man rights. A news report published in the Caderno Mais section of
the Folha de S. Paulo in August 2008 revealed that the state of São
Paulo, which is responsible for than 60% of Brazilian sugarcane pro-
duction, fails to share the wealth generated from ethanol with the its
135,000 sugarcane cutters.
In 1985, a sugarcane cutter in São Paulo earned an average daily wage
of R$ 32.70. In 2007, the amount was R$ 28.90. Additionally, the drop
in income was accompanied by increased productivity, which went
from 5 tons of cut sugarcane per worker every day in 1985 to 9.3 tons.
The report notes that of the 5,999 Brazilian workers the Ministry of
Labor removed from conditions analogous to slavery in 2008, more
than half worked in the sugarcane sector.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Table 16

Articles referencing reduced fossil fuel use *

The impact of (% of articles on climate change referencing fossil fuels – 31.6% in 2005/2007 and
mitigation strategies 25.9% in 2007/2008)
on the energy sector
As Table 32 will illustrates, the Brazilian Cites reduction in fossil fuel use 2005/2007 2007/2008
print media identifies the energy sector as
one of the areas most impacted by mitiga- Yes 70,0% 61,1%
tion measures. From July 2007 to December
2008, for example, the energy sector was
No 30,0% 38,9%
cited in 20.8% of the articles in which emis- Total 100,0% 100,0%
sion reductions were discussed, behind only
soil and forest use (25.4%).
45
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.

the second survey periods, with increased emphasis given to the measures
adopted to confront the phenomenon, the focus on the greenhouse effect
remained an important component of the coverage.

Table 17 Identified as the principal source of global warming, the greenhouse effect is
a process by which gases in the atmosphere absorb some of the sun’s radia-
tion. Key greenhouse gases include CO2 (carbon dioxide), CH4 (methane),
N2O (nitrous oxide), O3 (ozone), and CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons).
Articles referencing one or
more greenhouse gases and/
or aerosols* More than 50% of the published content on climate change in the two pe-
(% of articles on climate change – riods cited gas exchange efficiency – GEE (55.8% and 59.9%, respectively),
2005/2007 and 2007/2008) although the issue was rarely the central topic of the news stories. The most
oft-referenced greenhouse gas, meanwhile, was CO2, identified as the lea-
Cites ding source of greenhouse emissions.
2005/ 2007/
greenhouse 2007 2008
gases By the same token, more than 50% of the articles published in the two pe-
riods in which reference to GEE was made identified the source responsible
Yes 55,8% 59,9%
for the emission, with a slight increase registered from the first period sur-
No 44,2% 40,1% veyed to the second (50.7% to 56.4%). According to the 2008 Sustainable
Development Indicators – SDI of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and
Total 100,0% 100,0%
Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE), 75% of CO2
*The table considers news stories rated with
emissions in Brazil are the product of burnings and deforestation primarily
a climate change content density of average in the Amazon and Savannah (Cerrado) regions. Another recurring source
or high.

Table 18

Articles referencing the sources of greenhouse gas emissions*

(% of articles on climate change citing greenhouse gases – 55.8% in 2005/2007 and
59.9% in 2007/2008)

Cites the source of the greenhouse 2005/2007 2007/2008

gas emission
Yes 50,7% 56,4%
No 49,3% 43,3%
Total 100,0% 100,0%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Table 19

Amazon Forest – a
priority in combating Articles referencing differences in the greenhouse effect by region*
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
GEE emissions
The most frequently cited sources of emis-
sions in the Brazilian print media corres- Cites regional differences 2005/2007 2008
ponded to those areas identified as priori-
ties of the mitigation policies presented in
Yes 0,5% 2,1%
Chapter 3. As shown in Table 32, between
July 2007 and December 2008 soil and fo-
rest management were cited as the primary No 99,5% 97,9%
target activities requiring mitigation mea- 46
sures (25.4%). Total 100,0% 100,0%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.

cited by the print media was fossil fuel vehicles, ranked by the IBGE as the
second leading source of emissions.

Regional differences
A curious point is that while burnings in the Amazon Forest – an area oc-
cupying a large portion of the North region – were continuously cited as a
principal source of GEE emissions, the Brazilian print media made no effort
to draw regional comparisons in respect to emission volumes. The percen-
tage of articles highlighting inter-regional variations in the July 2007 to De-
cember 2008 period was only 2.1% of the sample total. In the previous survey
period, the total was negligible.

Differences between countries

Comparative analyses between countries, in turn, received greater atten-
tion in the media. Between July 2007 and December 2008, country compa-
risons were included in 9.6% of the articles in which reference was made
to emissions, registering a significant jump over the first survey period
– when 5.9% of the news stories provided comparative information. It is
worth noting that the Climate Convention’s ranking of the top 10 emitters
is led by the United States, followed by China, Russia, Brazil, India, Japan,
Germany, Tanzania, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, In-
donesia, and Mexico.

Table 20

Articles referencing differences between countries in respect to gre-

enhouse gas emissions*
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)

Cites differences between countries 2005/2007 2008

Yes 5,9% 9,6%

No 94,1% 90,4%

Total 100,0% 100,0%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

FRAMING
In the context of research in the field of social communication, framing re-
fers to the specific approaches chosen by outlets in preparing a news story.
According to Professor Salma Ghanem3, framing is defined on the basis of
the interpretive standards in the journalistic content.

From this perspective, climate change can be analyzed either from an envi-
ronmental (the impact of global warming on sea levels, for example), eco-
nomic (the impact of mitigation measures on a country’s GDP), political 47
(the interests involved in the fight against deforestation in the Amazon), or
other standpoint.

With this in mind, the section below sets out to identify the various an-
gles from which the climate change debate was reported by the newspa-
pers surveyed.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
An analysis of the framing of the central topics considered in the sam-
ple content selected by ANDI yielded a series of interesting findings. As
expected, environmental framing of the issue predominated (except in
the financial and business dailies), although the economic/financial an-
gle received significant attention as well, representing the second most
analyzed perspective – leveraged primarily by the financial dailies, the
discussions of energy, and individual columnists who gave particular
emphasis to this question. The
Table 21 political perspective emerged
as the third most common ap-
proach, with the scientific an-
Thematic framing*
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008) gle coming in a distant fourth, a
finding which clearly belies the
view that the debate is confined
Thematic framing 2005/2007 2007/2008 to climate experts.
Environmental 43,4% 45,0%
As shown in Table 21, environ-
Economic/financial 15,6% 18,7% mental framing appeared in sli-
Political 11,5% 15,8% ghtly more than 40% of the cove-
rage. The economic and financial
Agricultural 6,4% 4,6% angle, for its part, hovered betwe-
Individual or community 1,2% 4,2% en 15.6% and 18.7%, registering a
moderate rise in the two periods
Scientific-technological 11,4% 4,0% surveyed. Articles with a political
Socio-cultural 3,6% 2,4% slant represented 11.5% of the co-
verage in the first survey period
Public health 1,6% 1,3% and 15.8% in the second.
Educational 1,9% 1,3%
In general, the print media’s appro-
Legal 0,6% 0,4% aches remained fairly stable over
the two periods surveyed. The lone
Not identified 2,0% 2,2%
exception involved references to
Total 100,0% 100,0% scientific and technological aspects,
which dropped from 11.4% of the
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high. total to 4%.

3 For more, see: GRAHEN, Salma. Filling in the Tapestry: The Second Level of
Agenda Setting, Available at: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=29210605.
Accessed: 22 May 2009.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Table 22
With regard to the economic
Thematic framing perspective, the preponderance
by newspaper category* of this approach in the financial
(% of articles on climate change – 2007/2008) dailies (Gazeta Mercantil and
Valor Econômico) in relation to
Financial the other survey publications is
Thematic National Local news- Sample
and busi- to be expected. Table 22 – whi-
framing newspapers papers Total
ness dailies
ch applies only to the July 2007
Environmental 49,3% 46,8% 27,9% 45,0%
to December 2008 period – helps
elucidate the differences in fra-
Economic/fi- ming in the three categories of 48
15,9% 14,7% 40,9% 18,7% newspapers (national, local, and
nancial
financial). As the Table shows,
Political 17,6% 14,5% 16,9% 15,8% 40.9% of the articles published
in Valor Econômico and Gazeta
Agricultural 2,5% 4,8% 8,4% 4,6%
Mercantil offered an economic-
Individual or financial approach to the climate
3,4% 5,5% 1,3% 4,2% issue. In the other two categories,
community
the total failed to reach 16%. It is
Scientific- 3,4% 5,1% 1,3% 4,0% important to note that because
technological the two dailies are primarily de-
voted to financial and business
Socio-cultural 2,5% 3,0% 0,0% 2,4%
news the weight given to the eco-
Public health 0,8% 1,8% 0,0% 1,3% nomic and financial angle was
not unexpected.
Educational 1,4% 1,3% 1,3% 1,3%
An inverse logic applied to envi-
Legal 0,6% 0,2% 0,6% 0,4% ronmental framing of the issue.
While almost half of the national
Not identified 2,5% 2,3% 1,3% 2,2%
and local news coverage opted for
Total 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% this perspective, the financial and
business dailies took this approa-
ch in slightly less than 1/3 of their
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
stories. Although predictable, gi-
ven the characteristics, a priori,
of each newspaper category, the
findings contribute to gauging the extent of the differences between each
category and the gaps that need to be addressed.

Without question, the data presented in these pages indicate that the media
has, in part, diversified it approaches to the climate change debate – even
if economic framing of the phenomenon remains, as seen above, superfi-
cial and concentrated in a specific newspaper category. At the same time, we
cannot neglect to note the absence of other important perspectives: techno-
logical, socio-cultural, and individuals/behavioral modification, to cite just
some examples.

DEVELOPMENT PUSHED
TO THE BACKGROUND
Of the principal findings arising from the study, one of the most notable
involved the difficulties in associating climate change to specific deve-
lopment questions. In general, the data revealed that the Brazilian print
media tends to consider climate change and the related topics in isola-
tion, without drawing adequate connections to the various aspects of the
development agenda. Of the sample articles reviewed, only 14.5% and
18.5% in the respective survey periods sought to establish a link between
the two subjects.

Table 23
Development strategies*
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
Type of strategy cited
Sustainable development
Economic growth
Economic development
Socio-environmental development
Human development
Community development
Social development
Development strategies not cited
Total
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high. automatically provide individuals
Development for
future generations
“A concept related to the idea of the rights of
future generations is that of sustainable de-
velopment: future generations should have
a right to a standard of living no lower than
the current one.”
The Stern Review on the Economics of
Climate Change
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
As Table 23 elucidates, where a the-
matic association was made, the
discussion revolved around sustai-
nability, the focus of approximately
10% of the articles centered on de-
2005/2007 2007/2008 velopment. A concern in the findin-
10,0% 10,7% gs was the dearth of discussion on
other forms of development, dis-
2,6% 3,6% connected from a strictly economic
1,7% 3,1% analysis (human, social, community,
socio-environmental) in Brazilian 49
0,0% 0,5% newspapers.
0,0% 0,3%
This finding warrants some consi-
0,0% 0,2% deration to the extent that for years
0,2% 0,1% economic growth was considered
the key route to improving the so-
85,5% 81,5% cial condition of nations. The idea
100,0% 100,0% rested on the principle that enhan-
ced economic performance would
with greater access to the consu-
mer goods and services capable of
boosting their quality of life. Ho-
wever, there is growing awareness that the strategies adopted on behalf of
economic growth share a large measure of the responsibility for climate
change, due primarily to unabated natural resource consumption.
On this point, the UNDP’s Human Development Report 2007/2008 calls
attention to the intimate relationship between climate change and develo-
pment, primarily in regard to the phenomenon’s added impact on vulnera-
ble populations:
Climate change will condemn 40% of the world’s poorest people – nearly
2.6 billion – to a future of negligible opportunities. It will exacerbate the
sharp disparities between countries and undermine efforts to make glo-
balization more inclusive, reinforcing the wide chasm between the ‘haves’
and the ‘have nots.’
In sum, we are at a crossroads requiring a public debate that offers more than
palliatives. The willingness of societies and governments to dramatically al-
ter their consumption patterns and redefine the existing production model
must be thoroughly analyzed.
Society and development:
discussing consumption patterns
In regard to the development question, the study found only marginal
reference made to consumption patterns, a topic taken up in 6.1% of the
articles examined in the first survey period and 7.1% in the second. The
data capture the difficulties Brazilian newspapers had in communicating
the extent of the impact wrought by the habits and patterns of modern-
day societies on the environment and, in particular, climate change.
What is curious about the finding is that the vast majority of the sample
articles (63.9%) identified human action as one of the direct causes of
the climate phenomenon. We can only conclude, therefore, that a highly
selective awareness prevails in regard to the impact of human actions,
centered specifically on those that visibly alter the ecological balance such
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Table 24

Articles referencing consumption patterns*

(% of article on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)

Cites consumption patterns 2005/2007 2007/2008

Yes 6,1% 7,1%
No 93,9% 92,9%
Total 100,0% 100,0%
50
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.

as burnings and deforestation. At the same time, the news media is not as
effective in identifying the adverse effects of more diffuse habits assimila-
ted by the broader society.

From risk to prevention

Despite persistent limitations, the data on the analysis of climate change in
the national news media revealed significant strides in the coverage. This
progress was characterized by a transition in the reporting, initially evenly
divided between enumerating risks and discussing prevention, to an appro-
ach focused predominantly on prevention. Again, the result was associated
to a shift in thematic focus, as highlighted earlier in this document. Begin-
ning in the second half of 2007, increasing emphasis was given to stories
centered on measures to confront the issue, which climbed from 7.3% of
the total survey sample to 26.8%, becoming the most prevalent theme in
the media’s coverage.

In line with this trend, the volume of news stories focused on prevention rose
from 37.2% to 47.6% of the total in the two periods surveyed (Table 25). The
preference for prevention over risk suggests substitution of “catastrophic” re-
porting in favor of a more pragmatic approach. ◆

Table 25

Journalistic perspective*
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)

Journalistic perspective 2005/2007 2007/2008

Prevention 37,2% 47,6%
Risks 35,3% 27,1%
Not identified 27,5% 25,4%
Total 100,0% 100,0%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

The media as
watchdog
3 T
Analysis of the Results

o support the argument put forth in the introduction to this document

– that the media can contribute to the exercise of good governance
– this chapter sets out to assess the Brazilian print media’s coverage
of climate change in the context of State action. Has the media contributed
to public oversight of the policies adopted to confront the phenomenon by
51

tracking, demanding, and disseminating the initiatives undertaken within

the government sphere?

In the pages that follow, we will consider to what extent the news media
serves, within Brazil, as an efficient communication channel between vari-
ous social sectors and government – enabling, in this way, citizens to de-
mand responses from their representatives to a multifaceted and increas-
ingly pressing challenge.

THE INSTITUTIONAL FOCUS ON GOVERNMENT

One of the questions assessed by ANDI in the study centered on the in-
stitutional perspective of the news coverage. The goal was to identify if
climate change was addressed primarily on the basis of the particular char-
acteristics of one or more of the institutions of contemporary democratic
societies, and, in this light, if preference was given to any of these in the
related reporting.

To elucidate this point, a story on climate change framed through the prism
of the executive branch, to take an example, will tend to focus on a discus-
sion of government policy, while a story drawn from the perspective of the
private sector will underscore aspects related to the inherent interests of
the sector.

Given this range of framing options – government, private sector, civil

society organization, or research institutions, among others – readers
might question why we are basing our discussion of the institutional fo-
cus on the public oversight of government policies. The answer is really
quite simple: because the data collected from ANDI’s survey lead to the
conclusion that the media’s coverage relied primarily on the government
perspective.

Taken together, the news content centered on the executive branch (national
and international) and the Brazilian legislative and judicial branches ac-
counted for 26.6% of the total in the first survey period and 34.7% in the
second, registering an increase of almost ten percentage points over the two
stages of the analysis.

By examining the topic mainly from the standpoint of State generated

actions, discussions, and proposals, the news media contributed to dis-
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

seminating this particular institutional focus among the public – clearly

an important step to ensure accountability and public oversight of gov-
ernment policies.

This is not to suggest that different institutional perspectives were not considered
in the coverage; they were, although to a lesser extent, as indicated in Table 26.

Of particular note was the importance attached to educational and research

institutions, which accounted, notwithstanding a relative decline from the
first to the second period surveyed, the institutional focus in 17.4% and
Table 26 13.9% of the sample articles, re- 52
spectively.

Institutional focus* Table 26 also calls attention to

(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008) shifts in this variable, such as the
increase in the number of stories
Institutional perspective 2005/2007 2007/2008 devoted to civil society (5.9% to
9.1%) and the reduction in those
National and international executive branch 23,3% 32,7%
focused on inter-sectoral actions
Brazilian legislative branch 2,8% 2,0% (14.2% to 7.2%).
Brazilian judiciala branch 0,5% 0,0%
Institutional framing could not
International organizations 8,6% 10,2% be identified in a portion of the
Private sector 10,1% 13,3% content reviewed, in all likelihood
because the issue was addressed
Civil society organizations 5,9% 9,1%
from the perspective of general
Social movements 1,1% 0,1% environmental questions. In spite
Inter-sectoral 14,2% 7,2% of this, the analysis found a re-
duction in the number of news
Educational and research institutions 17,4% 13,9% stories on general environmental
Not identified 16,2% 11,5% questions between the first and
second periods surveyed: 16.2%
Total 100,0% 100,0%
to 11.5%.
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high.
Emphasis on
the domestic arena
Our evaluation of the institutional
Table 27 focus offers some interesting con-
clusions. While the government
Government sphere* perspective prevailed throughout
(% of articles on climate change focused on the national or international executive the two periods surveyed, a shift
branch – 23.2% in 2005/2007 and 32.7% in 2007/2008) took place in the particular gov-
Government sphere referenced 2005/2007 2007/2008 ernment sphere (national or for-
eign) to which the media devoted
Brazilian federal executive branch 26,0% 40,7% the greatest attention. Table 27
Brazilian states 10,7% 12,4% indicates the predominance of for-
eign governments in the first pe-
Brazilian municipalities 6,0% 7,1%
riod, when they were referenced in
Partnerships between one or more levels of 4,7% 1,6% 46.7% of the sample articles cen-
government (Brazil) tered, from an institutional per-
Foreign governments 46,7% 25,0% spective, on the executive branch.
However, in the second period of
Partnerships between national governments 4,7% 8,0%
analysis, references to the Brazilian
Not clearly stated or not identified 1,3% 5,2% executive surpassed those made to
Total 100,0% 100,0% foreign governments,

climbing from 26% to 40.7%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high. of the total, while references to

Commitment to
the future
“Brazil needs to make a long-term commit-
ment to future generations and devise a new
development model that minimizes CO2
emissions. It should also map our vulnera-
bilities to create a national policy to confront
climate change – in the same way plans are
in place to eradicate illiteracy or hunger.”
Carlos Nobre, Ph.D. in Meteorology and
General Coordinator of the Center for Me-
teorology and Climate Studies (Centro de
Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos –
CPTEC) of Brazilian National Institute for
Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pes-
quisas Espaciais – INPE)
Civil society, it should be stressed, is
engaged in the development of an ef-
fective policy to address climate change
in Brazil. In October 2008, the Cli-
mate Observatory (Observatório do
Clima), which brings together a num-
ber of NGOs, submitted a document
tilted “Elementos para Formulação de
um Marco Regulatório em Mudanças
Climáticas no Brasil: Contribuições
da Sociedade Civil” (“Elements for the
Formulation of a Regulatory Frame-
work for Climate Change in Brazil:
Contributions of Civil Society”) to the
Brazilian government. The objective
was to enhance the guidelines set out
in the document by establishing goals
and deadlines for Brazil’s transition
to a low-carbon economy and accom-
panying reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
foreign governments slipped to 25%. Once again, the data corroborate
earlier findings of this analysis, namely: a clear trend among Brazilian
newspapers toward emphasizing the domestic setting in their coverage
of climate change.
A significant point was the relatively insignificant coverage devoted to the
state government sphere (10.7% and 12.4% in the first and second periods
surveyed, respectively) and Brazilian municipalities (6.0% and 7.1%). A pos-
sibility for the weight given to the federal government could be the insuf-
ficiency of initiatives undertaken at the other levels of government or the
larger agenda-setting capacity of federal institutions. 53
PUBLIC POLICIES ON THE AGENDA
It is worth examining in greater depth how the results of the analysis cor-
roborate the conclusion that the media is an important channel for dialogue
on the government’s actions in the field of climate change.
In the July 2007 to December 2008 period, 32.7% of the sample articles cen-
tered on the executive branch made reference to public policies. The fig-
ure does not necessarily represent references to government programs in
the strictest sense, but information on any action taken within the executive
branch, the State institution with primary responsibility for policy formu-
lation and execution. As such, we can apply a broader conception of pub-
lic policy which does not only include concrete proposals, but the debates
prompted and steered by the executive branch, in order to offer up alterna-
tive responses to the climate change phenomenon.
Based on these parameters, the results of the study are highly encouraging.
As mentioned earlier, reference to actions recommended and implemented
by governments (national and foreign) was substantial in the initial years
of the analysis: 23.2% of the stories from July 2005 to June 2007. In the
second period surveyed, the total rose even further, reaching 32.7% of the
coverage (Table 26).
As a comparison, references to public policies in other research studies
performed by ANDI varied significantly. As an example, the coverage
of children’s issues in 2007 cited public policies in a mere 16% of the
sample content.
The news media’s increased attention on government actions is the prod-
uct of a series of factors, most notably, in the case of Brazil, more vigorous
discussion within the executive branch on combating global warming, par-
ticularly in 2008. In June of that year, for example, the Brazilian executive
branch submitted a bill to Congress on implementation of the National
Policy to Combat Climate Change, the text of which precedes the Na-
tional Climate Change Plan.
Evaluating public actions
Another encouraging trend in regard to the inclusion of public policies
in the coverage involved the growing number of references to assessment
measures, which climbed from 2.7% to 11.1% of the sample content (Table
28). By the same token, Table 29 reveal a modest increase in the inclusion
of performance benchmarks, 3.3% to 5.5% – although extremely low, the
figure points to increased media interest in tracking and evaluating gov-
ernment actions.
The references to budget appropriations for climate change policies warrant
mention as well. Of the total number of articles citing public policies (as
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

defined in this document) in the two periods surveyed, 9.3% and 12.1%,
respectively, employed budget data to supplement the coverage.

It is always worth underscoring that consistent news coverage of public pol-

icy monitoring can contribute significantly to enhance the performance of
government officials. As economist André Soliani notes, news coverage must
not only track the allocation of public resources, but the outcomes of their
investment. “Following the money spent by the State contributes to the de-
bate on the best alternatives for accelerating socioeconomic development in
Brazil,”1 concludes Soliani.
54

Table 28

Articles citing public policy assessments *

(% of articles on climate change focused on national or foreign executive branch –
23.2% in 2005/2007 and 32.7% in 2007/2008)

Cites assessment 2005/2007 2007/2008

Yes 2,7% 11,1%
No 97,3% 88,9%
Total 100,0% 100,0%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high

Table 29

Articles citing performance benchmarks of

public policies*
(% of articles on climate change focused on national or foreign executive branch –
23.2% in 2005/2007 and 32.7% in 2007/2008)

Cites performance benchmarks 2005/2007 2007/2008

Yes 3,3% 5,5%
No 96,7% 94,5%
Total 100,0% 100,0%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high

Table 30

Articles citing government budgets*

(% of articles on climate change focused on national or foreign executive branch –
23.2% in 2005/2007 and 32.7% in 2007/2008)
Cites government budgets 2005/2007 2007/2008
Yes 9,3% 12,1%
No 90,7% 87,9%
Total 100,0% 100,0%

*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high

1 SOLIANI, André. Siga o dinheiro: orçamento e cobertura das políticas sociais in

Políticas Públicas Sociais e os desafios para o jornalismo. Cortez, 2008.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

MITIGATION AND
ADAPTATION POLICIES AT
THE CENTER OF THE DEBATE
The 2006 Stern Review strenuously argues that climate change will directly
affect the lives of people everywhere. To minimize the impact, the various
sectors of society should be mobilized for purposes of identifying urgent
measures to confront the issue. 55

With this in mind, it is imperative that mitigation and adaption policies are
thoroughly threshed out and implemented by the competent officials as
quickly as possible. The first group of strategies directly addresses the causes
of the phenomenon, while the second places emphasis on the development
of practices, products, and technologies capable of more effectively adapting
themselves to higher temperatures.

The paragraphs below endeavor to expand the debate on these two aspects
and on how they are reported in the media, highlighting, in particular, gov-
ernment initiatives and examining the shared responsibilities of various
social actors in their initiatives.

MITIGATION POLICIES
Notwithstanding the existence (or not) of a consensus on the most
effective approach to climate change, an analysis of the international
setting reveals a growing effort to enhance the debate on the differ-
ent strategies in question. A series of initiatives have gained promi-
nence due to the positions adopted by political figures, environmental-
ists, academics, and several other actors concerned with the impacts of
climate disequilibrium on future
Table 31 generations.

Articles referencing mitigation measures* The data below indicate that these
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008) positions exercise a direct effect
on the print media’s coverage, a
finding demonstrated by the in-
Cites mitigation measures 2005/2007 2007/2008
crease in the number of stories fo-
Yes 45,9% 51,1% cused on the search for responses
to the climate phenomenon (see
No 54,1% 48,9%
Chapter 1). In line with this trend,
Total 100,0% 100,0% the results collected in the two
periods surveyed by ANDI point
to an increasingly clear emphasis
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high on adopting policies with a direct
impact on the volume of green-
house gas emissions.

Table 31 illustrates the growing coverage devoted to mitigation measures in

recent years. The number of stories with references to these measures ac-
counted for 51.1% of the total sample survey in the July 2007 to December
2008 period. In the first period, mitigation policies were cited in 45.9% of
the articles.

A shift took place in regard to the sectors to which the news media de-
voted its coverage of mitigation strategies. Energy issues, the overwhelm-
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

ing priority in the first period surveyed (45.1%), gave way to reporting on
other areas, including:

• Industrial activities, which climbed from 6.8% to 10% of all references in

the sample stories;

• Carbon credit sales, wholly ignored in the first period, surfaced to account
for 9.8% of the citations;

• The transportation system, references to which rose from 7.5% to 9.2% of

the sample total. 56

Significantly, forest and soil management emerged to become the most fre-
quently covered impact area (25.4%).

Despite the decrease in references to energy supply strategies, coverage of

the sector remained substantial in the second period surveyed. The related
emission reduction strategies basically centered on the substitution of fos-
sil fuels with clean energy sources, especially ethanol, the widespread im-
pact of which on media coverage was driven by the federal government’s
affirmative internal and external campaign on behalf of ethanol.

Table 32

Mitigation strategies by impact area*

(% of articles on climate change referencing mitigation strategies – 45.9% in
2005/2007 and 51.1% in 2007/2008)
Carbon credits have gradually
emerged as a form of environmental Impact areas 2005/2007 2007/2008
currency, which can be exchanged
between countries and businesses Soil and forest management 26,4% 25,4%
that need to reduce their emis-
sions. The carbon market was es- Energy supply 45,1% 20,8%
tablished under the United Nations
Framework Convention to stimulate Industry 6,8% 10,0%
emission reductions in the devel-
oped countries. The strategy’s key Carbon credit sales 0,0% 9,8%
instrument is the Clean Develop-
ment Mechanism (CDM) by which
Transportation 7,5% 9,2%
businesses and the governments of Residues 6,4% 4,9%
developed countries invest in clean
energy projects in developing na- Agriculture 4,1% 3,0%
tions. By reducing emission levels,
the projects generate credits which Others 3,8% 16,9%
investors can purchase. Purchase of
the credits enables wealthy countries Total 100,0% 100,0%
to offset a portion of their emissions.
There are other carbon markets *The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high
that operate independently of the
Convention’s mechanisms. The most
noteworthy example is the Europe-
an Union’s Emissions Trade Scheme
(ETS), which sets maximum emis-
sion levels for various productive An important finding in the two periods surveyed concerned the increase in ref-
activities. Enterprises that success- erences to the carbon credits market. Initially neglected by the print media, the
fully reduce their emissions below strategy gained momentum beginning in the second half of 2007, when it ac-
the levels mandated by individual counted for 9.8% of the sample stories in the July 2007 to December 2008 period
governments can sell their credits to
those not able to achieve the speci-
in which mitigation strategies were discussed.
fied targets.
In addition, the increase in the “Others” category in Table 32 was due
primarily to the growing emphasis given to public awareness-raising on

The seeds for the new agreement were
planted in 2007 at the COP-13 in
Bali. The agreement is expected to be
signed at the Copenhagen Conference
(COP-15) in 2009. The new climate
accord will replace the Kyoto Protocol,
which lapses in 2012. The underlying
goal of the document is to renew the
existing commitments in addition to
establishing more ambitious green-
house gas emission targets (the Kyoto
Protocol provides for a reduction in
greenhouse gases through 2012 of
5.2% at 1990 levels).
Table 33
Articles citing greenhouse gas emission targets *
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
Cites greenhouse gas emission targets
Yes
No
Total
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
behalf of more prudent renewable resource consumption and to carbon
emission offsets through tree planting schemes.
Discussing Emission Reduction Targets
Analysis of the data of the coverage clearly indicates the growing importance
attached to the debate on the need for public policies that directly contrib-
ute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Some of the factors which may
have driven the reporting in this area include the negotiations on a new
global climate agreement establishing innovative mitigation strate-
gies will be established, particularly in relation to forest degradation
and deforestation. 57
The negotiating effort is founded on the idea that a mutual international
agreement on the parameters, objectives, and goals to be achieved can
serve as a valuable instrument for action in individual countries. How-
ever, the enactment of emission limits depends on a series of variables
ranging from the political will of national leaders in each nation to the
socio-cultural elements permeating the customs and habits of societies.
Examination of the data below reveals that the Brazilian media has made
progress in demanding effective action on this front, a trend reflected in the
growing references to reduction targets in general, as well as the Brazilian gov-
ernment’s position on the matter. The coverage of targets in the two periods
surveyed climbed more than 15 percentage points. While in the first period, a
mere 15.4% of the content cited emission targets, the total rose to 32.9% in the
second period (Table 33).
Discussion of the Brazilian govern-
ment’s position in this area followed
the same upward trend. Between the
first and second periods, the num-
ber of articles laying out the official
Brazilian stance on emission targets
2005/2007 2007/2008 increased from 3.7% to 11.8% of the
sample survey. The rise offers a posi-
15,4% 32,9% tive sign that the media has not only
86,6% 67,1% endeavored to portray specific as-
pects of the country’s reality, as dis-
100,0% 100,0% cussed in an earlier section, but has
sought to provide the public with in-
formation on the Brazilian govern-
ment’s position regarding the inter-
national debate on emission targets.
It is important to point out that under the Kyoto Protocol Brazil is not
bound to restricting greenhouse gas emissions, to the extent the limits es-
tablished in the agreement apply only to developed nations. In the light of
this exemption, the Brazilian government’s official position on the issue
has not signaled any intention to adopt mechanisms of this kind under the
new global climate agreement.
Yet, during development of the National Climate Change Plan (Plano Nacio-
nal de Mudanças Climáticas), a preliminary version of which was released in
2008, environmental organizations and researchers exerted significant pres-
sure on the government to establish specific emission targets. The mobiliza-
tion resulted in the inclusion of benchmarks to combat deforestation in the
final draft of the document, although greenhouse gas emission targets were
left out of the plan.

Table 34
Articles citing the Brazilian government’s position on green-
house gas emission targets*
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
Cites the Brazilian government’s position on
emission targets
Yes
No
Total
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high
The importance of this issue is reflect-
ed in various studies, such as the Stern
Review:
“Adaptation policy is crucial for deal-
ing with the unavoidable impacts of
climate change, but it has been under-
emphasised in many countries. Adap-
tation is the only response available
for the impacts that will occur over the
next several decades before mitigation
measures can have effect”.
STERN, Nicholas. The economics
of climate change. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media
Nonetheless, the progress achieved
in securing a greater commitment
level from the Brazilian govern-
ment on the adoption of green-
house gas emission warrants note.
Among the guidelines provided for
in the National Plan are:
2005/2007 2007/2008
3,7% 11,8% • To double the country’s planted
forest area from 5.5 million hect-
96,3% 88,2% ares to 11 million hectares by 2015; 58
100,0% 100,0%
• To reduce deforestation in the
Amazon by 72% through 2017 in
relation to the average for the 1996-
2005 period.
• To recover 100 million hectares of degraded pasture;
• To increase ethanol production by 11% per year and reduce Petrobras’s
CO2 emissions by 20 million tons through 2012.
ADAPTION STRATEGIES
For their part, adaption strategies received verily little coverage in the Brazilian
media, particularly when compared to the reporting on mitigation measures.
However, references to the related strategies did increase over the two periods
surveyed, rising from 3.6% to 11.9% of the sample survey.
It is interesting to note that the preference for mitigation measures is not unique
to the print media. For quite some time, adaption strategies were largely absent
from the discussions of administrators and opinion makers. As an example, an
analysis of the major gatherings of world leaders between 2006 and 2008 reveals
a debate far more centered on the need to reduce GEE emission than on the con-
sideration of adaption strategies.
Only after an acute acceleration and exacerbation of the impacts wrought by
climate change – including widespread flooding in the South of Brazil (Santa
Catarina), extreme temperatures in Australia, the imminent disappearance
of small islands, or the world food crisis, to name just a few – did the need to
merge the two strategies become evident. Experts on the issue argue that the
investments in adaption strategies should be considered as urgent as those
directed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Table 35
Articles citing adaptation strategies*
(% of articles on climate change – 2005/2007 and 2007/2008)
Cites adaptation strategies 2005/2007 2007/2008
Yes 3,6% 11,9%
No 96,4% 88,1%
Total 100,0% 100,0%
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

DISCUSSING RESPONSIBILITY
As argued in Chapter 2, human activity has been increasingly identified as
the primary cause of climate disequilibrium in recent decades. In this light,
it is important to consider how the media divides responsibility among dif-
ferent social actors.

Table 36 indicates that governments (national and foreign) were singled out
Table 36 for responsibility in a substantial portion
of the coverage. Taken together, the Bra- 59
zilian government and foreign govern-
Principal causes identified* ments were cited as the responsible agent
(% of total news stories on climate change in which causes are referenced – in 24.2% of the sample stories beginning in
36.5% in 2005/2007 and 36.6% in 2007/2008)
the second half of 2007, a similar finding
to that registered in the first period sur-
Responsible actors 2005/2007 2007/2008
veyed (23.7%).
Brazilian government 8,0% 10,7%
Another important aspect involved the in-
Executive branch 7,2% 10,1% crease in the number of articles attribut-
ing responsibility to the larger society. The
Legislative branch 0,4% 0,6% coverage of this aspect rose from 9.4% of
the total content reviewed to 16.9%. The
Judicial branch 0,4% 0,0% trend causes some concern in that it re-
flects an over-generalized approach by
Regulatory agencies 0,0% 0,0% some outlets, which appear to ignore the
specific responsibilities of individual so-
Foreign governments 15,7% 13,5% cial actors on this front.
International organizations 3,0% 5,4% Although the coverage displayed some
constraints, significant progress was iden-
Private sector 8,5% 15,2% tified as well, including an increased ap-
preciation for the key role the private sec-
Society at large 7,2% 3,7%
tor plays in climate disequilibrium (8.5%
Sociedade em geral 9,4% 16,9% to 15.2%) and the need, therefore, for
strategies with a direct impact on the larg-
Individuals 4,3% 0,0% est corporations and their executives.

Others 1,3% 7,3% Who do we turn to for solutions?

The results of ANDI’s study point to an
Not identified 42,6% 27,3% important shift in the hierarchy of actors
deemed to have primary responsibility for
Total 100,0% 100,0% developing solutions. If initially the cover-
age was based on the view that the respon-
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of sibility to respond to the challenge lay with
average or high
foreign governments (24%) – and that
the related solutions could be achieved
through partnerships and agreements between nations, such as emission re-
duction treaties –, in the second phase of the study that responsibility was
increasingly transferred to the national government, especially the executive
branch (32.2%).

It is interesting to note that other spheres of government, including the legis-

lature, the judiciary, and regulatory agencies are by and large exempted from
the responsibility of developing alternatives to the problem, with reference
to these institutions made in less than 2% of the news stories on solutions
throughout the survey period.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Table 37
The finding emerges in a context de-
fined by the growing importance news-
Key actors responsible for solutions* papers attached to the internal setting,
(% of articles on climate change citing solutions – 41.8% in 2005/2007 and 41.1%
in 2007/2008) as discussed in a previous section. To
be sure, the initiatives undertaken by
Responsible actors 2005/2007 2007/2008
the Brazilian government may well
have driven this process. Some of these
Brazilian government 20,1% 32,8% measures include:
Executive branch 17,8% 32,2%
• The defense of Brazilian biofuel pro-
Legislative branch 1,9% 0,4% duction at the World Food Security 60
Summit in Rome;
Judicial branch 0,0% 0,2%
Regulatory agencies 0,4% 0,0% • Thenegotiations with civil society
and approval of the National Cli-
Foreign governments 24,5% 16,2% mate Change Plan;
International organizations 10,0% 3,5%
• The creation of an Amazon and
Private sector 17,8% 17,3% Northeast investment fund.
Organized civil society 9,3% 10,3%
An important finding involved the
Society at large 4,8% 7,9% discrepancy between the coverage of
Others 1,5% 6,1% the actors to which “blame” is assigned
and those who, according to the me-
Not identified 11,9% 5,9% dia, are responsible for formulating
Total 100,0% 100,0% solutions. Often, actors identified as
key agents in the implementation of
potential strategies to address the phe-
*The table considers news stories rated with a climate change content density of average or high nomenon were not identified, to the
same extent, as principal sources of
the challenge at hand.

The results obtained from July 2007 to December 2008 illustrate this ten-
dency. While society at large was cited as the cause of climate change in
16.9% of the sample articles, it was identified as part of the solution in
only 7.9% of the total. The same outcome applied to the Brazilian execu-
tive branch, singled out as the cause of global warming in 10.1% of the
news pieces surveyed and as a potential instrument for its solution in
32.2% of the content.

Corporate Social
Responsibility off the
Agenda
In spite of the significant references to the
private sector as a cause and a key actor
in the formulation of solutions to climate
change, Corporate Social Responsibility
was virtually absent from the coverage in
the periods surveyed. From July 2005 to
July 2007, only 1.9% of the 50 sample pub-
lications cited this issue. In the following
period (July 2007 to December 2008), the
total was 2.5%.
Despite the apparent inconsistency, the data point to a positive feature of the
coverage by underscoring the State’s regulatory role, even in those cases in
which the root of the problem lies elsewhere – in the broader society or the
business sector, for example.
As argued by Nicolas Stern, whose report is cited throughout this doc-
ument, the State has a responsibility to send signals to the market as to
which mitigation actions can be considered investments. By the same to-
ken, it has the power to establish the parameters governing society’s efforts
to develop solutions.
The idea is not to exempt other actors from responsibility in the effort against
climate change, but to reinforce the notion that an effective plan must not
only include the State’s direct capacity to confront the challenge, but legiti-
mate State action to set the rules of the game as well. ◆
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Conclusions
C S
temming the advance of climate change is, without question, one of the
major challenges facing contemporary societies. Indeed, this is why the
issue is now part of an extensive international agenda involving a di-
versity of social segments – environmentalists, political figures, civil society,
and a set of additional actors seeking to promote a dialogue on the causes
61

and impacts of the phenomenon for future generations.

In the light of the data presented in countless scientific reports in recent

years, it seems reasonable to conclude that confronting the phenomenon
should be a priority. The key question is: how do we do this? And, even
more important: who bears responsibility for finding a way out of the prob-
lem? Unfortunately, there are no quick and easy answers to these two ques-
tions. But we can state that a joint effort is required to forge a path capable
of steering us to more responsible consumption patterns with regard to the
environment. We must have the courage to question the current develop-
ment model and demand from our public officials policies that go to the
heart of the problem.

In arguing that the various social actors and institutions must contribute in
some measure to the fight against global warming, we would like to return
to a point made in the introduction to this text: how much has the Brazilian
print media’s coverage contributed to this process?

Before tackling this question, it is important to underline that the data pre-
sented in this analysis are among the most intriguing observed by ANDI
in its 12 years of media research. Coverage of the topic manifested a clear
evolution over the three and a half years of the survey, with particular note
to the progressive shift from a predominantly international focus to the con-
sideration of factors unique to Brazilian reality and local conditions, which
has succeed in effectively establishing a link between a phenomenon of enor-
mous magnitude and the daily lives of readers.

And to be sure, innumerable experts in media and climate change advocate

the adoption of news coverage that establishes precisely this type of connec-
tion. In analyzing climate change, global warming, or any other aspect of the
phenomenon, readers must receive clear information on how the attendant
changes will affect their lives.

Also worth noting is the recent adoption of coverage based less on sensa-
tionalism and more committed to the pragmatic discussion of solutions.
To this we can add the growing references to public policies and the Brazil-
ian government’s position on the various challenges posed by the phenom-
enon. Discussion of budget appropriations and performance benchmarks
reached significant levels, suggesting that news outlets have made progress
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

in contributing to the public oversight of government action in the area of

climate change.

Unfortunately, not all of the data are encouraging. Coverage of the topic
displayed severe limitations, which must be faced directly. Primary among
these was the disproportionate volume of coverage identified in the national
newspapers. Publications of more modest circulation continued to manifest
difficulties in respect to including the issue on their agendas. In view of this,
strategies could be implemented to ensure climate change is incorporated on
the agendas of regional and local newspapers.
62
Another aspect requiring attention regards the scope of the debate. The
coverage of climate disequilibrium by a significant portion of the Brazilian
media continued to approach the phenomenon from an exclusively envi-
ronmental perspective. To this end, it is imperative that the subject migrate
out of the specialized sections of news publications and become a multidis-
ciplinary topic that contemplates not only technical aspects related to the
phenomenon but includes discussion of political, economic, and behavioral
questions as well.

The need to expand the coverage into other fields derives from the sheer
number of sectors expected to suffer the adverse effects of climate change.
Additionally, there is widespread recognition that the solutions to the phe-
nomenon cannot be disconnected from the public policy realm, prevailing
economic development models, or the consumption and behavioral patterns
of contemporary societies. In this context, the print media must assume a
responsibility to generate technical knowledge of the issue in other fields,
ensuring as diversified a discussion of the topic as possible.

We should also note that the overview drawn from the data collected by
ANDI did not remain unchanged in the period surveyed. Progress was
made in economic framing of the issue, yet we remain a long way from
coverage that ensures a full understanding as to the gravity of the problems
posed by the phenomenon to the key areas of human activity.

As highlighted throughout this document, the limitations identified in the

coverage can be transformed into strengths, to the extent they are employed
as diagnostic tools to qualitatively enhance the climate change debate. Ulti-
mately, confronting the challenges exposed by the analysis can serve to sig-
nificantly advance the coverage of the issue, in addition to offering a clear
path to its continued inclusion on the public agenda in Brazil. ◆

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Understanding of Science, v. 9, p. 261-283, 2000.
WILSON, Kris M. Drought, debate, and uncertainty:
measuring reporters’ knowledge and ignorance about
climate change. Public Understanding of Science, v. 9,
p. 1-13, 2000.
______. Forecasting the future: how television weather-
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munication, v. 24, n. 2, p. 246-268, 2002.
WOLF, Mauro. Teorias da comunicação. 5ª ed. Lisboa:
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 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

ANNEX I
LIST OF CONSULTANTS

Paulo Eduardo Artaxo Netto

Bachelor in Physics, Master in Nuclear Physics, and Ph.D. in Atmospheric
Physics from the University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paul – USP).
He is currently a full professor and head of the Department of Applied Phys-
ics at the Institute for Physics, USP. Artaxo Netto’s research work centers 65
on the application of physics to environmental problems, primarily issues
connected to climate change, the Amazonian environment, the physics of
atmospheric aerosols, urban air pollution, and other topics. He serves as co-
ordinator of the LBA Experiment Millennium Institute (Instituto do Milênio
do Experimento LBA), a member of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change), and seven other international science panels. In 2004, he
received a vote of applause from the Brazilian Senate for his scientific work
on the Amazon environment.

Paulo Roberto de Souza Moutinho

Bachelor in Biological Sciences from the State University of Rio de Janei-
ro (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – 1985), Master in Ecology
from the State University of Campinas (Universidade Estadual de Campi-
nas – 1991), and Ph.D. in Ecology from the State University of Campinas
(1998). Currently, he is a faculty member at the Federal University of Pará
(Universidade Federal do Pará). Moutinho serves as the Coordinator of the
Amazon Institute of Environmental Research (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambi-
ental da Amazônia) and an Associate Scientist at The Wood Hole Research
Center. Moutinho has experience in the field of Ecology, with an emphasis
in Ecosystems Ecology.

Eduardo Jose Viola

Bachelor in Sociology from the University of Buenos Aires (Universidade de
Buenos Aires), with various graduate degrees, Ph.D. in Political Science from
the University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo – USP), and a Post-
Doctorate in International Political Economy from the University of Colora-
do at Boulder (1991). He currently serves as a full professor at the Institute of
International Relations, University of Brasilia (Universidade de Brasília), and
a member of the committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Environ-
mental Change of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. A pioneer within the
social sciences in the study of the political economy of global warming, Viola
previously served on the scientific committee of the Human Dimensions of
Global Environmental Change Program (Bonn, 2002-05), the LBA Amazon
Program (Programa LBA Amazônia – 2001-06), the Multidisciplinary Com-
mittee of the National Council on Scientific and Technological Development
(2000), and the National Population and Development Commission (Comissão
Nacional de População e Desenvolvimento – 1995-2004).
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

ANNEX II
Keywords
In the first phase of the study, an extensive list of keywords, developed with the collaboration of a group of expert
consultants in the field of climate change, was employed. Following electronic capture of the articles and selection of
the news stories, including those that in fact met the criteria established by the study’s coordinating team, some of the
words utilized in the search system (in particular the most specific terms) were found to virtually never be applied
separately from more general expressions such as “Climate Change” or “Greenhouse Effect.”

Therefore, a decision was made in the second phase of the study to adopt a shorter list made up of the words deemed most
effective for the proposed search. The two lists are provided below. 66

FIRST PHASE 37. Nitrous Oxide; 71. Emissions per Capita;

General environmental topics 38. Perfluorocarbons; 72. Wind Energy;
1. Environmental* (variations: en- 39. Burning; 73. Clean Energy;
vironmentalism, environmen- 40. Savannization; 74. Solar Energy;
talist, etc. etc.); 75. Green Energy;
2. Biodiversity; Climate change and national/in- 76. Renewable Energies;
3. Sustainable Development; ternational policy 77. Stabilization of Emissions;
4. Ecology; 41. Biblio Climate; 78. Afforestation;
5. Ecosystem; 42. Climate Action Network; 79. Carbon Intensity;
6. Earth’s Future; 43. Conference of the Parties; 80. Clean Energy Matrix;
7. Future of Planet Earth; 44. COP;
81. Carbon Market;
8. Environment; 45. Earth Summit;
9. Socio-Environmental; 82. Coal Burning;
46. Eco 92;
10. Sustainability; 47. “FBMC” (Brazilian Forum on 83. Offset Reduction;
Climate Change); 84. Emissions Reduction;
General climate change topics 48. Carbon Inventory; 85. Reforestation;
11. Global Warming; 49. Emissions Inventory”; 86. Carbon Capture;
12. Climate Scenarios; 50. IPCC; 87. Clean Technologies;
13. Global Climate; 51. MDL (Clean Development 88. Green Technologies;
14. Greenhouse Effect; Mechanism – CDM); 89. Economic Ecological Zoning.
15. Climate Equilibrium; 52. Clean Development Mecha-
16. Climate Phenomenon; nism; SECOND PHASE
17. Climate Model; 53. Mitigation; General climate change topics
18. Climate Change; 54. Climate Observatory; Global Warming;
19. Green Policies; 55. Post-2012; Warming of the Planet;
20. Climate System; 56. Post-Kyoto Warming on the Planet;
57. Proinfa; Change in the Climate;
Climate change agents/effects 58. Kyoto Protocol; Climate Change(s);
21. Ozone Layer; 59. Protocolo de Quioto; Climate Scenario(s);
22. Fossil Carbon; 60. Prototype Carbon Fund; Global Climate;
23. Carbon Intensive; 61. Rio 92; Climate Equilibrium;
24. CFC; 62. UNEP;
Climate Alteration/Alterations;
25. CO2; 63. UNFCCC;
Climate Phenomenon(a);
26. Fossil Fuels; 64. World Conservation Monitor-
27. Desertification; ing Center; Greenhouse Effect;
28. Deforestation; Conference of Parties;
29. Carbon Dioxide; Climate change and the economy COP;
30. Carbon Emissions; 65. Biomass; Clean Development Mechanisms;
31. Fossil Emissions”; 66. Carbon Neutral; MDL (Clean Development Mecha-
32. Severe Climate Events; 67. Carbon Credits; nisms – CDM);
33. HCFCs; 68. Decarbonization of the Energy Carbon Credits;
34. Sulfur Hexafluoride; Matrix; Carbon Market;
35. Hydrofluorocarbons; 69. Low Carbon Economy; Carbon Emission/Emissions;
36. Methane; 70. Energy Efficiency; Emission Reduction.
 Climate Change in the Brazilian News Media

Credits

ANDI – Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights

President: Oscar Vilhena Vieira
Vice-President: Geraldinho Vieira
Executive Secretary: Veet Vivarta
67
Prepared by
ANDI • Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights

Support
Climate Change Communication Program – British Embassy in Brazil
British Council in Brazil

Editorial Supervisor
Veet Vivarta

Editor
Aline Falco

Writers
Diana Barbosa, Fábio Senne, Guilherme Canela e Rachel Costa

Research Coordinator
Diana Barbosa

Assistant Coordinator
Naiara Rodrigues

Thematic Consultants
Eduardo Viola (UnB), Paulo Artaxo (USP), Paulo Moutinho (IPAM)

Researchers
Ana Potyara
André Cidade Piauilino da Silva
Andrea Ribeiro
Bruno Gontyjo do Couto
Hermes Pena
Manuela Muguruza
Osvaldo Assis Rocha Neto
Paloma Maroni
Rodolfo Ribeiro
Kátia Sens

Graphic Design, Layout, and Cover

André Nóbrega
ANDI – Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights
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