Headnote
ABSTRACT
Objective: The objective of this study, situated in the field of environmental journalism, is to analyze and discuss how the political context can influence the environmental coverage by the press. The research analyzes the news production of the newspaper O Globo during the three most critical months of the Pantanal fires in 2020, examining the relationship between the coverages framing and the governments stance, civil society mobilization, and international pressure surrounding the issue.
Theoretical Framework: The theoretical foundation, based mainly on classical authors such as Downs (1972), Bueno (2007), and Girardi, Loose & Steigleder (2020), serves as the basis for the development of the hypotheses presented.
Method: The methodology adopted for this research is based on the techniques proposed by Bardins Content Analysis (2011). Each report was classified according to its content category and the editorial section in which it appeared. To extract the content of each production, the title, main subjects in the text, and information sources were collected.
Results and Discussion: The research conducted a quantitative analysis of reports and sources of information, showing how the Bolsonaro governments denialism provoked a political engagement by O Globo and boosted the issues presence in the news. In three months of coverage (91 editions), the topics appeared 71 times in 38 editions: 41.7% of the total. Of these, 21 stories (29.5%) were on the newspapers front page and 15 (21.1%) were published as the headline in the editorial section where they appeared.
Research Implications: It was possible to identify an editorial movement by O Globo to confront the official government narrative in favor of environmental protection. This research finding raises questions regarding the role of journalists covering environmental issues and the matter of objectivity in environmental journalism.
Originality/Value: This study contributes to the literature review on environmental journalism, especially regarding so-called reference newspapers. The research expanded the analytical scope beyond the governments stance, capturing the influence of civil society mobilization and international organizations on environmental coverage.
Keywords: Environmental Journalism, Environment, Wildfires, Pantanal, O Globo Newspaper, Politics.
RESUMO
Objetivo: O objetivo deste trabalho, inserido no campo de estudos sobre jornalismo ambiental, analisar e discutir como o contexto politico pode influenciar na cobertura ambiental da imprensa. A pesquisa analisa a produção noticiosa do jornal O Globo durante os trés meses mais críticos das queimadas no Pantanal em 2020, examinando a relação entre os enquadramentos da cobertura e a postura do governo, a mobilização da sociedade e as pressões internacionais em torno do tema.
Referencial Teórico: A fundamentação teórica, apoiada principalmente em autores clássicos como Downs (1972), Bueno (2007) e Girardi, Loose & Steigleder (2020), serve de base para o desenvolvimento das hipóteses apresentadas.
Método: A metodologia adotada para essa pesquisa está pautada nas técnicas sugeridas na Análise de Conteúdo de Bardin (2011). Cada reportagem foi classificada a partir da categoria de conteúdo em que se enquadra e na editoria em que aparece. Para extrair o conteúdo de cada produção, foram colhidos o título, os principais assuntos contidos no texto e as fontes de informação.
Resultados e Discussão: A pesquisa fez uma análise quantitativa de reportagens e fontes de informação, apontando como o negacionismo do governo Bolsonaro provocou um engajamento político do jornal O Globo e alavancou a aparição do tema no noticiário. Em três meses de cobertura (91 edições), os temas apareceram 71 vezes em 38 edições: 41,7% do total. No total, 21 registros (29,5%) foram na capa do jornal e 15 (21,1%) foram publicados como manchete da editoria em que aparecem.
Implicações da Pesquisa: Foi possível identificar o movimento editorial do jornal O Globo no sentido de confrontar a narrativa oficial do governo em prol da protecdo do meio ambiente. Essa descoberta de pesquisa possibilita questionamentos no que diz respeito ao papel do jornalista que cobre о tema ambiental e a questão da objetividade no trabalho jornalístico sobre meio ambiente.
Originalidade/Valor: Este estudo contribui para a revisão da literatura sobre jornalismo ambiental, especialmente em relação aos denominados jornais de referência. A pesquisa ampliou o escopo de análise, para além da postura do governo, captando a influência da mobilização da sociedade civil e das organizações internacionais sobre a cobertura de meio ambiente.
Palavras-chave: Jornalismo Ambiental, Meio Ambiente, Queimadas, Pantanal, Jornal O Globo, Política.
RESUMEN
Objetivo: El objetivo de este trabajo, enmarcado en el campo de estudios sobre el periodismo ambiental, es analizar y discutir cómo el contexto político puede influir en la cobertura ambiental de la prensa. La investigación analiza la producción informativa del periódico O Globo durante los tres meses más críticos de los incendios en el Pantanal en 2020, examinando la relación entre los encuadres de la cobertura y la postura del gobierno, la movilización de la sociedad y las presiones internacionales en torno al tema.
Marco Teórico: La fundamentación teórica, apoyada principalmente en autores clásicos como Downs (1972), Bueno (2007) y Girardi, Loose & Steigleder (2020), sirve de base para el desarrollo de las hipótesis presentadas.
Método: La metodología adoptada para esta investigación se basa en las técnicas propuestas en el Análisis de Contenido de Bardin (2011). Cada reportaje fue clasificado según la categoría de contenido que le corresponde y la sección editorial en que aparece. Para extraer el contenido de cada producción, se recogieron el título, los temas principales del texto y las fuentes de información.
Resultados y Discusión: La investigación realizó un análisis cuantitativo de reportajes y fuentes informativas, señalando cómo el negacionismo del gobierno Bolsonaro provocó un compromiso político del periódico O Globo e impulsó la aparición del tema en las noticias. En tres meses de cobertura (91 ediciones), los temas aparecieron 71 veces en 38 ediciones: 41,7% del total. En total, 21 registros (29,5%) estuvieron en la portada del periódico y 15 (21,1%) se publicaron como titular de la sección en que aparecieron.
Implicaciones de la Investigación: Fue posible identificar un movimiento editorial del periódico O Globo en el sentido de confrontar la narrativa oficial del gobierno en favor de la protección del medio ambiente. Este hallazgo permite cuestionar el papel del periodista que cubre el tema ambiental y la cuestión de la objetividad en el trabajo periodístico ambiental.
Originalidad/Valor: Este estudio contribuye a la revisión de la literatura sobre periodismo ambiental, especialmente en relación con los denominados periódicos de referencia. La investigación amplió el alcance del análisis, más allá de la postura del gobierno, captando la influencia de la movilización de la sociedad civil y de las organizaciones internacionales sobre la cobertura del medio ambiente.
Palabras clave: Periodismo Ambiental, Medio Ambiente, Incendios Forestales, Pantanal, Periódico O Globo, Política.
1 INTRODUCTION
This article has, as its broader research theme, the field of environmental journalism, focusing on the coverage carried out by the Brazilian press. The empirical object selected to serve the theoretical background discussion is the coverage undertaken by the newspaper O Globo in the most critical months of the fires in the Pantanal in 2020: August, September and October.
When analyzing this journalistic production, the This research seeks to clarify how this type of coverage relates to the country's political situation. Thus, the research problem could be summarized in this question: how does the national political context influence journalistic coverage of environmental issues?
This question arose mainly from reading the study by Girardi, Loose and Steigleder (2020) on the environmental coverage of Jornal Nacional, on TV Globo, in the first six months of Jair Bolsonaro's government (January to June 2019). The research points to an association between changes in the way the press treated the environmental agenda and the president's political decisions and positions.
In this way, the analysis of coverage is conducted in order to evaluate the following three hypotheses. The political scenario can guide environmental coverage by: 1) the dynamics of agreements and interactions between national and international institutions; 2) the proportion of mobilization carried out by civil society; 3) the government's stance and actions in the face of environmental problems. The theoretical basis that supported the construction of these hypotheses will be described in the specific section for this topic.
The empirical data selected for analysis is based on the emblematic figures of the period. September and October of that year were the months with the highest number of active fires in the biome compared to the same months in other years, since 1998, the beginning of the historical series of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). September recorded 8,106 fires and October, 2,856. August had 5,935 fires, which places it in second place in this same comparison, behind only August 2005, which had 5,993. Both are well above the average for the month, which is 1,593. The year 2020 was the worst in the history of the biome in terms of fires. The record was 22,116 fires recorded in 12 months.
It is worth noting that this study also aims to contribute to a reflection on the paths of journalistic coverage undertaken around the environmental theme. The works of Bueno (2007) and Girardi, Loose and Steigleder (2020) provide fundamental reviews of the journalistic work developed in this field and indicate a long way to go.
From this perspective, Bueno (2007) criticizes the way journalism approaches environmental issues. By highlighting journalism's commitment to the public interest, the democratization of knowledge and the expansion of debate, the author states that, in order to achieve these goals, environmental journalism needs to be politically, socially and culturally engaged. It is precisely this movement of confrontation with the government and political engagement linked to the defense of the environment that this study seeks to identify in the coverage of the newspaper O Globo.
The study by Girardi, Loose and Steigleder (2020) points out, among other elements, the fragmentary and lacking contextualization aspect of news related to the environment ·. From this perspective, despite peaks of interest, it can be said that environmental issues generally fragment and quickly cease to be news (GIRARDI; LOOSE; STEIGLEDER, 2020). To understand this dynamic, it is possible to use the attention cycle of the themes formulated by Downs (1972).
The process is observed in the formation of public policies on the environment, but it can also be identified in journalistic coverage (GIRARDI; LOOSE; STEIGLEDER, 2020). Fortunato and Penteado (2018) describe the five-stage cycle as: 1) pre-problem - an undesirable social condition that has not yet become the target of public attention; 2) issue discovered and euphoria - disclosure of dramatic events that move society to want to "do something" or "solve the problem" urgently; 3) cost of solving the identified problem - the moment when it is realized that the will to solve the problem is not enough, but a great expenditure of time or money, or even major changes in society; 4) gradual decline in public interest - when the population realizes the great difficulty of solving the problem, some become discouraged, others feel threatened and still others are simply bored; 5) post-problem - when the subject stops appearing in the media or being commented on by the population (FORTUNATO; PENTEADO, 2018, p. 3-4).
Downs (1972) states that, after going through the cycle, the problem generally gains mitigation policies and projects to reduce its impacts, unlike those that never left the first stage.
The elucidation of this cycle serves to understand how media coverage can also be influenced by "social willingness to recognize and engage with solutions to each problem" (GIRARDI; LOOSE; STEIGLEDER, 2020). It becomes evident, therefore, that clarifying this process based on the analysis of a fact of reality - O Globo's coverage in 2020 - will serve to outline the advances and steps that still need to be taken to incorporate a more comprehensive and holistic view into environmental journalism.
2 METHODOLOGY
The choice of methodological tools to be used in this exploration was based on the profile of the object analyzed. Thus, the process described below is based on the techniques suggested in Bardin's Content Analysis (2011), for categorizing and extracting the most relevant elements from an information source.
In this context, in addition to locating the year, month, day, and page they are on, each report was classified based on the content category it falls into (Report/Headline/Photo with Caption/Call on home page ) and the editorial section in which it appears (Society/Economy/World/Rio).
To extract the content of each production, the title, the fine print - if any -, the main topics contained in the text, summarized in key concepts, and the sources of information used, in the order in which they appear, were collected. The sources, in turn, received two classifications. The first classification was based on the convergent, divergent or neutral position in relation to the actions of the then Bolsonaro government in relation to the fires or other related issues: in favor; neutral; critical. The second classification concerns the type of source: specialized; popular; institutional; corporate; official.
This last classification is based on some of the categories developed by Schmitz (2011). In his classification matrix for news sources, the author suggests different "groups" in which each source can fit: official, corporate, institutional, popular, notable, testimonial, specialized and referential. Given the content of the reports, it was decided to discard the notable, testimonial and referential categories.
Sources considered specialized are people with "notable specific knowledge", such as specialists, experts or intellectuals (SPONHOLZ apud SCHMITZ, 2011). Popular sources represent the voice of the general population, that is, ordinary people who report on their reality; institutional sources speak for an independent institution, non-profit organization or social group and, in general, speak in favor of the organization's interests; business sources represent a business corporation linked to commerce, services, among others; official sources are those who hold public office or speak for a body maintained by the State.
The appearances of topics on fires, deforestation and related environmental issues were also classified according to thematic categories, which facilitate the understanding of the journalistic coverage. The categories are Alert, Politics, Society, International Pressure and Repercussion.
The texts included in the "Alert" field are those with leads related to the number of fires or deforestation, or reports that address the current situation of local populations or the destruction of the biome. The content positioned in "Politics" refers to actions by the Federal Government, state governments, or even the Justice Department, with influence on the situation of fires or deforestation. This category includes articles, for example, that point out delays in hiring firefighters by the federal administration, and also the low execution of Ibama's budget in actions to combat fires and deforestation.
The articles included in the "Society" category are those that address mobilizations by civil society, companies and even banks, in defense of environmental preservation and in warning about the serious situation in the country at that time. The records placed in the "International Pressure" group present situations in which the Brazilian government finds itself pressured by the international community to take measures against the increase in forest fires and deforestation. This range of reports includes those that deal with the developments in the negotiations for ratification of the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. This is because the environmental issue was often seen as an obstacle to the progress of the agreement. The "Repercussion" category includes articles motivated by statements by politicians, such as former President Jair Bolsonaro, former Vice President Hamilton Mourão, former Minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles, among others, about the situation of the forest fires.
In addition to these specifications, articles that criticize the government in the body of the text or in the title, that is, in the space reserved for information - outside of the opinions of possible sources - were marked. This is the case of the article from August 5, 2020, with the title: "After criticism, Salles backs down and maintains deforestation reduction target". The hook of the report is, specifically, the fact that the Minister of the Environment was criticized after trying to replace the target of reducing deforestation and illegal fires by 90% with the preservation of only 390 thousand hectares of native forest. In this case, the article also has a box with the editorial opinion of the newspaper О Globo, which disapproves of Ricardo Salles' conduct and says that he "only remains minister because he does what President Bolsonaro wants".
3 THEORETICAL BASIS
The following bibliographic review serves to support the three hypotheses already explained, that both national and international organizations, as well as civil society and the current government directly influence the degree of visibility of the environmental issue and the way in which it is treated by the press.
According to Schmidt (2005), the environment is a topic that has gained space in the public interest as the media, from the last decades of the 20th century, began to give more visibility to the subject ·. This scenario dates back to the beginning of the strengthening of the environmental movement, in the 1970s, when, according to Belmonte (2017), the problematization of environmental issues began to receive more space in the Brazilian press. It is from this moment that scientists began to be consulted more by journalists to explain environmental phenomena and propose solutions to the diagnosed problems (GIRARDI; LOOSE; STEIGLEDER, 2020).
Just as the increased presence of environmental issues in the media, the interest in research on environmental journalism is also attributed to particular events, according to Barros and Sousa (2008). According to the authors, the increase in the number of studies on the topic is characteristic of the 1990s, driven by the journalistic coverage of the Second United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), better known as Rio-92 or Eco-92 (AGUIAR, 2024).
The authors consider that, from this point onwards, the subject began to receive greater attention from researchers, as well as at times when the environmental agenda gained great media coverage, such as the signing of the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the publication of the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2003 to 2007). Thus, it is possible to admit that, from the beginning, the driving force behind the increased visibility of the environmental agenda was linked to international mobilizations, conferences of government agencies and political agreements.
Furthermore, Barros and Sousa (2008) state that the first public demonstrations "against environmental degradation, with proposals from both the State and civil society, only appeared in the early 1970s, coinciding with the period of debates inaugurated by the Stockholm Conference" (BARROS; SOUSA, 2008, p. 5).
In this context, the authors emphasize that the increase in the strength of environmentalism in Brazil was not only linked to the international context and pressures, but also to a "broad process of transformations in the complex national reality of the time, encompassing the political, economic and social spheres" (BARROS; SOUSA, p. 5). The authors' conclusion is an indication that the context of society and the level of involvement of social actors with environmental issues have a decisive influence on the importance given to the subject and, consequently, on the volume of news produced about this topic.
Regarding the influence of the government's stance on the repercussions of environmental issues, the contribution of Girardi, Loose and Steigleder (2020) is fundamental. The study describes measures and positions taken by President Bolsonaro that have had an impact on the country's environmental situation and have led to changes in press coverage of the issue. According to the authors, since the campaign, the president has promised to "make inspection and protection mechanisms more flexible, aiming at economic growth through the exploitation of natural resources" (GIRARDI; LOOSE; STEIGLEDER, 2020, p. 50). At this point, it is worth highlighting the dismantling of environmental inspection and control agencies during Jair Bolsonaro's administration, with serious effects, mainly on the structures of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).
According to Menegassi (2022), even with deforestation and fires on the rise, Ibama spent only 41% of its available budget for environmental monitoring in 2021. In total, only R$88 million of the R$219 million that the environmental agency had available to carry out operations and combat environmental crimes were liquidated. Also according to Menegassi (2022), based on data collected by the Climate Observatory, the execution of less than half of the budget 15 far from typical. In previous governments, Ibama used to liquidate between 86% and 92% of the resources for monitoring.
This makes the problematic scenario of vulnerability of biomes evident due to the precariousness of official inspection and control bodies for deforestation and fires during Jair Bolsonaro's term. With this in mind, the last hypothesis to be evaluated by this article concerns the influence of the Federal Government's stance on the way the issue is reported by the newspaper O Globo.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In three months of coverage (91 editions), the topics appeared 71 times in 38 editions: 41.7% of the total. In four appearances, the topic was published as the headline of the edition. In total, 21 records (29.5%) were on the front page of the newspaper and 15 (21.1%) were published as the headline of the section in which they appear.
To better understand the main topics covered by the reports, five categories were created to encompass the themes addressed. The topics related to each category were detailed in the Methodology section (see page 5). Thus, the following records were identified in each theme: 24 (33.8%) in the "Alert" theme; 15 (21.1%) in the "Repercussion" themes; 13 (18.3%) in the "Politics" scope; 12 (16.9%) in the "International Pressure" theme; 7 (9.8%) in the "Society" themes.
As a result, we can see a predominance of articles in the "Alert" category, which use, for example, recent data on record fires and deforestation to warn about the advance of devastation. Reports that talk about the loss of animals and biodiversity in biomes were also included, as well as the problems faced by local populations, related to respiratory diseases caused by smoke inhalation and even forced migration due to fires.
The categories of "Repercussion" and "Politics" together make up 39.4% of all the reports analyzed. It is worth noting that the first category focuses mainly on reports motivated by the speeches of important political figures on the topic, and the second on texts that deal with political decisions in the different spheres of power in the federation. This finding corroborates the line of analysis of this research, which points to a strong relationship between the configuration and dynamics of politics at the national level and the way in which the environmental issue is portrayed by the press.
In segmentation by editorial, Society presented 45 contents (63.3%) on the themes, Economy, 21 (29.5%), World, 3 (4.2%), and Rio, 2 (2.8%).
4.1 INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
The articles removed from the World section deserve more detailed observations. This is because it is mainly at the international level that the government finds itself under pressure to take measures to contain the destruction of biomes. One indication of this situation is the fact that, although only three excerpts were removed from the World section, another 20 - around 28.1% of the total of 71 reports - have the keywords "Foreign Pressure" among the topics covered. Eleven of these were included in the "International Pressure" category.
In this debate, O Globo's coverage presents several moments in which, mainly, former president Jair Bolsonaro and former Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, but also former vice-president Hamilton Mourão and former Minister of the Economy, Paulo Guedes, find themselves confronted by these questions and, most of the time, speak out in a way that denies the extent and severity of the destruction, and defends federal management.
A striking example of this situation is the September 23 report by Ana Rosa Alves, which was the headline of the World section. The topic is Bolsonaro's speech that opened the general debate of the 75th UN General Assembly the previous day. In his speech, the president "defends the management of the pandemic and says he is a victim of a campaign about fires" (ALVES, 2020).
This is one of the articles marked by its critical tone regarding the president's stance:
Presenting arguments without scientific basis, Bolsonaro preferred to point fingers: criticism of Brazilian environmental policy, for example, would be part of a brutal disinformation campaign about the fires in the Amazon and the Pantanal. The plot would be based not only on international envy of Brazilian agribusiness, but also on 'shady interests' in the Amazon's riches that seek to harm his government (ALVES, 2020).
Still on the subject of the newspaper's approach to the international context - which has been of unparalleled relevance in environmental discussions about Brazilian territory - it is essential to highlight the economic nature of the pressures exerted on the Federal Government. The possibility of loss of resources, flight of investors or the end of negotiations for trade agreements, such as the European Union-Mercosur, are presented as the main ways to force government representatives to take a position on environmental issues. The situation is reflected in the number of reports categorized as "International Pressure" that were removed from the Economy section. Of the 11 appearances on the topic, 10 were in Economy.
The headlines include "Countries, companies and NGOs push against deforestation", "Brazil experiences record flight of dollars and foreign investors" - linking the problem to deforestation, which reduces the country's attractiveness -, "France makes demands to approve trade agreement" and "EU threatens not to ratify agreement with Mercosur". Based on these findings, it was possible to identify the determining influence of the dynamics of international negotiations on the agendas and the frequency with which the environmental issue appears in the media outlet's coverage.
4.2 NEWS TRAJECTORY
In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the news and the nuances of the coverage during the three months analyzed, this section will present an overview of this trajectory. First, August was the month with the fewest reports on the fires, with 16 reports. The first observation that can be made is the predominance of articles included in the "Alert" category: there were eight. The reports published in August are marked precisely by successive alerts about a situation that had been worsening since July - a month that was marked as the worst July in the Pantanal's historical series, as well as September and October, compared to the same months in other years, since 1998.
Among the titles that can be cited, and that corroborate this perception, are "Amazon: July has a record number of fires in 24 hours", "Ribeirinhos migrate after fires in the Pantanal", "Fires affect the health of 4 million in the Amazon" and "NASA's tiebreaker: in the Amazon, 54% of the fire is due to deforestation".
Regarding September, the scenario changes considerably. This is the month with the highest number of appearances on the topic: 37 in 30 days. The topic enters the daily coverage especially in the second half of September. Between the 15th and 30th, only the editions of the 22nd and 25th did not have any records of the topic. It is also during this period that a single edition presents the highest number of content on the subject, which is the one on the 23rd, with six appearances.
Some factors observed during the analysis may explain the increase in the frequency and quantity of reports in the media outlet's news coverage during this specific period. Firstly, given that the situation of the fires had already been going on for two months, September was marked by movements by civil society and businesspeople to raise awareness of the problem and suggest measures to be taken by the government to combat the flames. The relevance of these movements during this specific period is reflected in the fact that all the articles included in the "Society" category of this research were published in September.
In this context, the initiative that enabled an unprecedented alliance between 230 representatives of agribusiness and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) stands out. The entities sent a letter to the government highlighting the importance of environmental preservation for the country and proposing six measures to curb deforestation. The letter was signed by the Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition, which brings together environmental organizations such as WWF Brazil, Imazon and Conservation International, and entities linked to agribusiness, such as the Brazilian Agribusiness Association (Abag), JBS and Marfrig. Other large companies such as Carrefour, Natura, Cargill and Klabin also signed the letter.
Coverage in October, the last month analyzed, presents 18 reports on the subject, that is, half of what was identified in September. After a month with a record number of fires, October had 6 reports in the "Alert" category. With the September figures finalized, on October 2, the newspaper published "Pantanal has the largest record of fires in History, says Inpe".
The report shows that, with 18,259 fire outbreaks recorded from January to September, 2020 was already considered the year with the highest number of fires in the Pantanal in the entire historical series, which began in 1998. Also according to data from Inpe, the Amazon had the second worst September of the decade, with 32,017 occurrences.
In addition to this topic, it is worth highlighting the articles related to the theme "Politics", of which there were five in October. One of them, on the 10th, produced by Renato Grandelle, was highlighted as the headline of the edition. The report revealed that, due to bureaucratic processes and lack of planning by the Federal Government and the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), the hiring of firefighters responsible for fighting forest fires was delayed by about four months.
This global analysis of coverage over the months shows how the intensity of news coverage of environmental issues, with a focus on fires and deforestation, varied depending on different factors. In this sense, it is worth highlighting the aspects that directly influenced the increase in the appearance of these issues, mainly the international pressure to which the Brazilian government was subjected in the face of the devastation, the mobilization of civil society in response to the problem, and also the response of the Federal Government and its then main representatives - Jair Bolsonaro, Hamilton Mourão and Ricardo Salles - to the criticism received.
4.3 USE OF SOURCES
A fundamental element of journalistic coverage, the use of information sources deserves particular examination. As previously explained, this aspect was also subject to specific categorization. In order to interpret how O Globo used sources to report on the environmental issue and, more specifically, how the outlet positioned itself regarding the government's stance, each source was addressed based on its position in relation to the federal administration - critical, neutral or in favor.
The results of the research show that, in total, the newspaper used 171 sources of information in its reports. Regarding the type of source used, the numbers show that 85 are specialized (49.7%), 59 official (34.5%), 14 institutional (8.2%), 10 business (5.8%) and 3 popular (1.8%).
Based on this result, it is worth highlighting Bueno's (2007) view. According to the author, Brazilian environmental journalism has presented errors in its approach. For him, these "syndromes" have prevented the fulfillment of functions that this profession should perform, such as opening up to sources other than just experts and figures in important positions. In this sense, the low number of popular sources in O Globo's coverage - only three - is an indication that Bueno's (2007) criticism is based on reality. The high number of specialized and official sources, which account for approximately 84% of the total, also corroborates this perspective. It is possible to state that, in view of the complexity of the environmental issue and the breadth of subjects it involves, there is a lack of diversity in the sources used in the coverage.
Regarding the position of the sources in relation to the government, six of them did not receive this categorization, as they dealt with issues that were not closely related to state action. Therefore, of the 165 sources catalogued, 86 were neutral (52.1%), 50 were critical (30.3%) and 29 were in favor of the government (17.6%).
Regarding the neutrality of sources used in environmental coverage, Bueno (2007) understands that journalism suffers from the "high wall syndrome" - which concerns the attempt to depoliticize the environmental debate. This limitation causes coverage to tend toward technical neutrality, adopting purely scientific convictions and aligned with the criteria of elite groups. "It is therefore related to a narrow-minded and outdated vision that prefers to contemplate and defend the neutrality of science and technology" (BUENO, 2007, p. 37). In this context, although the majority (52.1%) of the sources analyzed are considered neutral, a reasonable number of critical positions (30.3%) regarding the government's conduct in preserving the environment can be observed.
Another metric used in this study to analyze O Globo's position regarding the Federal Government's handling of the environmental issue was the marking of reports that have some critical quote in the body of the text or those that present as their main hook some reprehensible attitude of the presidency or one of the ministries. The logic of this interpretation lies in the fact that, by including a criticism of the government in the body of the text, that is, outside of the opinions of the sources, the outlet uses its position of credibility before the reader to express repudiation of the actions - or omissions - of the government in the face of the environmental disaster. In addition, the 5 reports that have a box with O Globo's editorial opinion on the subject, all of which are critical of the government, were included in this metric. From this perspective, the analysis shows that 43.7% (31) of the 71 articles examined have mentions that disapprove of the federal administration's stance.
5 CONCLUSION
This research followed up on the questions raised in the Girardi, Loose and Steigleder (2020) study, providing a robust analysis of how the national political situation can guide and intensify environmental coverage carried out by the press in Brazil.
The authors found that, during Jair Bolsonaro's government, from 2019 onwards, political changes had a direct impact on the environmental agenda and must have led to a greater presence of the topic in the coverage of different media outlets. This hypothesis is confirmed by this research, since the stance of the Federal Government was a determining factor in the way the media outlet reported on the topic between August and October in the context of fires and deforestation.
The study was also able to broaden the scope of analysis beyond the government's stance, capturing the influence of the mobilization of civil society and international organizations on what is newsworthy in environmental coverage. The analysis carried out identified the massive entry of the subject of fires, and even other environmental issues - mainly in the month of September - associated with the intense movement of social organizations, NGOs and companies to warn about the environmental disaster that was underway.
On the other hand, the influence of institutional dynamics on the patterns of environmental news coverage was also confirmed. The relevance of international movements exposed the situation. As already explained, since its early stages, the environmental agenda has gained importance in society through the visibility attracted by major international agreements and conferences to discuss the topic. This prominent space was detected by the research and gained repercussion in the period analyzed, mainly due to the developments in negotiations on the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.
Based on Bueno's (2007) contribution regarding the need for political engagement in this type of coverage, it was possible to identify clear signs of the movement of the newspaper O Globo towards confronting the government's official narrative in favor of environmental protection. These findings raise even more questions, which can be explored in other studies, regarding the role of the journalist who covers environmental issues, the issue of objectivity in journalistic work on the environment, and also in the debate about journalism as a product resulting from a diversity of social and political dynamics.
References
REFERENCES
Aguiar, L. A. de. (2024). A institucionalizaçäo do discurso ambiental: uma análise do percurso histórico das conferências internacionais. Anos 90 - Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em História, 31, 2024206. https://doi.org/10.22456/1983-201X.139779
Aguiar, L. A. de. (2024). O discurso da Ecologia Política: uma genealogia. Em W. D. Guilherme; E. М. Ferreira; P. G. de Freitas (Eds.). Integração de estudos em ciências humanas e sociais: desafios e possibilidades para a pesquisa contemporánea. E-publicar. (pp. 143-157). https://do1.org/10.47402/ed.ep.c24021 18812928
Angelo, F. F., & Aguiar, L. A. de. (2023). Amazónia em pauta no regime militar: uma análise da revista Realidade. Revista Eletrónica Mutações, 15(25), 93-110. https://periodicos.ufam.edu.br/index.php/relem/article/view/1 1940
Aguiar, L. A. de, & Schaun, A. (2011). Heurística do medo: mídia e meio ambiente na sociedade de risco. Ação Midiática - Estudos em Comunicação, Sociedade e Cultura., 1(2), 1-15. https://do1.org/10.5380/am.v112.26423
Alves, A. R. Bolsonaro defende na ONU gestáo da pandemia e diz ser vítima de 'campanha brutal de desinformaçäo' sobre queimadas. (2020, setembro 22). O Globo, Editoria Mundo. https://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/bolsonaro-defende-na-onu-gestao-da-pandemia-diz-servitima-de-campanha-brutal-de-desinformacao-sobre-queimadas-veja-os-principaispontos-24653146
Bardin, L. (2011). Análise de conteúdo. Edições 70.
Barros, A. T., & Sousa, J. P. (2008). Antecedentes do Jornalismo Ambiental no Brasil е em Portugal: abordagens preliminares. Em Anais do 10° Congresso de Ciéncias da Comunicação na Região Nordeste. (pp 1-15). INTERCOM. https://www.intercom.org.br/papers/regionais/nordeste2008/resumos/R12-0471-1.pdf
Belmonte, R. V. (2017). Uma breve história do jornalismo ambiental brasileiro. Revista Brasileira de Historia da Midia, 6(2), 110-125. https://doi.org/10.26664/issn.2238-5126.6220176656
Bueno, W. C. (2007). Jornalismo Ambiental: explorando além do conceito. Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente, 15, 33-44. https://doi.org/10.5380/dma.v1510.11897
Downs, A. (1972). Up and down with ecology- the "issue-attention cycle". The Public Interest, 28, 38-50. https://gwern.net/doc/sociology/1972-downs.pdf
Fortunato, I., & Penteado, C. (2018). A visibilidade de desastres ecológicos no século XXI: revisitando o issue-attention cycle de Downs. Acta Scientiarum. Human and Social Sciences, 40(3), e42188. https://do1.org/10.4025/actascihumansoc. v4013.42 188
Girardi, I. T., Loose, E. B., Steigleder, D. G. (2020). Novos rumos da cobertura ambiental brasileira: um estudo a partir do Jornal Nacional. 7rajetórias Humanas Transcontinentais, 7, 47-62. https://doi.org/10.25965/trahs.2054
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE). Programa Queimadas. Monitoramento de focos ativos por países.<https://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br/queimadas/situacao-atual/estatisticas/estatisticas paises/>
Menegassi, D. (2022, fevereiro 01). Ibama usou menos da metade do orçamento disponivel para fiscalização em 2021. O Eco. https://oeco.org.br/noticias/ibama-usou-menos-da-metade-do-orcamento-disponivel-para-fiscalizacao-em-2021/
Menezes, M. M. de, & Aguiar, L. A. de. (2019). Jornalismo Ambiental no Prémio Esso: levantamento de reportagens socioambientais. Em V. C. de A. T. Hrenechen (Ed.). Desafios na convergência entre midia, comunicação e jornalismo. Atena Editora. (pp. 84-95). https://www.atenaeditora.com.br/catalogo/post/jornalismo-ambiental-no-premio-esso-levantamento-de-reportagens-socioambientais#tabs-download
Schmidt, S. (2005). Paginas verdes. A presença da emoçäo no jornalismo especializado em meio ambiente: uma análise da seçäo de entrevistas pingue-pongue da revista Ecologia e Desenvolvimento. (Dissertação de Mestrado). Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.
Schmitz, A. (2011). Classificação das fontes de noticia. Biblioteca Online de Ciências da Comunicação. https://arquivo.bocc.ubi.pt/pag/schmitz-aldo-classificacao-das-fontes-denoticias.pdf
Footnote
