The news about climate change published in Portugal and Spain favor political or technical discourse to the detriment of civil society, concludes a study by the Center for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra (UC).
In this study, which aimed to analyze the Iberian media coverage of climate change to better discuss its influence on the public's involvement with the topic, close to 500 online news stories (217 in Portugal and 232 in Spain), published in 2017 and 2018 in various national media.
The news was collected through the Google News database and selected in order of relevance of the media, in four time periods: February to March 2017; June to July 2017; October to November 2017; February to March 2018.
In general, in both countries, the news “emphasizes political or technical discourses, especially discussions between the various political parties, neglecting the discourses and behavior of individuals. In the case of Portugal, for example, of the 217 news items evaluated, only 12 favor civil society», reports Neide Areia, author of the study already published in the scientific journal “Science of the Total Environment".
In addition, the vast majority of news “highlights framing alarmists, for example, the number of deaths or the mass extinction of species. Journalists tend to frame issues related to the environment by placing excessive focus on the problems, whether they are the effects of climate change or the failure of political institutions to fight them», he stresses.
With regard to the most reported climatic phenomena, drought – and its impact on agriculture – comes first in both countries (157 news items), followed by news related to forest fires in Portugal.
According to the CES researcher, the results of this study show that “the media must democratize the communication of climate change, bringing the reality of the problem closer to the reality of the common individual. Instead of the significant projection given to news related to political-scientific discussions in the international forum or environmental catastrophes occurring in another part of the world, journalists should frame the issue of climate change at the level of local communities and at the individual level».
Considering the influence of the media in the construction of public opinion, Neide Areia argues that «a more proactive discourse on climate change can make all the difference, influencing the adoption of sustainable behavior (public in general) and the implementation of environmental policies and laws ( political leaders)'.
“Indeed, democratic communication on environmental issues – focused on more pro-climatic news, eg community actions to tackle climate change, not just government failures in relation to environmental policy or climate-related disasters – it would improve the active role of the media in the involvement of individuals and help to promote active responses of society to climate change”, stresses the researcher, who will now extend the study to France, Ireland and the United Kingdom, and is already analyzing 1600 news published in 2017 and 2018. In a next phase, the type of political discourse privileged in the news will be analyzed.
This investigation was carried out within the framework of the European project RiskAquaSoil: Atlantic Land and Water Risk Management Plan, focused on detecting the impacts of climate change in rural areas, contributing to risk management, the use of water and soil resources, the rehabilitation of agricultural areas and the development of new practices.
Led by Alexandre Tavares, from the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Coimbra (FCTUC), RiskAquaSoil (started in 2016) has the participation of around four dozen researchers from Spain, France, Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
Author: Cristina Pinto – Press Office – University of Coimbra – Science Communication
Science in the Regional Press – Ciência Viva
© 2019 – Science in the Regional Press / Ciência Viva
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