Environmental Issues in the Brazilian Press

Abstract

The article argues that over recent years environmental issues have become a key field of international debate and that environmental issues in Brazilian newspapers are constructed through a technocentric perspective. The analysis shows that the coverage of environmental issues has been shaped by the technocentric environmental perspective, which stresses traditional beliefs and values, emphasizing progress, technology, production and materialism. It also indicates that alternative environmental perspectives which would criticize the core of industrialism and the status quo, do not receive the same amount of attention in the newspapers. The findings also show that the media are a key actor in the definition, articulation and popularization of environmental issues in Brazil.