This article examines how two important Brazilian newspapers covered the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit). Overall, 649 news items were content analyzed to determine the type of sources used, as well as the kind of issues covered. The analysis showed that government officials were the most frequently cited sources, while environmentalists and scientists were all but ignored as news sources. The analysis also indicated that economic issues were surprisingly prominent in the coverage. These results are compatible with previous studies done in several countries and indicate that environmental media are still extremely reliant on “official” vioces. The findings also highlight the fact that the range of issues covered by the environmental media largely reflects the perceived public agenda.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, A.1991. Source strategies and the communication of environmental affairs. Media, Culture & Society13:459-476.
2.
Anderson, A.
1993. Source-media relations: The production of the environmental agenda. In The mass media and environmental issues, edited by A. Hansen. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press/St. Martin's.
3.
Beaumont, J. R.1993. A new world order and managing the environment. Futures25:196-202.
4.
Bendix, J.
, and C. M. Liebler. 1991. Environmental degradation in Brazilian Amazonia: Perspectives in US news media. The Professional Geographer43:474-485.
5.
Bierman, J.
, and R. House. 1989. Murder in the Amazon. Maclean's, 9 January, 21.
6.
Bowman, J. S.
, and K. Hanaford. 1977. Mass media and the environment since Earth Day. Journalism Quarterly54:160-165.
7.
Bowonder, B.1981. Environmental risk assessment issues in the Third World. Technological Forecasting and Social Change19:99-127.
8.
Burgess, J.1990. The production and consumption of environmental meanings in the mass media: A research agenda for the 1990s. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers15: 139-161.
9.
Burgess, J.
1993. Representing nature: Conservation and the mass media. In Conservation in progress, edited by A. Warren and B. Goldsmith. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
10.
Burgess, J.
, C. Harrison, and P. Maiteny. 1991. Contested meanings: The consumption of news about nature conservation. Media, Culture & Society13:499-519.
11.
Comolet, A.1991. Le renouveau ecologique: De l'eco-utopie a l'eco-capitalisme. Futuribles17 (September): 41-54.
12.
Cottle, S.
1993. Mediating the environment: Modalities of TV news. In The mass media and environmental issues, edited by A. Hansen. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press/St. Martin's.
13.
Daly, H. E.1990. Boundless bull. Gannett Center Journal4:113-118.
14.
Detjen, J.1990. The traditionalist's tools (and a fistful of new ones). Gannett Center Journal4:73-83.
15.
The Earth Summit
. 1992. UN Chronicle29:40-63.
16.
Earth Summit approves agenda 21
. 1992. UN Chronicle29:59-63.
17.
Einsiedel, E.
, and E. Coughlan. 1993. The Canadian press and the environment: Reconstructing a social reality. In The mass media and environmental issues, edited by A. Hansen. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press/St. Martin's.
18.
The Europa World Year Book. 1993. Vol. 1, London: Europa Publications.
19.
Friedman, S. M.1990. Two decades of environmental beat. Gannett Center Journal4:13-23.
20.
Funkhouser, G. R.1973. Trends in media coverage of the 60s. Journalism Quarterly50:533-538.
21.
Gottlieb, R.1990. An odd assortment of allies: American environmentalism in the 1990s. Gannett Center Journal4:37-47.
22.
Greenberg, M. R.
, P.M. Sandman, D. B. Sachsman, and K. L. Salomone. 1989. Network television news coverage of environmental risks. Environment31 (2): 16-20, 40-43.
23.
Hamilton, J. M.1990. Survival alliances. Gannett Center Journal4:1-11.
24.
Hansen, A.1991. The media and the social construction of the environment. Media, Culture & Society13 (4): 443-458.
25.
Hansen, A.
1993. Introduction. In The mass media and environmental issues, edited by A. Hansen. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press/St. Martin's.
26.
Hansen, A.
, and O. Linné. 1986. Problemas ambientales y medios de communicacion colectiva. Cuadernos de Communicacion96:47-55.
27.
Heilbroner, R.1990. After communism. The New Yorker, 10 September, 91-100.
28.
Levy, M. A.1993. Mileposts along the road from Rio. Environment35 (June): 4-5.
29.
Liebler, C. M.
, and J. Bendix. 1996. Old-growth forests on network news: News sources and the framing of an environmental controversy. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly73 (1): 53-65.
30.
Linné, O.
1993. Professional practice and organization: Environmental broadcasters and their sources. In The mass media and environmental issues, edited by A. Hansen. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press/St. Martin's.
31.
Lowe, P.
, and D. Morrison. 1984. Bad news or good news: Environmental politics and the mass media. The Sociological Review32 (1): 75-90.
32.
Marien, M.1992. Environmental problems and sustainable problems: Major literature from WCED to UNCED. Futures24 (October): 731-757.
33.
McCormick, J.1990. A green world after the cold war?Gannett Center Journal4:133-142.
34.
McGeachy, L.1989. Trends in magazine coverage of environmental issues. Journal of Environmental Education20 (1): 6-13.
35.
Molotch, H.
, and M. Lester. 1975. Accidental news: The great oil spill as local occurrence and national event. American Journal of Sociology81 (2): 235-260.
36.
Naj, A. K.1990. Greens and greenbacks. Gannett Center Journal4:85-93.
37.
Nohrstedt, S. A.1991. The information crisis in Sweden after Chernobyl. Media, Culture & Society13 (4): 477-497.
38.
Oliveira, F. I. 1990. Jornalismo Científico e a Amazônia: Estudo de Quatro Jornais Brasileiros. Master's thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
39.
Parlour, J. W.
, and S. Schatzow. 1978. The mass media and public concern for environmental problems in Canada, 1960-1972. International Journal of Environmental Studies13 (1): 9-17.
40.
Pearce, F.1992. How green was our summit?New Scientist, 27 July, 12-13.
41.
Root of evil at Rio
. 1992. The Economist323, 13 June, 12-13.
42.
Rubin, D. M.1987. How the news media reported on Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Journal of Communication37:42-57.
43.
Rubin, D. M.
, and D. P. Sachs. 1971. Mass media and the environmental. Vol. 2, The environmental information explosion: The press discovers the environment. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
44.
Rubin, D. M.
, and D. P. Sachs. 1973. Mass media and the environment: Water resources, land use, and atomic energy in California. New York: Praeger.
45.
Sandbrook, R.1993. Live and learn. New Statesman & Society6, 22 January, 29-30.
46.
Schoenfeld, A. C.1979. Environmental communications today. Journal of Environmental Education10:43-47.
47.
Schoenfeld, A. C.1980a. Assessing the environmental reportage of the daily press: 1965-1979. Journal of Environmental Education11:31-35.
48.
Schoenfeld, A. C.1980b. Newspersons and the environment today. Journalism Quarterly57(4):456-462.
49.
Schoenfeld, A. C.
, R. F. Meier, and R. J. Griffin. 1979. Constructing a social problem: The press and the environment. Social Problems27:38-61.
50.
Schrader, R.1992. The fiasco at Rio. Dissent39 (4): 431-433.
51.
Shanahan, J.
, and K. McComas. 1997. Television's portrayal of the environment: 1991-1995. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly74 (1): 147-159.
52.
Stocking, H.
, and J. P. Leonard. 1990. The greening of the press. Columbia Journalism Review29 (November/December): 37-44.
53.
Westerstahl, J.
, and F. Johansson. 1987. Tjernobylnedfallet och myndighetsbeskeden. Stockholm, Sweden: SPF.
54.
Wilkins, L.1986. Media coverage of the Bhopal disaster: A cultural myth in the making. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters4 (1): 7-33.
55.
Witt, W.1974. The environmental reporter in U.S. daily newspapers. Journalism Quarterly51 (4): 697-704.
