THE HISTORY

OF THE

FUTURE

Project by ANDI – Communications and Rights

Sponsored by CLUA – Climate and Land Use Alliance

Journalists write stories which are usually the

narrative of past events.

However, the world challenges we face nowadays

invite the media to look into present political

decisions as they were telling the history of the

future...

The equation of sustainable development has a key

generation effect: it defines it is defined by the

commitment to ensure quality of life at present and

also for those who will inhabit the planet Earth after

us.

THE HISTORY OF THE FUTURE

THE FOREST CODEIN THE BRAZILIAN PRESS

How did the press report the debates

about the Forest Code in the Congress

Lower House?

An analysis of 973 texts from 17

newspapers from all regions of Brazil.

NEWSGATHERING

DIVERSE APPROACHES

NEWS OUTLLETS

SOURCES

DEPTH

UNBALANCEDDISTRIBUTION COVERAGE

40% of the material published in 5 news outlets

NATIONAL DAILIESSTAND OUT

12 regional

news outlets

Correio Braziliense

Folha de S.Paulo

O Estado de S. Paulo

O Globo

Valor Econômico

40%of texts

60% of texts

5 national dailies

Correio do Estado (MS)

Gazeta do Povo (PR)

Zero Hora (RS)

Estado de Minas (MG)

Diário de Pernambuco (PE)

Diário de Cuiabá (MT)

O Povo (CE)

O Rio Branco (AC)

A Crítica (AM)

Diário de Natal (RN)

A Gazeta (ES)

O Liberal (PA)

THREE DEFINING MOMENTSTWO CAMPS

Defining Moments

Two camps

Political Environment

Environmental Policy

Pre-Vote Stage Voting Stage Post-Vote Stage

THREE DEFINING MOMENTSTWO CAMPS

THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTSET THE TONE OF THE COVERAGE

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY QUALITY OF NEWS COVERAGE

58,6% of the stories provided context to the debate

about the Forest Code;

 

10,8% of stories compared the current Forest Code

with changes proposed in the Bill for a new Code;

  

In-depth stories represented 13,1% of the total.

DAY-TO-DAY COVERAGETHE STRIVE FOR BALANCE

14,2% of texts presented evaluations (98% of those are

opinion pieces – columns, articles, Op-Eds, interviews);

 

24 Op-Eds – 1 in every 3 days on average;

 

On the other hand, only 2,8% of texts mentioned the

obstacles for the implementation of the Forest Code.

A CONCEPTSCARCELY DEBATED IN THE COVERAGE

SUSTAINABILITY

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY THE SEVEN CONTENCIOUS ISSUES

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY EVALUATING THE BILL

59,2% of news stories brought

positions or presented arguments

about the contents of the new

Forest Code Bill:

Of those, 55, 8% presented

unfavorable positions:

24,7% were totally

against it;

31,1% were partially

against it.

While 31,6% had favorable

positions:

12,4% were totally

favourable;

19,2% were partially

favorable.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY EVALUATING THE BILL

9,5% of all texts discussed the

potential negative effects of the

changes proposed in the Code.

 

0,8% discussed the potential

positive consequences.

 

Representatives of farmers, agribusiness and

environmentalists had their

opinions quoted in some 20% of

the news stories:

In 51,6% of the mentions,

farmers’ representatives

were in favor of the Bill;

In 76,6% of mentions,

environmentalists were

against the Bill.

TYPES OFNEWS STORIES

STORIES AND OPINIONS

80,9% of stories quoted at least one source.

52,4% had more than one source.

From those, 45% quoted antagonistic opinions.

*Multiple variable marker; total can surpass 100%

WHO TALKEDSOURCES OF INFORMATION LISTENED TO*

POLITICAL FIGURES WHO TALKED

GOVERNMENTWHO TALKED

CIVIL SOCIETYWHO TALKED

Position of the scientific community concerning the Forestry Code Bill

A DEBATEBARELY SCIENTIFIC

Only 8,2% of the stories quote scientific research;

Only 11,2% of the stories quote the scientific community.

A DEBATEBARELY SCIENTIFIC