Fires in the Pantanal: Environmental Journalism and the Political Situation

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 coverage’s framing and the government’s 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 Bardin’s 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 government’s denialism provoked a political engagement by O Globo and boosted the issue’s 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 newspaper’s 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 government’s stance, capturing the influence of civil society mobilization and international organizations on environmental coverage.