How does the media in Latin America and the Caribbean communicate the energy transition? Content analysis of 36 media outlets in the region and analysis of interviews with the authors

Desciption

Scientific evidence of planetary boundaries (Rockström, 2010) points to the urgent need for an energy transition. Massive greenhouse gas emissions are changing the planet, and if immediate action is not taken, these changes are likely to be irreversible. Transforming from an energy matrix based largely on fossil fuels to one diversified from renewable energy sources will be a challenging paradigm shift – conceptual and pragmatic – for this century. Especially for Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be one of the regions most affected globally by the consequences of climate change (IPCC, 2021).

Against this backdrop, one of the objectives of this research was to analyse how the media communicate the energy transition and to find out the reasons why they operate in this way. In a first stage, we analysed all pieces related to the energy transition, using keywords, published between August 2020 and November 2021 in 36 media outlets in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, 6 media outlets with a high impact in their regions in each country. We examined a total of 1,200 pieces of journalism. The methodologies used were quantitative, content analysis, and qualitative, frame analysis.

In a second stage, we conducted 59 interviews with the authors of the pieces analysed, questioning the main findings of the analysis. The results we found were very similar among the 6 countries: at the thematic level, the media communicated the energy transition from an economic angle, specifically from a business perspective. At the journalistic level, there was a predominance of pieces that consulted a single source of information, numerous statements and little journalistic research. Of the sources consulted, most were government sources and male sources predominated over female sources (8 men for every 2 women). Finally, at the editorial level, simple short news stories based on one event or phenomenon predominated.

There are very few studies on climate coverage in Latin America and the Caribbean. This one focused on the energy transition and aimed not only to identify shortcomings, but also to identify opportunities to strengthen this type of coverage, which will be a recurring theme in journalistic agendas.