Discurso ecológico e mídia impressa: análise de discurso de um acidente ambiental

Abstract

This paper tries to search for evidence of operational functions and effects related to the discursive reality called "environmental problems" by studing its presence in the Brazilian media. The study involved the reading and the analysis in printed news in two main newspaper - Folha de São Paulo and O Estado de São Paulo - about the accident on March 29th 2003 involving the pulp and paper industry Cataguases de Papel Ltda., in the city of Cataguases in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The accident was considered "the worst environmental disaster in the history of the contry" by the Brazilian media. The analysis included collection of published material - 28 stories from Folha de São Paulo and 30 from O Estado de São Paulo - between April 1st 2003 and May 28th 2003 when the accident was highlighted by intense media coverage. The study also included some of the historical aspects of the social construction of meaning within the diverse contemporary environmental/ecological discourses and the interaction/influences among them. The discourse analysis here is a result of an experiment that mixes language theories such as those proposed by Benveniste (Education Theory), Pêcheux (French Discourse Analysis) and Lacan (Lacan's Language Theory).