The U.S. Perspective

 The issue of deforestation in the Amazon can be looked at from many different viewpoints, but for this post I want to focus on the United States’ media coverage of this issue.

Framing and agenda-setting are two important media effects that are evident here. In scholar John Vivian’s textbook, The Media of Mass Communication, he defines framing as:

“Selecting aspects of a perceived reality for emphasis in a mass media message, thereby shaping how the audience sees the reality.”

He defines agenda-setting as:

“The process through which issues bubble up into public attention through mass media selection of what to cover.”

These two words effect the way the American people understand what’s going on in the Amazon rainforest. They only see what the media shows them through television or newspapers, among others.  The people don’t see if there is progress or regress on the issue, unless there is a story about it in the media.  If there is a story, the media may not even give the whole picture.

The New York Times has written several stories on deforestation in the Amazon, with pictures to show how times have changed in Brazil as more people are in search of jobs and moving around.  This article discusses how population growth has contributed to more deforestation as people move in and construct neighborhoods in the outer regions of the rain forest. They said that deforestation in this region already ranks among the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. In this article, they mention how the Brazilian officials have historically the colonization of the Amazon has a matter of national security.

  

This article and similar ones from the U.S. only receive and publish a certain amount of information to the American public because since it’s not happening in our country, the average person does not have much concern on the topic.  News stations want to give the public something that will sell, and deforestation is not the most thrilling topic to discuss on the nightly news. Agenda-setting comes into play here because the US media would much rather post other more important and relevant issues, unless there is a drastic forest fire or a serious event that occurs in the Amazon forest.

In my next post I will discuss the Brazilian perspective of deforestation and mention actions that are being taken by the government and the people as well.