Revealed Territory

Press and Pollution in Cubatao County [State of Sao Paulo, Brazil] in the 1970s

Abstract

This article seeks to analyze newspaper articles that address the pollution in the city of Cubatão, Brazil, vehiculated during the 1970s, which were an enormous factor in the construction of ecological awareness. The articles analyzed allow us to notice the deepening of the theme over the years, the involvement of the leading figures and their efforts to spread their point of view, besides allowing the influence of "mass media", that is, the mass communication types of media, in the formulation of a critical point of view. It must be recognized that for a less reductionist understanding, it is necessary to focus on the 1970s, because it is possible to observe the roles played by the actors involved. The analysis of the journalistic material allows the revealing of some processes that take place in the territory of Cubatao county [state of Sao Paulo, Brazil], such as the coexistence of communities with effluents, power games, the silence of institutions, in addition to the actions shown to publicize or conceal the effects of pollution. The analysis of the material produced during this period makes it possible to recognize that studies carried out on the environment in the region should be treated under the so-called “complex thinking” approach.