Abstract

DOS SANTOS, Gilmar José. The Reporting of Corporate Manslaughter in Samarco and Vale Tailings Dams Collapses By Brazilian Websites. Comunicação e Sociedade [online]. 2022, vol.42, pp.49-69.  Epub Feb 25, 2023. ISSN 1645-2089.  https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.42(2022).3995.

One of the greatest problems regarding corporate manslaughter is its neutralization and justification by society. The media industry plays an important role in such a process because it can act as a public opinion mobilizer but also favors the suppression of such crimes from the public agenda. However, the advent of digital media brought the expectations that, with a higher number of voices disseminating content about these crimes, people would be more aware of its seriousness. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze how Brazilian news websites have approached the corporate manslaughter concept in the coverage of Samarco’s and Vale’s criminous tragedies.

To do so, 318 news reports about these cases published on seven Brazilian websites were studied using the qualitative content analysis method. Five websites, self-classified as alternative-independent, and two mainstream media sites were studied. The study has found a high frequency of news reporting about these cases soon after the tragedies, but nowadays, they are getting lost in a spiral of silence. It was also observed that the sites are reluctant to report the cases as corporate manslaughter, framing the episodes as accidents or tragedies. The alternative-independent media appeared to be more inclined to frame it as a homicide but revealed not to have enough resources to produce their own content. In general, it was observed that the reporting approach neutralized and re-signified the crimes, favoring the companies. No effort to mobilize public opinion was observed to demand that the justice institutions punish the companies.

Keywords : corporate manslaughter; agenda-setting; news framing; newsmaking.

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