Round Tables > The Media and the Americas

CLIMATE CRISIS AND DISINFORMATION IN THE AMERICAS

Friday, September 24th, 11:15am-1:15pm

Centre de Colloques, room 11

Organization : Divina Frau-Meigs (CREW – Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), Renaud Metereau (LADYSS – Université de Paris), Louis Augendre (Institut des Amériques)

Speakers : Joseph Beaudreau (CREW - Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), Véronique Gaymard (RFI), Tatiana Roque (Université Fédérale de Rio de Janeiro )

Presentation : Climate change or global warming? Climate skepticism or «warmingism »? Human impact or solar cycle? Elite conspiracy or scientific denial?... Terminology battles and mutual accusations of misinformation are raging on regarding the state of the planet.

These controversies on climate change and the ecological crisis have been exacerbated in the Americas over the last years. D. Trump and J. Boslonaro’s mandates in the United States and Brazil have reinforced this trend and reaffirmed major issues regarding the articulation between political and economic powers, scientific knowledge and information/misinformation dynamics. In this context, journalistic responsibility and the role of scientific mediation find themselves at the center of these tensions, which highlight not only difficulties and challenges specific to the profession itself and its evolution (new media, ICT, etc.), but also political dynamics, power relations and conflicts of interest more specifically related to the definition of public problems and the implementation of policies to fight against these problems (here, climate change).

This round table wishes to offer a space for exchange between academics and people representing different media dealing with these challenges in order to:

1. Provide a diagnosis: what does misinformation reveal on climate issues? Who loses? Who wins?

2. Identify American perspectives on the challenges of scientific mediation in the 21st century. Who holds the cognitive authority? Science? The media?

3. Discuss ways to strengthen scientific mediation, beyond fact-checking. How can we fight misinformation? What solutions and tools can we share to democratize access to scientific mediation?