“AgriZone, you can't fool me”

Press, (De)Politicization and The MST at COP30

Abstract

This article analyzes the MST’s protest at AgriZone during COP30 as a denunciation of agribusiness's responsibility for the climate crisis, investigating the processes of (de)politicization in journalistic coverage and the positions and strategies of legitimation of the press and the MST surrounding the action. Based on the theoretical-methodological framework of (de)politicization, and the techno-environmental, economic, and democratic-institutional frames, the approach of three journalistic portals (G1, Repórter Brasil, and Brasil de Fato) and MST official statement is analyzed to answer the question about the role of the press in conflicts surrounding COP30 and the climate crisis, observing how news reports empty or amplify their political content in the way they report the event. Finally, it identifies how coverage strategies legitimize certain social actors to the detriment of others and may, or may not, reinforce the dispute between political projects present at COP30. The results show that the politicization of the climate debate does not only stem from the existence of conflicts, but above all from how they are framed, which actors have the legitimacy to speak, and the discursive strategies mobilized.