Mediatised engagement with the environmental debate on Twitter

Abstract

This article discusses the engagement with civic-political issues from news comments on Twitter and how these users relate to the topics under debate, which can be based on moral values or personal political ideology. This essay deals with participatory culture, a connection between individuals and media content; public engagement and political participation based on media practices; and how moral emotions would affect public engagement–such as participatory culture, a connection between individuals and media content; public engagement and political participation based on media practices; and the concepts of moral emotions. This work analysed 21,327 tweets in Portuguese. As a result, the main narratives in the collected tweets dealt with public and political figures, such as the Brazilian President, the Brazilian Minister of Environment, the activist Greta Thunberg, and the European Union. The results are consistent with previous studies, in which public figures remain relevant to the climate change discourse. Such results justify that public debate on the environment is more focused on politics and political action than ecology.