A Qualitative Analysis of Pollinators News Coverage in Francophone Belgium (Contract number: CT-EX2021D427290-101)
Résumé
The following report is based on the analysis with Prospéro of a corpus of texts
focusing on pollinators decline. The corpus is made of 2 800 texts published
between 2010 and 2021. Texts come from francophone Belgian newspapers and
magazines, press releases and parliamentary questions. The purpose of the analysis
is to understand the narratives that have been used to talk about pollinators decline
in Belgian public spheres and their evolutions over the last decade.
Our descriptive analysis shows that the problem of wild pollinator decline has
acquired an increasing attention in Belgian press. At the beginning, Francophone
press was mostly focused on honey bees, but then they have paid more attention to
problems in relation with wild bees and other pollinators. The evolution is
correlated with policies which federal and regional policy-makers set up in order to
reduce the lack of knowledge about the state of wild pollinators in Belgium and to
foster their conservation. Those actions also are in line with global worries about
Biodiversity crisis and the decline of pollinators around the world.
However, a hierarchy between pollinators is still existing. If species similar to
honeybees, such as wild and solitary bees or bumblebees, have gained some
recognition, other pollinating insects remain invisible.
The descriptive analysis of the corpus demonstrates that texts put pollinators at
the junction of multiple threats, whether they are connected to biological pests,
alien species, climate change, the use of chemical inputs in agriculture or habitat
loss. This result meets what other authors already observed regarding bees
(Chateauraynaud et Debaz, 2017 ; Debaz, 2012). This list of threats has to be
connected with the different actors concerned with pollinators decline who have
contributed to define the problem according to their experiences and interests.
This abundance of threat raise the question of impacts that such an inventory
could have on the understanding of general public but also decision-makers about
policy priorities. Otherwise, who is to believe? Is it agrochemical firms which claim
that there is no problem (Bayer, 2019, p. 26; La Dernière Heure, 2017a)? Or is it
environmentalist organisations pointed out pesticides?
Finally, it appears from the descriptive analysis that pollinators decline was
covered by Belgian press along two dimensions. The first dimension distinguishes
texts focused specifically on honey bees from texts concerned with biodiversity loss.
The second dimension separates texts talking about polemical political decisions
from texts describing local actions. Those two dimensions draw four narrative
regimes. Those four narratives constitute a “complex of narrative regimes” (Orsini,
2017) that texts mix when they talk about pollinators issues.
Public controversies about risk regulations: the first narrative regime refers
to public debates which arose in relation to the regulation of causes
responsible for pollinators decline.
Endangered Biodiversity: the second narrative is related to Biodiversity loss.
Enchanted Biodiversity: the third narrative differs from the second by talking
about pollinators and biodiversity in a more “positive way”. Texts give
information on the essential role of pollinators or they tell stories about the
identification of new species.
Local actions and pollinators conservation in the everyday life: the last
narrative regime consists in describing local actions aiming to protect
pollinators or giving advices about pollinator-friendly behaviours.