Water Management in the Media and Research: Dissemination in Catalonia and Its Capture by Private Companies

Dí­Dac Jorda-Capdevila,Lluc Canals Casals

doi:10.17583/rimcis.2019.4600

Abstract

As a vital resource for human well-being, drinking water is considered a public good worldwide. However, big companies are sometimes in charge of its management leading to an interested distribution of benefits. One of the mechanisms of power that these private companies employ to retain access to water management is the control of the dissemination of information. Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of big companies on the dissemination of water management in Catalonia by focusing on two groups of actors: general public and experts. Accordingly, we analyse the association of big companies with mass media and research institutions. First, we scrutinise local newspapers for the period 2010-2016 to compile news about water management and companies whose activity is related to water. We found some interesting correlations between the amount and subject of news, the editorial lines and relevant facts. Second, we search scientific articles about water management written by authors from Catalan research institutions. We analyse the production, research topic and funding. In this sense, we found that technological centres are the most funded by private companies and that public funding is more related to topics related to the ecosystem functioning.Â

Highlights

As a vital resource for human well-being, drinking water is considered a public good worldwide
About 90% of the population receives water from public enterprises or administration (McNabb, 2017; Platz, 2009). This percentage was bigger before the decade of 1980. It was during the debt crisis of impoverished countries that took place during the decades of 80 and 90’s that the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) enhanced the participation of private companies in cooperative projects concerning drinking water (World Bank and Center for Public Integrity Analysis)
We look at the role that some companies have in different stages or organisms related to the research production and dissemination

Summary

Introduction

As a vital resource for human well-being, drinking water is considered a public good worldwide. One of the mechanisms of power that these private companies employ to retain access to water management is the control of the dissemination of information. La Gestión del Agua en los Medios de Comunicación e Investigación: La Divulgación en Cataluña y Su Secuestro por La Empresa Privada. El objetivo de este estudio es evaluar la influencia de grandes empresas en la divulgación de la gestión del agua en Cataluña, poniendo el foco en dos grupos de actores: el público en general y los expertos. 62% of the concessions were ceased and a 57% of those got back to public control (Basteiro Bertolí, 2008) These conflicts illustrate the value of social awareness towards water

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