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