The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting was held from January 24-28, 2007. Global warming and the potential for new talks on a world trade deal were the dominating issues. Media coverage varied from straightforward reports of the Forum’s events, to strong criticism saying that meeting of the world’s biggest leaders has become increasingly irrelevant.

The proposed resumption of the World Trade Organization talks dominated WEF coverage during the review period. Media coverage steadily increased, with a spike on January 26 when it was reported that British Prime Minister Tony Blair was hopeful the stalled global trade negotiation could resume soon, and Brazil’s president predicted a deal within months. Coverage spiked considerably on January 27 when officials announced they had agreed to resume the global free trade talks. While appearing to be positive news, a large portion of media coverage leaned toward the negative, implying that the probability of the talks actually resuming is still unlikely, that expectations were low, and the talk about restarting the global trade talks was, to a large extent, “hot air”.

The issue of global warming/climate change came in second in terms of media coverage, with coverage increasing just before the official start of the forum when President Bush acknowledged climate change in his January 23 State of the Union speech, and spiking on January 24 when German Chancellor Angela Merkel focused on climate change in her keynote speech. Coverage increased again on January 27 regarding an announcement of a partnership to standardize the reporting of climate risk-related issues. Media reaction to the announcements was mixed in tone; some positive reports commented on the constructive dialogue and potential solutions, others pointed out that no revolutionary strategies were developed and that Davos is the place to launch grandiose initiatives that never quite live up to their billing.

To read Biz360’s full report on the event and view analysis of the speakers and messages, please click here.