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public, there were little possibilities for public to express their views on the issue. Therefore the publicopinion could be bypassed. This kind of procedure will compromise the public deliberation on importanttopics and is of concern on the democratic point of view.Despite of the defectiveness of the discussion and the reform, it might still have had some impact ongeneral carbon consciousness in transport, as the total emission reduction suggests. Carbon dioxideemissions were highly visible in the discussion for a long period of time, and that may have had someimpact on “carbon consciousness” in transport, resulting in, for example smarter driving habits.The overall amount of news items covering environment and the car tax reform was relatively low ifcompared with the overall amount of news items published by HS (about 6,000 news items per month).This was surprising since traffic sector is a key player in climate policies that were widely debated duringthe study period (Lyytimäki and Tapio, 2009; Lyytimäki, 2011) and car taxation is a subject that has adirect impact on most of the Finns. Although it is probably not reasonable to assume that the debate ontaxation mechanisms would reach the level of coverage of entertainment or sports, the low overallamount can be considered as worrisome from two perspectives. First, the low level of debate does notserve the ideal of deliberative democracy. On the contrary, the media seems to serve as a tool forsuppressing the citizen debate. Second, low level of coverage that is fragmented gives only little adviceon consumer that on car purchase.As emphasized by Honkasalo (2010) when planning policy instruments, it is important to callattention to what kind of benefits exist for the consumer and to understand the role of products assymbols. This is in line with Dennis’ and Urry’s (2009) vision that the car will not be substituted bysustainable modes by denial and regulation but something that is more convenient, cheaper and morefun.ReferencesACEA (2011) Overview of CO2 based motor vehicle taxes in the EU. European AutomobileManufacturers’ Association. www.acea.be/images/uploads/files/20110330_CO2_tax_overview.pdfRetrieved 2.5.2011.Boyce, Tammy & Lewis, Justin (eds) (2009) Climate Change and the media. New York: Peter Lang.Boykoff, Maxwell. T. (2009) We Speak for the Trees: Media Reporting on the Environment. AnnualReviews of Environment and Resources, Vol. 34, 431-457.CEC (2005) Proposal for a Council Directive on Passenger Car Related Taxes. Commission of theEuropean Communities, Brussels, 5.7.2005, COM (2005) 261 final. http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2005/com2005_0261en01.pdfretrieved 21.4.2011.Cohen, Bernard C. (1963) The press and foreign policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Dennis, Kingsley & Urry, John (2009) After the Car. Wiley, Polity.EEA (2011) Transport emissions of greenhouse gases (TERM 002) - Assessment published Jan 2011.European Environment Agency. http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/transportemissions-of-greenhouse-gases/transport-emissions-of-greenhouse-gases-7.retreived 21.4.2011.Eurostat (2011) Motorisation Rate – Cars per 1000 inhabitants. Eurostat.http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&plugin=1&language=en&pcode=tsdpc340 Retrieved 16.3.2011.FABC (2010) Statistics. Finnish Audit Bureau of Circulations http://www.levikintarkastus.fi/english/statistics.php Retrieved 26.4.2011.Finnish Government (2007) Car tax and annual vehicle tax to be based on carbon dioxide emissions.Press release 109/2007. 2.11.2007. Ministry of Finance.466