Science Communication 1998 Abstracts
Science Communication Interest Group
Risk Perception and Information Management Responses to a Predicted Earthquake: Was the Optimism Unrealistic? • L. Erwin Atwood, Pennsylvania State University • Management of threatening information is one means by which individuals respond to perceived risks from predicted disasters. Analysis of correlates of unrealistic optimism, pessimism, and realism indicate that responses to threats of death or injury differ from those regarding threats of property damage. Pessimists are clearly differentiated from optimists and realists by perceived risk perceive effects of news media and discussions with family and friends, and by gender and age.
Evaluating Assertions About Science Writing, Reporting and News Selection: A Content Analysis of the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times • Robert A. Logan, Peng Zengjun and Nancy Fraser Wilson, Missouri-Columbia • In this study, science news in the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times within biennial periods from 1989-1995 is analyzed to explore seven research questions about science reporting, writing and news selection. Among the findings are: the percentage of issue oriented stories in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times was higher than suggested within the literature. The percent of stories in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times that embedded educational-informative content was higher than suggested with the literature.
Setting the National News Agenda from New York: When the Times Changed the Dioxin Heath Risk Frame • Glynn R. Wilson, Tennessee-Knoxville • New York Times dioxin coverage from 1989 to 1994 is studied utilizing agenda-setting, framing and gatekeeping theory, with traditional and computer-assisted content analysis techniques. A major health risk frame changed in 1991, when a front page story compared the risks to sunbathing. The story was picked up by other news outlets, potentially leading to public confusion. The combined theory and methods employed here codify in the news frames and address implications for media agenda-setting.
Historical Survey of Media Coverage of Biotechnology in the United States 1970 to 1996 • Bruce V. Lewenstein, Tracy Allaman and Shobita Parthasarathy, Cornell University • Media coverage of biotechnology has played a crucial role in carrying debates about the science, technology, economic, and ethical issues of biotechnology from halls of academe, business, and government to a broader audience. The basic pattern of such coverage has been characterized as a shift from criticism of “genetic engineering” in the 1970s through a more promotional tone on “biotechnology” in the 1980s, and a more nuanced but nonetheless positive tone in the 1990s.
The Role of Attribution and Framing in Rationalizing About Risk Estimates • LeeAnn Kahlor and Sharon Dunwoody, Wisconsin-Madison and Robert J. Griffin, Marquette University • This study looked at factors that may be related to the ways in which people make sense of quantitative risk estimated. The concepts of framing, attribution and informal reasoning aid in this endeavor. Analyses of open-ended comments in a survey about the risk of getting sick from a waterborne parasite indicate that people’s explanations of their level of risk are consistent with predictions made by attribution theory, but are only weakly related to interpretive frames that they may have encountered in the media and other channels.
The Mars Meteorite: A Case Study in Controls on Dissemination of Science News • Vincent Kiernan, Maryland • Through interviews with participants and analysis of media reports, this paper reconstructs preparations by NASA and the American Association for the Advancement of Science regarding discovery of fossilized bacteria in a meteorite from Mars in 1996. The agencies attempted to manipulate the timing and manner of press coverage to serve their own ends. Contrary to the agencies’ stated rationale for embargoes on science news, premature disclosure of the paper in the media did not produce inaccurate media reports.
Newspaper Source Use on the Environmental Beat: A Comparative Case Study • Stephen Lacy, Michigan State University and David C. Coulson, Nevada-Reno • The purpose of this study is to determine whether reporters covering the environmental beat used more diverse sources than are relied on under a traditional beat system. Even though newspapers have Broadened their beat systems to include a greater diversity of topics, the inclusion of a greater diversity of sources has not necessarily followed. In this study of six large and prestigious dailies, the traditional bureaucratic types of sources continue their dominance in shaping the news.
Mass Communication and Public Understanding of Environmental Problems: The Case of Global Warming • Fiona Clark, Keith R. Stamm and Paula Reynolds-Eblascas, Washington • Public understanding of environmental problems is treated here as an example of mass communication problem that has yet to be adequately solved. A survey of metropolitan area residents found that although people are aware of global warming in a general sense, understanding of causes, possible consequences, and solutions is limited. Print media and radio appear to make a difference in both understanding and the number of actions taken by respondents to address this problem.
Objectivity as Independence: Creating the Society of Environmental Journalists, 1989-1997 • John Palen, Central Michigan University • The Society of Environmental Journalists started in 1989 and quickly became the largest organization of environmental journalists in the nation. It grew despite renouncing growth possibilities on behalf of the journalistic virtue of independence. SEJ’s membership restrictions were controversial. In working through the controversies, SEJ clarified its definition of “environmental journalist,” while demonstrating the continuing strong hold on journalists of the ideal of objectivity.
Alternative Medicine Portrayal in Elite Newspapers: Cure or Quackery? • Lisa M. Brown, Brian H. Vastag, Stephanie L. Dube, Scott C. McMahan and Kristie A. Swain, Texas A&M University • This content analysis examined alternative medicine coverage in 259 articles appearing in nine elite newspapers in five countries. Stories were analyzed for alternative medical topics and primary health problems, and alternative medical topics were compared against newspaper and year. Overall, alternative medical coverage was positive between 1992 and 1997.
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