Risky business: Covering slow‐onset hazards as rapidly developing news
- 1 January 1990
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Political Communication
- Vol. 7 (1) , 11-23
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.1990.9962884
Abstract
The emerging field of risk communication has yet to thoroughly grapple with how the mass media report risk. Through a content analysis of five newspapers noted for their science reporting, newspaper coverage of four environmental hazards is compared to media coverage of more traditional risky events. In general, these slow‐to‐develop stories are reported in much the same way as more traditional disaster stories. News accounts emphasized an event orientation, framed risks in terms of human activity rather than social and political contexts, described risk in terms of harms and benefits, and relied on traditional sources. The authors then explore how this version of mass‐mediated risk might change current definitions of risk communication and how a mediated construction of risk may influence public perception of the political choices these issues raise.Keywords
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