NR AWHN
AU Jardine,C.G.; Driedger,S.M.; Goddard,E.
TI Canadian media representations of BSE and vCJD and public risk perspectives
QU International Conference - Prion 2006: Strategies, advances and trends towards protection of society - 3.10.-6.10.2006, Torino, Italy, Lingotto Conference Centre - Oral sessions ORAL-56
PT Konferenz-Vortrag
AB Successful risk analysis requires an understanding of public perspectives on the risk. Such knowledge allows both risk managers and other interested and affected parties to better understand the risk problem to be addressed, the options available for risk management and the best way to communicate about the risk. Public views and judgments on science, policy and risk issues are greatly influenced by the media. A media content analysis can thus provide invaluable insights into prevailing public reaction to the risk. A print media analysis of the portrayal of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and variant Creutzfeld Jacob Disease (vCJD) was conducted from the time of the initial discovery of a cow with BSE in Alberta, Canada on May 20, 2003 through to the most recent BSE case in British Columbia, Canada on April 13, 2006. The focus of the analysis was the elucidation of the comparative frequency, importance and message framing of coverage relating to both health risk and to social and economic impacts, and the attendant influences on public risk perspectives. The two leading national newspapers (The Globe and Mail and The National Post) and three primary Alberta newspapers (The Edmonton Journal, The Calgary Herald and The Lethbridge Herald) were chosen for the sample. Articles were initially screened based on applicability to the research focus. Relevant articles from all samples were used to determine an overall frequency of different types and themes of media stories. An in-depth content analysis was then conducted of the Alberta newspapers to examine factors relating to the social construction of the risk. The impact of articles appearing in the first ten days after the first BSE discovery were examined to determine if these initial stories served to establish a common heuristic or 'trigger' that the public may have then repeatedly drawn on to reinforce and make sense of subsequent reporting of the same issue over time and multiple occurrences. The results from this study serve to better understand the reactions of the Canadian public to this risk issue, and to explain apparent differences in public reactions previously documented in the United Kingdom and Europe (e.g. Washer 2006).
AD C.G. Jardine, E. Goddard: Dept. of Rural Economy, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; S.M. Driedger: Dept. of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. E-mail: cindy.jardine@ualbert.ca
SP englisch
PO Italien