This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Dunwoody, S. Articles by Peters, H. P. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Mass media coverage of technological and environmental risks: a survey of research in the United States and Germany

Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 5115 Vilas Communication Hall, 821 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA

Hans Peter Peters

Research Centre Jülich, Postfach 1913, D-5170 Jülich, Federal Republic of Germany, University of Münster

Research on media communication of risks has become a reasonably well funded and popular domain for scholars around the world. Although one can find a great deal of collaboration among these scholars within countries, cross-cultural collaborations are far more rare. In this article, an American and a German scholar attempt to bring results from studies in both their countries to bear on some of the more popular questions being asked by risk communication researchers and practitioners. With a few exceptions, studies from the two countries demonstrate highly consonant results, suggesting great similarities between (1) the general social and technological cultures of these two developed countries, (2) the ways in which their scientific and journalistic cultures deal with the concept of risk, and (3) the ways in which risk communication researchers in these two countries conceptualize and operationalize this domain of inquiry. The review concentrates on studies that examine the construction of risk stories by journalists but offers a framework within which to examine story effects as well.

Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 1, No. 2, 199-230 (1992)
DOI: 10.1088/0963-6625/1/2/004


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Liu and S. Priest Understanding public support for stem cell research: media communication, interpersonal communication and trust in key actors Public Understanding of Science, November 1, 2009; 18(6): 704 - 718. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. J. Lehmkuhl Congruency within rural social networks as an indicator of interpersonal influence on risk judgments: the great stir caused by BSE in a village in northern Germany. Public Understanding of Science, October 1, 2008; 17(4): 485 - 502. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. E. Clarke A Question of Balance: The Autism-Vaccine Controversy in the British and American Elite Press Science Communication, September 1, 2008; 30(1): 77 - 107. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Ungar Global Bird Flu Communication: Hot Crisis and Media Reassurance Science Communication, June 1, 2008; 29(4): 472 - 497. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. Bell Media (mis)communication on the science of climate change Public Understanding of Science, July 1, 1994; 3(3): 259 - 275. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. Bell Climate of Opinion: Public and Media Discourse on the Global Environment Discourse Society, January 1, 1994; 5(1): 33 - 64. [Abstract]