The Marginalization of Food Safety Issues: An Interpretative Approach to Mass Media Coverage

As the distance between lay consumers and food producers and processors increases, the mass media become more important in conveying information about food safety to the general public. This study shows how food safety issues have been marginalized by reporters, as coverage tends to cluster around crisis situations. Data were collected from articles indexed in the Readers’ Guide to Periodicals for the twelve years, 1986-1997. In addition to the quantitative analyses, coverage within the most popular magazines of two issues—mad cow disease and Alar—are examined. It is argued that food safety issues are not only marginalized, but are removed from consumer arenas into technical arenas

Review of \u3ci\u3eThe Gospel of Sustainability: Media, Market, and LOHAS.\u3c/i\u3e By Monica M. Emerich

It is no longer enough to grow your own food to be considered environmentally conscious. According to Emerich in The Gospel of Sustainability, being green means driving a hydrogen-powered car, patronizing businesses that sell free-trade coffee, and subscribing to the proper magazines. Emerich provides a backstage pass (as well as front-stage views in the form of quotes from conferences and media stories) where one can view how the conflicts around sustainability arose and are maintained as various actors try both to meld and tear apart capitalism and wanton consumerism, desiring to live lives that will translate into more resources for future generations. What may be more interesting to those studying macrostructures is the fact that even to have a movement as portrayed by Emerich-referred to as Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS)-there must be large amounts of capital that will bring media and big business attention to the demands being made. This is even more exciting if the demands are being made by the Walmarts and The Men\u27s Warehouses of the world

The media and public opinion on genetics and biotechnology: mirrors, windows, or walls?

Arguments regarding the relationship between media discourse and public opinion have raged for decades, if not centuries. Comparing media coverage of biotechnology between 1992 and 2001 in two national newspapers with national survey data collected in early 2003, an argument is made that a general one-dimensional media effect is not occurring within the US public regarding media discourse. Given the multivalent characteristics of the media and the interpretive filters used by audiences—including ignoring information—even strong slants by the presumed opinion-leading press (the New York Times and the Washington Post) do not predict public opinion on a nascent issue such as biotechnology. While some reflections do appear between the media and public opinion, closer observations show these mirrors to be ephemeral

Oyster Coverage: Chiastic News As a Reflection of Local Expertise and Economic Concerns

The media, it is argued, are agents of legitimation - for themselves as well as others. Issues and social actors become recognized as important when they appear within the limelight of the news, and reporters are relied upon to correctly choose among the myriads of issues and actors vying for their attention. What happens, though, when an economically important cultural icon becomes a health threat? This is the situation facing news organizations in Southern Louisiana where oysters are both loved and loathed as food. We study newspaper presentations of oysters in Southern Louisiana over a ten-year period to investigate the ways in which this issue was approached. In many of the instances when negative articles appeared, positive statements could be found in the same issue of the newspaper, creating what we refer to as chiastic -- defined as two parallel lines moving in opposite directions -- media presentations. The presence of this type of news reporting is discussed in terms of the economic and cultural importance of the oyster, the economics of newspapers, and the stance of news organizations as cultural authorities.Chiastic, Culture, Economics, News, Oyster

Institutional and/versus commercial media coverage: representations of the University of California, Berkeley–Novartis agreement

In 1998, a contract was signed between the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) and Novartis in which the latter agreed to give UCB's Department of Plant and Microbial Biology US$25 million over a five year period. This Agreement was the foundation for debates that split the university over issues related to corporate control of the university, the environmental and social consequences of biotechnology, intellectual property rights, and academic freedom. This paper investigates the ways in which the Agreement was presented within the public relations office of UCB and the popular press, as well as reactions to that coverage. Data were collected through archival and web-based searches and interviews with individuals connected to the Agreement

Reporting on Art in the City: Newspaper coverage of public art in Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Chicago, 2001 – 2010

Local journalism is expected to record significant events, people, and ideas tied to the location where the journalism is practiced. Public art commemorates some of these significant events, people, and ideas, some of which encapsulate the style of the city, and all of which can become issues that gain media attention. We investigate a decade (2001–2010) of newspaper reporting and policies related to public art in four cities that are considered cultural destinations in the United States—Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Chicago—to understand how this issue is used to define and describe each of these cities and styles within media discourse. We argue that what is covered and how it is covered shed light on how journalists and those who make decisions about public art seek to develop and maintain the styles of cities

Role models and trust in socio-political institutions : a case study in Eastern Germany, 1992 - 96

This paper discusses the development of trust in socio-political institutions on the part of youth in eastern Germany during the period 1992-96, with special emphasis on the effect of having parents as role model. The analysis is based on surveys of middle and high school students that were conducted by the authors in a county in Thuringia. A factor analysis of trust in a number of social and political institutions yielded a factor comprising five socio-political institutions that belong to the state sector and, for the most part, have a strong hierarchical structure: the military, police, legal system, public administration (but not the government proper), and parliament. Our multiple regression models (including parental role model, various political attitudes, evaluation of the economic situation, and stratification) showed that favorable attitudes towards unification and having parents as role model were the two most important determinants of having trust in socio-political institutions. The positive effects of these two variables on trust became stronger with growing temporal distance from unification during the early years of the transformation; the strength of the effects dropped slightly after 1994 but remained well above the 1992 level. These findings show that socialization variables are an important addition to situational and stratification factors in understanding the development of trust in socio-political institutions among eastern German youth

Review of \u3ci\u3eThe Gospel of Sustainability: Media, Market, and LOHAS.\u3c/i\u3e By Monica M. Emerich

It is no longer enough to grow your own food to be considered environmentally conscious. According to Emerich in The Gospel of Sustainability, being green means driving a hydrogen-powered car, patronizing businesses that sell free-trade coffee, and subscribing to the proper magazines. Emerich provides a backstage pass (as well as front-stage views in the form of quotes from conferences and media stories) where one can view how the conflicts around sustainability arose and are maintained as various actors try both to meld and tear apart capitalism and wanton consumerism, desiring to live lives that will translate into more resources for future generations. What may be more interesting to those studying macrostructures is the fact that even to have a movement as portrayed by Emerich-referred to as Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS)-there must be large amounts of capital that will bring media and big business attention to the demands being made. This is even more exciting if the demands are being made by the Walmarts and The Men\u27s Warehouses of the world

Seeds, food and trade wars: public opinion and policy responses in the US and Europe

The political debate over genetically modified foods entered a new phase when the USA (under the Bush Administration) threatened legal actions within the World Trade Organization (WTO) against a moratorium of these products in the European Union. This paper focuses on developing a societal context in which these political disputes arose though an investigation of public opinion polls conducted in both the USA and Europe. While some differences do exist with regards to opinions toward biotechnology, any contention that the WTO case is a direct outcome of public opinion is tenuous. The special interest groups that have vested interests in supporting or opposing biotechnology are likely to be the ones fanning the transatlantic flames, and arguing that public opinion is in their favour