A Longitudinal Study of Newspaper and Wire Service Coverage of Nanotechnology Risks

This study reviewed coverage of nanotechnology risks in 20 U.S. and 9 U.K. newspapers and 2 wire services from 2000 to 2009. It focused on information that citizens could come across in daily newspaper reading that could highlight the salience of these issues and alert readers to potential risks. Few articles about nanotechnology health, environmental, and societal risks were found in these publications during this period, averaging only 36.7 per year for both countries. The coverage emphasized three main narratives over time: runaway technology, science-based studies, and regulation. Health risks were covered most frequently, followed by environmental and societal risk issues. Regulation coverage was not as frequent but increased over time. The majority of the coverage focused on news events and 10 events drew modest media attention. Scientific uncertainty discussions appeared in about half of the articles, and scientists and engineers were the dominant information sources in both countries. Some significant differences between U.S. and U.K. coverage were found: U.K. coverage emphasized more societal concerns, while U.S. coverage paid more attention to environmental risks. Because the volume of coverage was not extensive and was counterbalanced by many more articles extolling nanotechnology's benefits, it is questionable whether this coverage alerted readers about potential nanotechnology risks. Coupled with citizens' minimal knowledge about nanotechnology, this type of coverage could create public distrust of nanotechnology applications should a dangerous risk event occur.

[1]  Paul Slovic,et al.  Affect, Values, and Nanotechnology Risk Perceptions: An Experimental Investigation , 2007 .

[2]  M. Muskavitch,et al.  Print Media Coverage of Antibiotic Resistance , 2004 .

[3]  Craig A. Poland,et al.  Carbon nanotubes introduced into the abdominal cavity of mice show asbestos-like pathogenicity in a pilot study. , 2008, Nature nanotechnology.

[4]  N. Gilbert Nanoparticle safety in doubt , 2009, Nature.

[5]  Dietram A. Scheufele,et al.  The Public and Nanotechnology: How Citizens Make Sense of Emerging Technologies , 2005 .

[6]  Bruce V. Lewenstein,et al.  The Salience of Small: Nanotechnology Coverage in the American Press, 1986-2004 , 2010 .

[7]  A. Petersen,et al.  From uncertainty to risk?: Scientific and news media portrayals of nanoparticle safety , 2007 .

[8]  Dietram A. Scheufele,et al.  The changing information environment for nanotechnology: online audiences and content , 2010, Journal of nanoparticle research : an interdisciplinary forum for nanoscale science and technology.

[9]  M. McCombs Setting the Agenda: The Mass Media and Public Opinion , 2004 .

[10]  H. Kastenholz,et al.  Laypeople's and Experts' Perception of Nanotechnology Hazards , 2007, Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis.

[11]  Sharon M. Friedman,et al.  Nanotechnology: risks and the media , 2005, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine.

[12]  Geoffrey L. Cohen,et al.  Cultural cognition of the risks and benefits of nanotechnology. , 2009, Nature nanotechnology.

[13]  Dietram A. Scheufele,et al.  From enabling technology to applications: The evolution of risk perceptions about nanotechnology , 2011 .

[14]  Steven C. Currall,et al.  Nanotechnology and society. New insights into public perceptions. , 2009, Nature nanotechnology.

[15]  Bill Lambrecht Dinner at the New Gene Café: How Genetic Engineering Is Changing What We Eat, How We Live, and the Global Politics of Food , 2001 .

[16]  M. Roco Broader Societal Issues of Nanotechnology , 2003 .

[17]  Richard Holliman,et al.  Media Coverage of Cloning: A Study of Media Content, Production and Reception , 2004 .

[18]  Bruce Bimber,et al.  Finding News Stories: A Comparison of Searches Using Lexisnexis and Google News , 2008 .

[19]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  Rating the Risks , 1979 .

[20]  Paul Slovic,et al.  The Social Amplification of Risk: Contents , 2003 .

[21]  H. Kulve Evolving Repertoires: Nanotechnology in Daily Newspapers in the Netherlands , 2006 .

[22]  P Slovic,et al.  Perceived Risk, Trust, and the Politics of Nuclear Waste , 1991, Science.

[23]  Bruce Bimber,et al.  Searching for a Frame , 2009 .

[24]  Dietram A. Scheufele,et al.  What's next for science communication? Promising directions and lingering distractions. , 2009, American journal of botany.

[25]  Sharon Dunwoody,et al.  The emergence of nano news: Tracking thematic trends and changes in media coverage of nanotechnology , 2009 .

[26]  Bret R. Shaw,et al.  Narrowing the nano discourse , 2010 .

[27]  Paul Slovic,et al.  Perceived risk, trust, and democracy , 1993 .

[28]  Jonathan Jackson,et al.  Imagining nanotechnology: cultural support for technological innovation in Europe and the United States , 2005 .

[29]  Alison Anderson,et al.  The Framing of Nanotechnologies in the British Newspaper Press , 2005 .

[30]  Sharon Dunwoody,et al.  The Emergence of Nano News: Tracking Thematic Trends and Changes in U.S. Newspaper Coverage of Nanotechnology , 2011 .

[31]  Arnim Wiek,et al.  Risks and nanotechnology: the public is more concerned than experts and industry. , 2007, Nature nanotechnology.

[32]  Lowndes F. Stephens News Narratives about Nano S&T in Major U.S. and Non-U.S. Newspapers , 2005 .

[33]  R. G. Shepherd Selectivity of Sources: Reporting the Marijuana Controversy. , 1981 .

[34]  Michael D. Cobb,et al.  Public perceptions about nanotechnology: Risks, benefits and trust , 2004, Emerging Technologies: Ethics, Law and Governance.

[35]  Bruce V. Lewenstein,et al.  Religiosity as a perceptual filter: examining processes of opinion formation about nanotechnology , 2009 .

[36]  D. Shaw,et al.  Agenda setting function of mass media , 1972 .

[37]  Sharon Dunwoody,et al.  Scientists worry about some risks more than the public. , 2007, Nature nanotechnology.

[38]  Kara Morgan,et al.  Development of a Preliminary Framework for Informing the Risk Analysis and Risk Management of Nanoparticles , 2005, Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis.

[39]  Christian E. H. Beaudrie,et al.  Anticipating the perceived risk of nanotechnologies. , 2009, Nature nanotechnology.

[40]  Barbara Herr Harthorn,et al.  Deliberating the risks of nanotechnologies for energy and health applications in the United States and United Kingdom. , 2009, Nature nanotechnology.

[41]  Alison Anderson,et al.  Nanoethics: the role of news media in shaping debate , 2008 .