Via Online Journalism Review. 4 pages., Case examples include a periodical that investigated unregistered chemicals and found widespread use throughout Japan, even on "organic" farms. Started an online "Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Research Lab" as a virtual think tank to tackle the problem in a way that included the voices of everyday Japanese citizens. "The idea of connecting producers and consumers through civic journalism has become a standard approach to agriculture coverage in the Tohoku farming region."
Authors follow the notion that ignorance is not simply the absence of knowledge, but rather has its own configurations. They use examples to illustrate how interest groups and news media "appropriate and emphasize those ignorance claims that advance and protect their own particular concerns." Examples include Alar pesticide and tobacco.
Online via UI electronic subscription., This article reports on a study of the relative weight of attention given by the New York Times newspaper to alarming or reassuring messages about pesticides in the immediate aftermath of Silent Spring. Three models of media coverage are examined: conflict theory, sensationalism, and problem frame. Analysis revealed a complicated pattern of coverage which first highlighted, then downplayed, risk.
