Research among experienced environmental journalists reveals a shift since 2000 in their view of "balance," as an element of objectivity. They now advocate a "weight of evidence" approach where stories reflect scientific consensus.
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.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 158 Document Number: C25899
Notes:
Report of a session, "How to make a big story bigger," at the 5th World Congress of Science Journalists in Melbourne, Australia, on April 16-20, 2007. 2 pages.