Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C29762
Notes:
Pages 115-120 in Thomas R. Dunlap (Ed.), DDT, Silent Spring and the rise of environmentalism: classic texts. University of Washington Press, Seattle. 152 pages.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C19626
Notes:
Pages 113-136 in Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody and Carol L. Rogers (eds.), Communicating uncertainty: media coverage of new and controversial science. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Mahwah, New Jersey. 277 pages.
18 pages., via online journal., This essay explores the different meanings of the 1960s’ pesticide controversy
as conveyed by the multiple representations of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
(1962). I argue that to understand the impact of Carson’s work on a heterogeneous audience in the early ’60s, we must move beyond an examination
of the book, Silent Spring, to consider its other media manifestations, as a
serialization for The New Yorker and as a television expose for “CBS Reports.” ´
Each conveyed a unique message stylized for the audience of that particular
media. This analysis demonstrates the problems and opportunities for scholars
attempting to gauge the influence of a book on the public understanding of
science. This argument also suggests that to understand the transition of
environmentalism from a grass-roots movement to near universal consensus,
we need to examine carefully the role of media in shaping divergent messages
for different audiences—a phenomenon that assisted in transforming local
environmental issues into a matter of national concern.
