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.
Describes the differing roles of science and public journalism. Notes an increase in the number of science and health reporters who have advanced training in the fields they cover and a growing number of reporters being assigned to cover health-risk stories. Also notes development of a new form of journalism devoted to service rather than news.
Boffey, Philip M. (author), Rodgers, Joann Ellison (author), and Schneider, Stephen H. (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
1999
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C19624
Notes:
Pages 81-91 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.
