21 pages., Online via UI e-subscription, "This paper exposes the failure of government institutions to protect animals on factory farms while simultaneously silencing what is currently the only available mechanism for Americans to learn about abuse on factory farms. It also explores the Constitutional implications of Ag-Gag laws.
This paper examines the media coverage of the 2013 London cultured meat tasting event, particularly in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Using major news outlets, prominent magazines covering food and science issues, and advocacy websites concerning meat consumption, the paper characterizes the overall emphases of the coverage, the tenor of the coverage, and compares the media portrayal of the important issues to the demographic and psychological realities of the actual consumer market into which cultured meat will compete. In particular, the paper argues that Western media gives a distorted picture of what obstacles are in the path of cultured meat acceptance, especially by overemphasizing and overrepresenting the importance of the reception of cultured meat among vegetarians. Promoters of cultured meat should recognize the skewed impression that this media coverage provides and pay attention to the demographic data that suggests strict vegetarians are a demographically negligible group. Resources for promoting cultured meat should focus on the empirical demographics of the consumer market and the empirical psychology of mainstream consumers.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11817
Notes:
Via website of Corporate Crime Reporter. 2 pages., An Idaho federal court held that the law violated the First Amendment by "suppressing speech "on topics of immense public importance including the safety of the food supply, and the safety of farm workers and animals."
12 pages., Online via UI electronic subscription, Analysis of five cases of peak social media activity in the Dutch livestock sector. Findings indicated that social media hypes revolved around activism, scandals, and conflicts - each with characteristic patterns of activity, framing, interaction and media interplay. "Our results show the need to adopt a proactive and interactive approach that transcends the view of social media as a mere communication channel to respond in crisis situations."
