Comparing cross-national coverage of genetically modified organisms: a community structure approach

    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Pollock, John C. (author), Peitz, Krysti (author), Watson, Elizabeth (author), Esposito, Cara (author), Nichilo, Phil (author), Etheridge, James (author), Morgan, Melissa (author), and Hart-McGonigle, Taylor (author)
    Format:
    Online journal article
    Publication Date:
    2017
    URL:
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699017696880
    Published:
    Springer
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 93 Document Number: D10865
    Journal Title:
    Global Health Communication
    Journal Title Details:
    94(2) 571–596
    Subject Term:
    communication analysis, communication research, databases, ethical issues, food safety, newspapers, genetic modification, food issues, vulnerability, media coverage, and communication studies
    Notes:
    26 pages., via online journal., A community structure analysis compared cross-national coverage of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) with variations in national-level demographics from 19 newspapers worldwide, yielding combined article “prominence” and “direction” “Media Vector” newspaper scores emphasizing either “favorable” (42%) or “unfavorable” (58%) coverage of GMOs. Regression analysis revealed “poverty level” (24.2% of variance) and “percent of agricultural land” (4.7%) totaled 28.9% of the variance, confirming that “vulnerability” indicators are associated with favorable media coverage of GMOs. Contrary to conventional “guard dog” assumptions that media mirror elite interests, systematic research on demographics and GMO coverage reveals that media can mirror the interests of society’s most “vulnerable.”

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