Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

News Media Discourse and the State of Public Opinion on Risk

Wilkinson, Iain M. (1999) News Media Discourse and the State of Public Opinion on Risk. Risk Management, 1 . pp. 21-31. ISSN 1460-3799. E-ISSN 1743-4637. (doi:10.1057/palgrave.rm.8240029) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:37444)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.rm.8240029

Abstract

With reference to the 'theoretical crisis' of those media researchers who have come to the conclusion that much of their work has been undermined by a fuller recognition of the complexity of symbolic production and exchange, this paper presents a critical summary of the potential for 'new audience studies' to call into question some of the basic premisses of theories of risk communication. This may give practitioners reason to jettison the popular view that risk controversies result from the discrepancies between expert and lay perceptions of the magnitude of hazards. Moreover, it certainly might be used to alert them to the possibility that media representations of risk, at least in their own terms, may have little bearing upon people's everyday worries and concerns. Risk communication researchers would do better to focus upon the specific dynamics of the political and economic interrelationships between news sources and their vested interests, in securing the power to influence the symbolic representation of public issues.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1057/palgrave.rm.8240029
Uncontrolled keywords: News media, risk, influence, public opinion, audience studies
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Mita Mondal
Date Deposited: 10 Dec 2013 12:44 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:14 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/37444 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.