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Framing risk: nanotechnologies in the news

Author

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  • Stuart Allan
  • Alison Anderson
  • Alan Petersen

Abstract

The concept of 'framing' is being increasingly recognised as a useful means of characterising the social relations of representation shaping the news reporting of science and risk. In theoretical terms, framing is often described as a discursive strategy utilised by journalists to define the nature of a particular event, a complex process with important implications for how certain occurrences are selected as newsworthy, the conventions guiding the ways in which they are reported and the possible consequences for influencing public perceptions. Focusing on the news reporting of nanotechnologies, this paper explores the relative advantages and limitations of 'framing'. It draws on data from two UK studies, one examining news media production of nanotechnologies and the other examining scientists' and policy-makers' views on the future applications of nanotechnologies. We highlight the key role played by scientists as news sources and hence potentially influential actors in issue definition. We argue that risk researchers need to pay closer attention to the behind-the-scenes politics of framing, whereby competing claims-makers seek to establish their own particular interpretation of the situation.

Suggested Citation

  • Stuart Allan & Alison Anderson & Alan Petersen, 2010. "Framing risk: nanotechnologies in the news," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 29-44, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:jriskr:v:13:y:2010:i:1:p:29-44
    DOI: 10.1080/13669870903135847
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    Cited by:

    1. Kate Holland & R. Warwick Blood & Michelle Imison & Simon Chapman & Andrea Fogarty, 2012. "Risk, expert uncertainty, and Australian news media: public and private faces of expert opinion during the 2009 swine flu pandemic," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(6), pages 657-671, June.
    2. Lejla Dervisevic & Leigh Raymond & Linda J. Pfeiffer & Jessica V. Merzdorf, 2021. "Trade-offs versus reassurance: framing competing risks in the 2016 Zika outbreak," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(4), pages 729-747, December.
    3. Kay Fullenkamp, Natalie, 2021. "Playing Russian roulette with their kids: Experts' construction of ignorance in the California and Ohio measles outbreaks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    4. Eamonn M. McAlea & Martin Mullins & Finbarr Murphy & Syed A.M. Tofail & Anthony G. Carroll, 2016. "Engineered nanomaterials: risk perception, regulation and insurance," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 444-460, April.
    5. Arnaldi, Simone, 2014. "Exploring imaginative geographies of nanotechnologies in news media images of Italian nanoscientists," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 49-58.

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