Risk, transparency and cover up: media narratives and cultural resonance

Ideas of transparency and trust have become more and more in fashion in public policy discourse. However, these ideas do not make much sense without an understanding of what lack of transparency and distrust may involve. The theme of deliberate and intended ‘cover up’ by governments, officials or by industry that want to hide known risks or negative effects from the public constitutes an essential component of media stories of controversy over facility siting. Such stories tell of tendencies to play down, silence and even conceal events that may lead to harm. This paper attempts to single out the bits and pieces of visual imagery from which the theme of risk-related ‘cover up’ is culturally constructed by using a made-in-Hollywood film as an empirical example. Film is regarded here as a form of vicarious interaction with other people, where viewers closely identify with the portrayed human, social, and environmental conflicts. It is suggested that risk communication among the public, technical experts and decision makers can be improved by an understanding of how people respond to and think about visual representations of risk.