Publicity of Agriculture in Contemporary Media

What’s being said?What’s being covered?

Background• Consumers are 3 to 5 generations from

production agriculture• Farm-to-consumer gap means increased

reliance on mass media for agriculture information

• Sharp decrease in consumer demand followed by negative mediacoverage (Burton & Young, 1996)

– Slow recovery afterwards

Media’s Coverage of Recent Ag Issues• Food recalls/food safety (e.coli, salmonella, listeria)• Natural disasters• Biotechnology• Farm and Food Bill• Agro-terrorism• Prolonged drought & food crises• Organic food• Animal welfare

Mass Media Coverage • Analysis of content of four trade

publications & five national general-interest publications over 15 years (Hollifield & Sweeney, 2000)

– Most dominant general-interest news publications did not use trade publications as source about rBST

– Daily news organizations are betterpositioned

Objectivity of General Journalists• Wealth of research regarding objectivity of

general journalists on reporting agriculture topics– Used Hayakawa-Lowery news bias categories in

research study– Determined news bias of 1-year’s content from

Oklahoma newspapers• Sentences were judgments• More negative sentences than

positive sentences• Might negatively affect public’s

interpretation of agriculture industry

Objectivity of General Journalists• Content analysis study of Time, Newsweek,

U.S. News & World Report, & Business Week– Foodborne illness was most frequent topic– Headlines primarily neutral– Cited government officials most often as

sources– Frames related to health risks,

health benefits, regulatory issues, & industry concerns

Objectivity of General Journalists• Content analysis of 6oo articles from

1986 – 1997 about food contamination or food poisoning (Eyck, 2000)

– Media coverage centered on crisis situations– Findings suggested media use food safety to

fulfill news values

Objectivity of General Journalists• Peanut Butter Recall

Let’s Discuss• What was the bias in the news coverage?– Who were the sources?– What images were used? – What words did the reporter use?

Objectivity of General Journalists• Kroger

Stores Recall Spinach due to Listeria Concerns

Let’s Discuss• What was the bias in the news coverage?– Who were the sources?– What images were used? – What words did the reporter use?

Effect of Media Coverage• Watch this YouTube video about the media’s

coverage related to the 2009 H1N1 flu—relabeled as swine flu– showed revenue loss of about $200 million over 4-

moth period– Negative impact on future prices of lean hogs, live

cattle, corn & soybeans

– Peter Dykstra, former execproducer of CNN’s science, tech &weather unit, said story magnifiedbeyond reason to retain audience• Helped sweeps month ratings

Discussion• What is your reaction to the media’s

coverage of H1N1?– What are solutions?

Let’s Discuss• What do you need to consider as a media

literate consumer?• How should agricultural communicators

deal with bias in news reporting?