risk perception and media

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Principles of Risk

Risk and the Media (and other influences)



Influences on Risk Perception (1)

• Our perceptions of the magnitude of risk are influenced byfactors other than numerical data

• Risks perceived to be voluntary are more accepted than

risks perceived to be imposed• Risks perceived to be under an individual's control are

more accepted than risks perceived to be controlled byothers

• Risks perceived to be have clear benefits are moreaccepted than risks perceived to have little or no benefit

• Risks perceived to be fairly distributed are more acceptedthan risks perceived to be unfairly distributed

(Fischhoff et al . 1981)



• Risks perceived to be natural are more accepted than

risks perceived to be manmade

• Risks perceived to be statistical are more accepted than

risks perceived to be catastrophic

• Risks perceived to be generated by a trusted source are

more accepted than risks perceived to be generated by an

untrusted source

• Risks perceived to be familiar are more accepted than

risks perceived to be exotic

• Risks perceived to affect adults are more accepted than

risks perceived to affect children

(Fischhoff et al . 1981)

Influences on Risk Perception (2)



The Media & Risk Reporting



The Media

• Newspapers – National & regional

– Broadsheet, mid-market, tabloid

• TV & radio news

• TV & film drama

• Magazines & trade press

• Audience size and profile

• Commercial / public service

• Ownership / political bias - interests

• Free / censored

Four main news agencies - AP, UPI, Reuters and Agence-France Presse

- together claim to provide 90% of the total news output of the world‟s press, radio and television



Headlines



The New Media

• Web sites

• Blogs

• Social networks

• Mobile telephones

• „Privatised‟

• Anyone can now contribute to the news media

• Personal focus

• Networks & the strength of weak ties

• Six degrees of separation concept

• Diffusion – word of mouth – amplification



The Media and Agenda-Setting (2)

• The power of the media – Gate-keeping – the media have control over what content is

covered – identifying the key issues

– Priming – the media control the amount of time and space given to

certain issues – identifying the relative importance of the issues – Framing – the media defines how issues are „packaged‟ and

thereby influence their interpretation

• central to second-level agenda setting

• "The evidence… that voters tend to share the media'scomposite definition of what is important strongly suggests

an agenda-setting function of the mass media.“ (McCombs

and Shaw, 1972)



What Prompts the UK News?



Share of Voice



Media Influence & Risk



Questions About Risk Perception

What can we say about how media influencespublic perception of risk?

– Are risk „agendas‟ set by the media?

– How much of risk perception is due to themedia?

– Which elements of risk perception are influenced

by the media?

– How does the media „frame‟ risk issues?

– Is there any difference in perception when riskcommunication via the media is intentional and

deliberate?



Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF)

• Conceptual framework conceived in late the 1980s inthe USA

• Media are important transmitters of information

• Media is a potential amplification station – Increases the volume of information

– Increases salience of certain aspects of the message

• There is a ripple effect as the information spreads

through layers of interest groups



Social Amplification of Risk Framework

(SARF)



SARF & Risk Acceptability



Criticisms of SARF

• Media literature does not wholly support theamplification theory (more salience)

• Suggests the media is homogeneous and de-

contextualised• Suggests the public is passive

• Not relevant to the British media (?)National reach

Differences of opinion

Role of tabloids

Role of the BBC



An Alternative View

• Risk is a „field of contest‟

• Government agencies, corporations and civil groups

compete to advance their definition of the situation and

to secure public support

• The media role is

– To act as a channel of communication

– To provide a mechanism of public feedback

– To articulate public opinion

– To provide a site of debate and discussion

– To act as a watchdog

– To actively campaign in their own right

HSE Research Report, 2000



Framing Theory

• Santos (2004) argues that to frame is to select certain issues to

make them more salient in order to present a particular angle that

influences „meaning making‟

• "Framing is the process by which a communication source, suchas a news organization, defines and constructs a political issue or

public controversy" (Nelson, Oxley, & Clawson, 1997)

• "Every frame defines the issue, explains who is responsible, and

suggests potential solutions. All of these are conveyed by images,stereotypes, or anecdotes." (Ryan, 1991)



What is a Frame?

• Elements typically foundin news segments thatmay signal meaning: – metaphors

– messengers

– visuals – messages

– stories

– numbers

– context

• Frames are often activelyselected with a specificaudience in mind

• Frames can be created by themedia and by those

organisations they arereporting on

• It is helpful if your preferredframe is supported by themedia

„the media tend „…to accept theframes provided by the dominant institutions currently active in thedebate‟ (Singer and Endreny, 1987)



Framing News on Risks

• Journalists need to answer the question „What havewe here?‟

• They draw on past incidents that appear to be similar and which audiences are likely to remember

• Rather than thinking of news stories as reports about

distinct and separate events (as implied in SARF) it ismore useful to think of them as episodes in acontinuing narrative, built around sets of master themes and central images



Thinking About Framing

• How do you frame your risk issue?

• How does the public frame the issue?

• How does the media frame the issue?

• Is one affected by the other? – Public Media

– Media Public

• Do either of these support or contest your frame of theissue?

• How does their framing affect their choices & actions?• Is it possible to reframe your issue in the public or media

arenas?



Train accidents

GM Foods

Air Pollution

Source of Knowledge Varies



Trust & the Media



Trust & the Media

• It is generally agreed that it is far easier to destroy trust than it is to

create it or re-create it

• “Just as individuals give greater weight and attention to negativeevents, so do the news media. Much of what the media reports is

bad (trust-destroying) news”

• Another issue is “…the rise of powerful special interest groups, well -

funded (by a fearful public) and sophisticated in using their ownexperts and the media to communicate their concerns and their

distrust to the public to influence risk policy debates and decisions”

Slovic, 1999



Who Do We Trust?

Source: Environment Agency



Who Do We Trust?

Who does the public trust?



Trust by Risk Issue



Recent example:

“Hospital Superbugs”

October 2007

risk perception and media

Documents