The first major study of media coverage, policy debates and public perceptions
about nanotechnology is the focus of a new book co-authored by Professor Stuart
Allan of Bournemouth
University.
The book, entitled Nanotechnology, Risk and Communication (published by Palgrave
Macmillan 2009) analyses the way the media has covered the early development
of nanotechnology. It also uses that coverage to contribute to the debate about
the effectiveness of scientists and journalists in communicating science-related
stories to the wider public.
Collectively, Professor Allan and his colleagues from the Universities of Plymouth
and West of England in the UK and Monash University in Australia found that
the practice of engaging the public in science-based stories tends to focus
on risk management rather than wider dissemination. As a result, the book’s
authors recommend that scientists would benefit from a more rigorous understanding
of the rapidly-changing character and day-to-day operations of the media.
“In its early stages, coverage of nanotechnology tended to be in the
context of science fiction, evoking images of ‘nanorobots’ and ‘nanosubmarines’,”
said Professor Allan, author of Media, Risk and Science. “This was especially
true during the period of the extensive reporting of Prince Charles’s
purported comments in 2004 about the dangers of nanotechnologies giving rise
to ‘grey goo’.
“Science tends to be presented in the media as somehow outside society,
as constituting unmediated truth, with ‘communication’ being conceived
as a process of informing an assumed ‘ignorant’ or ‘unaware’
audience of ‘the science facts’,” he continued. “We
have also seen how the term ‘nanotechnology’ itself is mired in
definitional ambiguity, a problem compounded by various competing representations
of the benefits and risks of particular innovations.”
Research for the book was based on the findings of a study funded by the UK’s
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Professor Allan interviewed science
journalists who had written about nanotechnology and were reasonably familiar
with the science involved. He and his colleagues drew further insight from interviews
with scientists.
“We were particularly interested to know more about how news reporting
of nanotechnology has unfolded over the years and the extent to which it has
been influenced by other controversies such as the rise of BSE, genetically-modified
crops or stem cell research,” said Professor Allan. “We also looked
at what participants themselves think about the news coverage as other studies
have focused on the news reports alone.”
Posted April 23rd, 2009
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