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?
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