Hans P Peters
Biographic Data
| ID | 2302722 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Hans P Peters |
| GIVEN NAMES | Hans P |
| FAMILY NAME | Peters |
| SIGNATURE | PETERS H P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Forschungszentrum Jülich |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8777-4329 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Sharon Dunwoody’s Legacy: Three Timely Lessons for Us
Sharon Dunwoody gained international reputation for her research on science journalism and media risk communication. Drawing on her publications published over more than four decades and the author’s long-lasting collaboration with her, this commentary elaborates on three of her most characteristic beliefs and orientations and suggests that they may serve as timely lessons for us to critically reflect on current assumptions and practices: substan…
The role of organizations in the public communication of science – Early research, recent studies, and open questions
Organizational science communication of higher education institutions (and research institutes outside the university sector) came into view of scholars of “science journalism” soon after the begin of systematic studies of the scientist-journalist relationship. While the pioneering French study of scientists’ relationship with the mass media by Boltanski and Maldidier (1970) focused on implications of the norms of the scientific community for pub…
Germany: Continuity and change marked by a turbulent history
In Germany, science popularisation through public talks of scientists, public shows, museums, popular science magazines and even newspapers dates back to the 19th century. The post-war development of science communication in West Germany was characterised by the (modified) adoption of two Anglo-Saxon models: US science journalism leading to professionalisation of science journalism in the 1980s and the British public engagement approach in the se…
Praise of reviewers
Do Organizational Interests Interfere with Public Communication of Science? An Explorative Study of Public Relations of Scientific Organizations in Taiwan
The relevance of public relations (PR) efforts of scientific organizations for public communication of science is increasingly recognized. PR departments are not mere mediators between scientists and journalists but represent the stakeholder interests of their organizations in the public sphere and are communicative actors themselves. Previous Taiwanese studies focused on university PR in the educational context, whereas the potential function in…
Scientific uncertainty in media content: Introduction to this special issue
This introduction sets the stage for the special issue on the public communication of scientific uncertainty that follows by sketching the wider landscape of issues related to the communication of uncertainty and showing how the individual contributions fit into that landscape. The first part of the introduction discusses the creation of media content as a process involving journalists, scientific sources, stakeholders, and the responsive audienc…
Constructing (un-)certainty: An exploration of journalistic decision-making in the reporting of neuroscience
Based on 21 individual case studies, this article inventories the ways journalism deals with scientific uncertainty. The study identifies the decisions that impact a journalist’s perception of a truth claim as unambiguous or ambiguous and the strategies to deal with uncertainty that arise from this perception. Key for understanding journalistic action is the outcome of three evaluations: What is the story about? How shall the story be told? What …
Taiwanese life scientists less “medialized” than their Western colleagues
The article presents results from surveys of life scientists in Taiwan ( n = 270) and in Germany ( n = 326). Fewer Taiwanese than German researchers have frequent contact with the media and they rate their experiences with journalists less positively. Furthermore, they are less prepared to adapt to journalistic expectations and to a greater extent than German researchers they expect journalists to consider scientific criteria in their reporting. …
Similar challenges but different responses: Media coverage of measles vaccination in the UK and China
For several decades scholars have studied media reporting on scientific issues that involve controversy. Most studies so far have focused on the western world. This article tries to broaden the perspective by considering China and comparing it to a western country. A content analysis of newspaper coverage of vaccination issues in the UK and China shows, first, that the government-supported ‘mainstream position’ dominates the Chinese coverage whil…
Preaching to the converted? An analysis of the UK public for space exploration
This article presents the results of a survey carried out at two space outreach events in the UK aimed at characterising “the public for space exploration” and measuring public support for space exploration. Attitude towards space exploration and policy preferences were used as measures of public support. The sample involved 744 respondents and was mainly composed of adults between 25 and 45 years old, with men slightly over-represented compared …
Medialized Science: Neuroscientists' reflections on their role as journalistic sources
Because the neurosciences affect many areas of society and culture, they receive much public attention. Brain research and other focuses of neuroscience are regularly featured in the mass media, calling on neuroscientists to serve as sources. Based on 30 semi-structured interviews with neuroscientists in the United States and Germany, this article analyzes neuroscientists' motivations to interact with journalists, their perception of problems wit…
Mass-Mediated Expertise as Informal Policy Advice
Scientific policy advice is usually perceived as a formalized advisory process within political institutions. Politics has benefited from this arrangement because the science-based rationalization of policy has contributed to its legitimacy. However, in Western democratic societies, scientific expertise that is routinely mobilized to legitimate political positions has increasingly lost its power due to controversial expertise in the public sphere…
Exploring a Black Box: Cross-National Study of Visit Effects on Visitors to Large Physics Research Centers in Europe
Results from a cross-national quantitative study of 3,301 visitors to four large physics research centers in Europe focus on short-term learning and motivational effects. The authors collected data from these visitors before and after visiting the centers as part of a research project funded by the European Union. Overall, visitors' knowledge of the research centers increased. However, effects on learning of scientific concepts are not so clear. …
Medialisierung der Wissenschaft als Voraussetzung ihrer Legitimierung und politischen Relevanz
Science-Media Interface: It's Time to Reconsider
An international mail survey of 1,354 biomedical researchers in five countries has revealed that interaction with the media is widespread among this group and that this interaction is largely perceived in a positive light. Possible reasons are offered as to why the perception persists that the scientist-journalist relationship remains troubled, despite the apparent reality. This reality may have negative as well as positive implications; the pote…
Culture and Technological Innovation: Impact of Institutional Trust and Appreciation of Nature on Attitudes towards Food Biotechnology in the USA and Germany
Journal Article Culture and Technological Innovation: Impact of Institutional Trust and Appreciation of Nature on Attitudes towards Food Biotechnology in the USA and Germany Get access Hans Peter Peters, Hans Peter Peters Hans Peter Peters is a senior researcher at the Program Group Humans-Environment-Technology of the Research Center Jülich, Germany, and adjunct professor at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies of the Free Universit…
Attitudes towards genetic engineering
This article presents the main results of the analyses of the German Biotech Survey and gives an overview on the public perception of genetic engineering in Germany, which is very differentiated and dominated by ambivalence. Unlike the perception of genetic engineering in general, the perception of the different applications of this technology are almost very distinctive - medical applications are supported while applications in agriculture are r…
The committed are hard to persuade. Recipients' thoughts during exposure to newspaper and TV stories on genetic engineering and their effect on attitudes
Two empirical studies were performed to analyse cognitive processes in the reception of media stories on genetic engineering and their influence on attitudes to it. Three hundred and thirty-eight people each read three articles about genetic engineering and 51 people each watched three TV films. By means of the thought-listing technique, the thoughts occurring during reception were recorded and their content later analysed. Before and after prese…
The interaction of journalists and scientific experts: Co-operation and conflict between two professional cultures
Risikokommunikation in den Medien
Der Risikobegriff hat derzeit in der öffentlichen Diskussion wie in der Sozialforschung Hochkonjunktur. Ulrich Beck hat sogar den Übergang von der klassischen Industriegesellschaft in die „Risikogesellschaft“ postuliert. Die Produktion von Risiken, die sich in einem frühen Stadium noch als Nebenwirkungen hätten legitimieren lassen, gewinne in den politischen und sozialen Auseinandersetzungen der Risikogesellschaft eine neue und zentrale Bedeutung…
The credibility of information sources in West Germany after the Chernobyl disaster
In West Germany the `information disaster' after Chernobyl offered an opportunity to study the credibility of different information sources. A representative survey conducted in May 1987 of the West German population showed that on average the Federal Government—although heavily criticized because of its information policy and risk management—was rated most credible while the nuclear industry was judged least credible. On the whole, mean credibil…
Mass media coverage of technological and environmental risks: A survey of research in the United States and Germany
Research on media communication of risks has become a reasonably well funded and popular domain for scholars around the world. Although one can find a great deal of collaboration among these scholars within countries, cross-cultural collaborations are far more rare. In this article, an American and a German scholar attempt to bring results from studies in both their countries to bear on some of the more popular questions being asked by risk commu…
Culture and Technological Innovation: Impact of Institutional Trust and Appreciation of Nature on Attitudes towards Food Biotechnology in the USA and Germany
Journal Article Culture and Technological Innovation: Impact of Institutional Trust and Appreciation of Nature on Attitudes towards Food Biotechnology in the USA and Germany Get access Hans Peter Peters, Hans Peter Peters Hans Peter Peters is a senior researcher at the Program Group Humans-Environment-Technology of the Research Center Jülich, Germany, and adjunct professor at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies of the Free Universit…
Science-Media Interface: It's Time to Reconsider
An international mail survey of 1,354 biomedical researchers in five countries has revealed that interaction with the media is widespread among this group and that this interaction is largely perceived in a positive light. Possible reasons are offered as to why the perception persists that the scientist-journalist relationship remains troubled, despite the apparent reality. This reality may have negative as well as positive implications; the pote…
The interaction of journalists and scientific experts: Co-operation and conflict between two professional cultures
Medialized Science: Neuroscientists' reflections on their role as journalistic sources
Because the neurosciences affect many areas of society and culture, they receive much public attention. Brain research and other focuses of neuroscience are regularly featured in the mass media, calling on neuroscientists to serve as sources. Based on 30 semi-structured interviews with neuroscientists in the United States and Germany, this article analyzes neuroscientists' motivations to interact with journalists, their perception of problems wit…
Mass-Mediated Expertise as Informal Policy Advice
Scientific policy advice is usually perceived as a formalized advisory process within political institutions. Politics has benefited from this arrangement because the science-based rationalization of policy has contributed to its legitimacy. However, in Western democratic societies, scientific expertise that is routinely mobilized to legitimate political positions has increasingly lost its power due to controversial expertise in the public sphere…
The role of organizations in the public communication of science – Early research, recent studies, and open questions
Organizational science communication of higher education institutions (and research institutes outside the university sector) came into view of scholars of “science journalism” soon after the begin of systematic studies of the scientist-journalist relationship. While the pioneering French study of scientists’ relationship with the mass media by Boltanski and Maldidier (1970) focused on implications of the norms of the scientific community for pub…
The credibility of information sources in West Germany after the Chernobyl disaster
In West Germany the `information disaster' after Chernobyl offered an opportunity to study the credibility of different information sources. A representative survey conducted in May 1987 of the West German population showed that on average the Federal Government—although heavily criticized because of its information policy and risk management—was rated most credible while the nuclear industry was judged least credible. On the whole, mean credibil…
Mass media coverage of technological and environmental risks: A survey of research in the United States and Germany
Research on media communication of risks has become a reasonably well funded and popular domain for scholars around the world. Although one can find a great deal of collaboration among these scholars within countries, cross-cultural collaborations are far more rare. In this article, an American and a German scholar attempt to bring results from studies in both their countries to bear on some of the more popular questions being asked by risk commu…
Risikokommunikation in den Medien
Der Risikobegriff hat derzeit in der öffentlichen Diskussion wie in der Sozialforschung Hochkonjunktur. Ulrich Beck hat sogar den Übergang von der klassischen Industriegesellschaft in die „Risikogesellschaft“ postuliert. Die Produktion von Risiken, die sich in einem frühen Stadium noch als Nebenwirkungen hätten legitimieren lassen, gewinne in den politischen und sozialen Auseinandersetzungen der Risikogesellschaft eine neue und zentrale Bedeutung…
The interaction of journalists and scientific experts: Co-operation and conflict between two professional cultures
Attitudes towards genetic engineering
This article presents the main results of the analyses of the German Biotech Survey and gives an overview on the public perception of genetic engineering in Germany, which is very differentiated and dominated by ambivalence. Unlike the perception of genetic engineering in general, the perception of the different applications of this technology are almost very distinctive - medical applications are supported while applications in agriculture are r…
The committed are hard to persuade. Recipients' thoughts during exposure to newspaper and TV stories on genetic engineering and their effect on attitudes
Two empirical studies were performed to analyse cognitive processes in the reception of media stories on genetic engineering and their influence on attitudes to it. Three hundred and thirty-eight people each read three articles about genetic engineering and 51 people each watched three TV films. By means of the thought-listing technique, the thoughts occurring during reception were recorded and their content later analysed. Before and after prese…
Culture and Technological Innovation: Impact of Institutional Trust and Appreciation of Nature on Attitudes towards Food Biotechnology in the USA and Germany
Journal Article Culture and Technological Innovation: Impact of Institutional Trust and Appreciation of Nature on Attitudes towards Food Biotechnology in the USA and Germany Get access Hans Peter Peters, Hans Peter Peters Hans Peter Peters is a senior researcher at the Program Group Humans-Environment-Technology of the Research Center Jülich, Germany, and adjunct professor at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies of the Free Universit…
Medialisierung der Wissenschaft als Voraussetzung ihrer Legitimierung und politischen Relevanz
Science-Media Interface: It's Time to Reconsider
An international mail survey of 1,354 biomedical researchers in five countries has revealed that interaction with the media is widespread among this group and that this interaction is largely perceived in a positive light. Possible reasons are offered as to why the perception persists that the scientist-journalist relationship remains troubled, despite the apparent reality. This reality may have negative as well as positive implications; the pote…
Exploring a Black Box: Cross-National Study of Visit Effects on Visitors to Large Physics Research Centers in Europe
Results from a cross-national quantitative study of 3,301 visitors to four large physics research centers in Europe focus on short-term learning and motivational effects. The authors collected data from these visitors before and after visiting the centers as part of a research project funded by the European Union. Overall, visitors' knowledge of the research centers increased. However, effects on learning of scientific concepts are not so clear. …
Mass-Mediated Expertise as Informal Policy Advice
Scientific policy advice is usually perceived as a formalized advisory process within political institutions. Politics has benefited from this arrangement because the science-based rationalization of policy has contributed to its legitimacy. However, in Western democratic societies, scientific expertise that is routinely mobilized to legitimate political positions has increasingly lost its power due to controversial expertise in the public sphere…
Preaching to the converted? An analysis of the UK public for space exploration
This article presents the results of a survey carried out at two space outreach events in the UK aimed at characterising “the public for space exploration” and measuring public support for space exploration. Attitude towards space exploration and policy preferences were used as measures of public support. The sample involved 744 respondents and was mainly composed of adults between 25 and 45 years old, with men slightly over-represented compared …
Medialized Science: Neuroscientists' reflections on their role as journalistic sources
Because the neurosciences affect many areas of society and culture, they receive much public attention. Brain research and other focuses of neuroscience are regularly featured in the mass media, calling on neuroscientists to serve as sources. Based on 30 semi-structured interviews with neuroscientists in the United States and Germany, this article analyzes neuroscientists' motivations to interact with journalists, their perception of problems wit…
Similar challenges but different responses: Media coverage of measles vaccination in the UK and China
For several decades scholars have studied media reporting on scientific issues that involve controversy. Most studies so far have focused on the western world. This article tries to broaden the perspective by considering China and comparing it to a western country. A content analysis of newspaper coverage of vaccination issues in the UK and China shows, first, that the government-supported ‘mainstream position’ dominates the Chinese coverage whil…
Taiwanese life scientists less “medialized” than their Western colleagues
The article presents results from surveys of life scientists in Taiwan ( n = 270) and in Germany ( n = 326). Fewer Taiwanese than German researchers have frequent contact with the media and they rate their experiences with journalists less positively. Furthermore, they are less prepared to adapt to journalistic expectations and to a greater extent than German researchers they expect journalists to consider scientific criteria in their reporting. …
Scientific uncertainty in media content: Introduction to this special issue
This introduction sets the stage for the special issue on the public communication of scientific uncertainty that follows by sketching the wider landscape of issues related to the communication of uncertainty and showing how the individual contributions fit into that landscape. The first part of the introduction discusses the creation of media content as a process involving journalists, scientific sources, stakeholders, and the responsive audienc…
Constructing (un-)certainty: An exploration of journalistic decision-making in the reporting of neuroscience
Based on 21 individual case studies, this article inventories the ways journalism deals with scientific uncertainty. The study identifies the decisions that impact a journalist’s perception of a truth claim as unambiguous or ambiguous and the strategies to deal with uncertainty that arise from this perception. Key for understanding journalistic action is the outcome of three evaluations: What is the story about? How shall the story be told? What …
Do Organizational Interests Interfere with Public Communication of Science? An Explorative Study of Public Relations of Scientific Organizations in Taiwan
The relevance of public relations (PR) efforts of scientific organizations for public communication of science is increasingly recognized. PR departments are not mere mediators between scientists and journalists but represent the stakeholder interests of their organizations in the public sphere and are communicative actors themselves. Previous Taiwanese studies focused on university PR in the educational context, whereas the potential function in…
Germany: Continuity and change marked by a turbulent history
In Germany, science popularisation through public talks of scientists, public shows, museums, popular science magazines and even newspapers dates back to the 19th century. The post-war development of science communication in West Germany was characterised by the (modified) adoption of two Anglo-Saxon models: US science journalism leading to professionalisation of science journalism in the 1980s and the British public engagement approach in the se…
Praise of reviewers
The role of organizations in the public communication of science – Early research, recent studies, and open questions
Organizational science communication of higher education institutions (and research institutes outside the university sector) came into view of scholars of “science journalism” soon after the begin of systematic studies of the scientist-journalist relationship. While the pioneering French study of scientists’ relationship with the mass media by Boltanski and Maldidier (1970) focused on implications of the norms of the scientific community for pub…
Sharon Dunwoody’s Legacy: Three Timely Lessons for Us
Sharon Dunwoody gained international reputation for her research on science journalism and media risk communication. Drawing on her publications published over more than four decades and the author’s long-lasting collaboration with her, this commentary elaborates on three of her most characteristic beliefs and orientations and suggests that they may serve as timely lessons for us to critically reflect on current assumptions and practices: substan…
Political science (15 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Climate Change Communication and Perception (13 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Public relations (10 works) · Media studies (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Media Studies and Communication (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works)