Social agents and news media as risk amplifiers

A case study on the public debate about the E. coli outbreak in Germany 2011

Bibliographic Data

ID21148932
AuthorsJuliana Raupp (0000-0001-8891-5157, Freie Universität Berlin, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume16
Issue6
Pages565-579
Publication date2014-08-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHealth Risk & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-8575 • E-ISSN: 1469-8331
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13698575.2014.950203
OpenAlexW1995679783
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited48

The social amplification of risk framework highlights the role which the news media play in risk communication by interacting with other agents in amplifying risk. However, the precise ways in which the media and other social agents actually amplify risks in public debates are unclear. In this article we draw on insights from the sociology of news to examine whether and to what extent social agents and news media amplify an emerging health risk. We use the debate about the Escherichia coli outbreak in Germany in 2011 to examine three issues: the amount of risk reporting by news media and social agents in their function as news sources; their evaluation of risk; and how they contribute to the escalation of risk, also known as ripple effects. In this article we draw on data from a content analysis of press releases from public health authorities and affected stakeholders and of news items in leading German news media. We found that the affected stakeholders were amplifying the risk to the greatest extent. We also found that there was a shift over time in the use of dominant frames. At the start of the debate the risk was framed as a public health issue and linked to medical-scientific progress. As the debate developed, more attention was given to political and economic consequences of the outbreak and the original health risk event was layered by other risk-related events

Environmental health · Outbreak · Political science · Public health · Public relations · Risk communication · Social media · Sociology · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Medicine · Nursing · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Risk Perception and Management · Virology

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