Media Portrayal of Environmental Risk: Dissimination or Delusion

Media Portrayal of Environmental Risk: Dissemination or Delusion?

Transmission of ideas and information through media avenues like television and the press are the predominant means by which much of contemporary culture and the developed world obtain vital information. The media has an enormous impact on the public's conceptualization of ideals: societal perceptions are shaped by the information made available to us through the different venues of media. Examining how the transmittal of information regarding environmental risk is disseminated by the media and accepted by society exposes an evident quandary.

The media repeatedly broadcasts data that instead of informing people with beneficial news adversely invokes situations of tumult and unnecessary fear. Ramifications of the fictitious diffusion of information about environmental risks, or non-risks, to society include more than just the proliferation of misinformation. Circulation of wrongful environmental risk data has detrimental effects on businesses, industry and economy. Misinforming people about environmental risk undermines policies and government actions that are based on media hype or contentious scientific information. Abating the problematic and detrimental tendency of media misconstruing information about environmental risks will require a multifaceted collaboration between the media, the public, government and the scientific community.

A problem complicating environmental policy and risk reporting is largely attributable to media players, politicians and scientists overstepping their boundaries into realms they are not qualified to operate in. Scientists must avoid getting involved in the environmental policy debate. Conversely, politicians must not attempt to reason on scientifically sensitive issues as if they are scientists.

Risk is defined as the severity of the consequences of an accident or a hazard like a toxin multiplied by the probability of its occurrence. Risks will exist indefinitely however we attempt to reduce risk by either reducing the probability or severity of the hazard. (Bahr, 1997) People must learn, including the media, to "balance the risks and thus steer a safe course through the potential minefield known as life". The process by which people perceive risk is dependent on what knowledge they attain and what information is made available. (Neely, 1994)

Thus the key role of the media in informing the public with the knowledge necessary to make up decisions about environmental risks is revealed. The media shapes public perception of environmental risk by providing the public with information, although sometimes misconstrued, about potential environmental hazards.

The value of risk assessment for risk management must be balanced against the accuracy and reliability of the data used, a process that is as much an art as it is a science. Risk assessment and risk management can be conflicting and should be carried out independently. Public concern and perceived risk, or public opinion, will strongly influence public policy and legislative action or risk management, even when no scientific validation exists for the said position. It is imperative to help the public understand that sometimes adequate or complete scientific information necessary to establish a standard is limited by the information available at that time. (Salvato, 1992)

Communication of environmental risks, or the process of making risk assessment and risk management information comprehensible to groups and individuals is hard because these groups (the public) often want to know if something is safe, not whether the risks are uncertain and complicated. (Faustman, Omenn, 1996)

Without media coverage it is unlikely that an important problem will either enter the arena of public discourse or become part of political issues. In a 2003 comparative study conducted at Drexel University about the media's contribution to the social construction of global warming, the authors identify key contributors called "gatekeepers" that are exclusively involved in shaping what is portrayed and expressed in the media. These gatekeepers consist of journalists and reporters who are in essence told what to do by their lead gatekeepers, the advertisers and corporate owners. This power structure of the media enables corporate objectives to be strategically disseminated to the public and in turn construct social perceptions favorable to the involved gatekeeper. (Dispensa, Brulle, 2003)

Whether or not a probable risk is circulated to the public and how such information is portrayed is commonly spin-doctored by the involved parties or concerned gatekeepers. The institutionalized structure of the mass media encourages public disengagement from making informed decisions about environmental risk. Mass media seems to be more concerned with procuring consumer loyalty and demand while capitalizing on consumerism.

Media and the press play a large role in the formation of environmental policies and in the development of risk perception. Media coverage of disasters have lead to the development of laws and programs like the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Superfund legislation that resulted from the infamous Love Canal incident in New York in 1980. Catastrophic events and situations that engender fear sometimes require political action to achieve a sense of resolution. Once a risk has been brought to the attention of the public, the public then demands resolution.

Another governmental initiative spawned with the intent to manage environmental hazards is the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA). This act was formulated to regulate the creation, manufacture and distribution of chemical substances in order to identify and control hazardous substances before they pose a threat to the environment and humans beings. The TSCA requires the EPA to conduct information gathering about new chemicals, new chemical screening, chemical testing, and control of chemicals and asbestos. (Rosenbaum, 2005)

The TSCA is morass with complexities that hinder its efficient operation including the lack of manpower and funding to carry out all of its delegated tasks. Implementation of the TSCA is delayed by political, technical and legal problems. The TSCA lacks a clear stipulation that lays out procedures for accurate reporting of environmental hazards that could work to alleviate the issue of media misconstruing environmental risks.

The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996 is an offspring of CERLCA designed to simplify regulations regarding pesticides and