Читать книгу Communicating in Risk, Crisis, and High Stress Situations: Evidence-Based Strategies and Practice - Vincent T. Covello - Страница 50

Because traditional broadcast and publishing media – newspapers, television, radio, and magazines – are in the business of selling news, journalists favor stories that attract readers, viewers, and listeners. Stories about conflicts, disagreements, and inconsistencies attract media attention. Journalists also favor stories that contain dramatic material, especially dramatic stories with clear villains, victims, and heroes. Much less attention is typically given to daily occurrences.

In reporting about risks, journalists often focus on the same characteristics of a risk that raise public concerns, including a lack of trust in risk management organizations, the potential for adverse outcomes, a lack of familiarity with the risk, scientific uncertainty, risks to future generations, unclear benefits, inequitable distributions of risks and benefits, and potentially irreversible effects. Traditional media coverage of risks is frequently deficient in that many stories contain oversimplifications, distortions, and inaccuracies. For example, traditional media reports on cancer risks often provide few statistics on general cancer rates for comparison; often provide little information on common forms of cancer; rarely address public misperceptions about cancer; and provide little information about detection, treatments, and other protective measures.

These problems often stem from characteristics of the traditional media and the constraints under which reporters work. Many reporters work under tight deadlines that limit the time for research that yields valid and reliable information. Reporters also rarely have adequate time or space to present the complexities and uncertainties surrounding many risk issues.

Journalists achieve objectivity in a story by balancing opposing views. Truth in journalism is often different from truth in science. In journalism, there are different or conflicting views and claims to be covered ideally as evenly as possible. At the same time, general assignment reporters do not always have the scientific background needed to evaluate the data and disagreements related to a particular risk.

Journalists are source dependent. Under the pressure of deadlines and other constraints, reporters often rely heavily on sources that are easily accessible and willing to speak out. Sources of information that are difficult to contact, hard to draw out, or reluctant to provide interesting and nonqualified statements are often left out, even if these sources have fulsome information.

Effective risk communication depends in part on understanding the constraints and needs of traditional media and adapting one’s behavior and information to meet these needs. Given the continuing importance of traditional media in the transfer and exchange of information about risks and threats, Chapter 12 of this book discusses the constraints and needs of traditional media in detail. The chapter points out, for example, that few journalists have science or technical backgrounds and that many traditional sources of media have had to cut staff due to changes in where people get information.