Mixed effects of mass media reports on the social amplification of risk: frequencies and frames of the BSE reports in newspaper media in the UK

The social amplification of risk framework explains why risks provoke public concerns, and presumes that risk signals and societal responses are determinants of the social process by which risks can be amplified or attenuated. This process considers mass media as central to disseminating information, and a conventional view suggests that media hype risks and increase public fear. This study aimed to examine how the discovery of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), the newspaper reports regarding its potential transmission to humans, and the following social events were framed in the UK, and how media functioned in the process of the social amplification of BSE risks. Newspaper articles were collected from archives of the five UK national dailies for the period 1985–2008, and were coded according to the frames, geographic focus, policy discussion and their slant, and the argument bases for policy discussions. The changes in frequency and frames over time were examined. The number of published articles increased, as BSE-related events occurred. Agriculture and trade remained dominant themes, followed by commerce and incident details. Factual reports, including neutral policy discussions, dominated the articles. When advocacy was evident, appeals for weaker policy measures appeared most frequently, favoring balance between objectives and addressing the rational acceptance of health risks. Newspaper media contributed to the social amplification of BSE risks, responding to societal events by producing numerous alarming articles that did not originate from any single health or industry viewpoint but dominated the press with factual reports. Policy advocacy was suppressed by arguments for the rational acceptance of risks. Such media behaviors demonstrated ambivalence, and may have amplified the risks less than expected, without isolating health risks, increasing public fear, or advocating stronger government policies.