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Media amplification under the floodlight: Contextualizing 20 years of US risk news

Author

Listed:
  • Cormac Bryce

    (St George's, University of London)

  • Michael Dowling

    (DCU - Dublin City University [Dublin])

  • Suwan Cheng Long

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Jamie Wardman

    (University of Leicester)

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of identifying and distinguishing risk amplification incidents and patterns in the news media. To meet this objective, our study incorporates a novel "floodlight" approach utilizing the Society for Risk Analysis Glossary in conjunction with topic modeling and time‐series analysis, to investigate risk‐focused stories within a corpus of 271,854 US news articles over the past two decades. We find that risk amplification in the US news media is concentrated around seven core risk news categories—business, domestic affairs, entertainment, environment, geopolitics, health, and technology—which also vary in the risk‐related terms that they predominantly employ. We also identify 14 signal events that can be distinguished relative to general risk news within their categories. Across these events, the "War on Terror" and COVID‐19 are seen to display uniquely dynamic media reporting patterns, including a systemic influence between risk news categories and the attenuation of other risk news. We discuss possible explanations for these findings along with their wider research and policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Cormac Bryce & Michael Dowling & Suwan Cheng Long & Jamie Wardman, 2025. "Media amplification under the floodlight: Contextualizing 20 years of US risk news," Post-Print hal-05371092, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05371092
    DOI: 10.1111/risa.17701
    as

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