To tell the truth. Keys in newspaper portrayals of the public during food scares.

摘要

The numerous food scares in recent years could lead to questions concerning the due diligence of those supplying food to consumers. This study critically examines how various actors tied to the food supply, including producers, processors, retailers and government agencies react to and try to influence news coverage of food scares. Goffman's notion of keys was used to determine ways in which the public were portrayed during 3 food safety scares by examining articles published in the USA relating to: Alar (daminozide; articles published between 1985 and1995); bovine spongiform encephalopathy (2001-2007); and genetic engineering (1996-2000) in order to understand how claimsmakers were reshaping press coverage of these crises. Findings show that while some coverage has changed over the years and across issues - from the public needing protection in the 1980s to being concerned in the late 1990s - keys have been used by actors in these stories to highlight roles that were necessary to protect a public that is unable to fend for itself when food becomes risky.