Abstract

Different regulations about the permission and approval rate of biotechnology and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) between the USA and Europe have been controversial for decades. While there is a wide scientific coverage of what may be the cause of this divergence, little is known about the role that popular media play in the related political discourse. We analyzed the media coverage of biotechnology topics in both the USA and UK from 2011-2013 by examining two opinion-leading newspapers. We test the hypothesis that the respective media content reflects differences in transatlantic policies towards biotechnology. The two newspapers differed in reporting intensity but were alike in their content about GMOs: with the central actors being scientists and NGOs, arguing mostly in the field of the agricultural sector, the debate seems to be locked in a stalemate of potential risks re-iterated against potential benefits, with none of the two positions clearly dominating the discourse.

Keywords

GMO; content analysis; cooperatives

Published in

Title: Agricultural Cooperative Management and Policy : New Robust, Reliable and Coherent Modelling Tools
ISBN: 978-3-319-06634-9, eISBN: 978-3-319-06635-6
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

SLU Authors

• Karantininis, Konstantinos

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hess, Sebastian

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Plant Biotechnology
Economics


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06635-6_16

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/76231