Creating shared realities through communication: exploring the agenda-building role of the media and its sources in the E. coli contamination of a Canadian public drinking water supply

S. Michelle Driedger

Journal of Risk Research, 2008, vol. 11, issue 1-2, 23-40

Abstract: The media's role as an agenda-setter has been documented in the literature, however less attention has been given to the role of the media as an agenda-builder . The role of news agencies in constructing and shaping news stories serve to mediate risk messages to the public by virtue of what elements of a story they report, the types of sources they use in reporting the different 'sides', and how they package a story. The media are not the only ones who seek to set and build agendas. The sources, upon which the news media rely, can and do similarly engage in agenda-building activities. They do so by appropriating the very 'media-ted' process to use the mass media as a delivery vehicle for their own communication claims through their own packaged 'take' on the story. Drawing on a national print and televised media analysis of the Walkerton, Ontario, Canada drinking water contamination event, this study explores the agenda-building role of the media and of Walkerton residents and citizen group members (Concerned Walkerton Citizens) quoted in media stories. The implications of this for risk communication will be discussed.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1080/13669870701521297

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