Quality in risk reporting on energy issues in German news media

Adriane Schmidt, Sebastian Thuß and Thomas Meyer

Journal of Risk Research, 2017, vol. 20, issue 10, 1227-1252

Abstract: In media coverage, the context of the German energy transition, also referred to as Energiewende, casts a spotlight not only on various technology options (e.g. wind or coal power) but also on more abstract topics such as security of supply or electricity prices. Thereby, the public’s assessment of energy-related issues may greatly rely on perceived risks. Focusing on the quality of energy-related risk reporting, this contribution therefore is intended to explore the German print and TV media discourse on energy options or topics. In our sample, one in three articles connects an energy option or topic with an evident or potential unwanted event. Although the media’s effect on actual risk perception involves some controversies, researchers tend to criticize the media as being susceptible to framing and for failing to place unwanted events in perspective, e.g. by not presenting the corresponding likelihood of occurrence, which is necessary to define risk. If this critique holds true, accurate public risk assessment is partly hampered because media coverage implies uncertainty rather than providing all information available. We examined seven indicators of quality reporting derived from literature research: intensity, likelihood, controllability, desired uncertainty, sensationalism, emotional language, and type of unwanted event. Based on German energy media coverage in 2013, we found a relatively high occurrence of intensity and controllability, whereas likelihood and desired uncertainty were reported less often. By aggregating the indicators into a risk-reporting quality index, we did not observe a poor quality of risk reporting on energy issues. In contrast to previous research, the overall quality of energy-related risk reporting can be assessed as at least moderate, implying that the media depicts risks more precisely than assumed. The occurrence of quality indicators thereby significantly depends on the type of unwanted event rather than on the energy option considered.

Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13669877.2016.1165280 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jriskr:v:20:y:2017:i:10:p:1227-1252

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RJRR20

DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2016.1165280

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Risk Research is currently edited by Bryan MacGregor

More articles in Journal of Risk Research from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().