“Eat Your Peas! There are Starving Children in Africa”*

Dr. Joan Thomson, ProfessorLaura M. Dininni, Masters student

Department of Agricultural and Extension EducationPenn State University

A Content Analysis of U.S. Newsprint Coverage of Agricultural Biotechnology in 2001 and 2002:World Hunger as Theme and Critical Event

*Michael Pollan, The Great Yellow Hype, NYT, 3/4/01

RationaleAwareness and Perceptions as a Result of Media Coverage

Role of Media Over 90% of American consumers receive information about food and

biotechnology primarily through the popular press and television (Hoban & Kendall, 1993).

Framing TheoryAn issue is framed … when certain aspects of a perceived reality are presented and made

more meaningful to the audience (Entman, 1993). through the selection and use of sources referenced in articles and the

presentation and assessment of their arguments (Whaley, 2002).

Role of Sources Parnell-Reichert (1996) found a significant relationship between the use

of issue stakeholders as news sources and the relative prominence of their particular issue frame in popular press coverage.

Sources bring the issue into focus through assessment of the issue, defining the debate; what is to be emphasized about the issue, and what is to be omitted

Methodology

Keyword Selection

Newspaper Selection

Code Development

Data Collection

Data Analysis

Keyword Selection

"ag biotech" OR "agricultural biotechnology" OR "GMO" OR "gm crop" OR "gm food" OR

"genetically modified food" OR "GMF" OR "genetically modified crop“ OR "genetically

modified organism“ OR "ge crop“ OR "ge food" OR “genetically

engineered crop" OR "genetically engineered food“ OR "genetically altered crop" OR

"genetically altered food"

Newspaper Selection New York Times

‘the unofficial newspaper of record’*

Washington Post‘breakfast reading for

Congress’*

Wall Street Journal‘subscribers are capitalism’s

brightest stars’**

*Ulrich’s Guide to Periodicals**Wall Street Journal website

Code Development

Literature review

Prior biotechnology manual content analysis codes

Reliability: index of agreement

Data CollectionIdentified articles from the selected papers, indexed on

Lexis-Nexis (NYT, Washington Post) Dow Jones Interactive/Factiva (Wall Street Journal)

Analyzed articles for 6 Attention variables

Frequency, format and placement 18 Content Variables

Frames Themes Sources and Actors Treatment of topic

Tone, evaluation, aspect, angle

Coded information into excel data sheetCleaned and analyzed data using SPSS

Results

U.S. national newsprint coverage of agricultural

biotechnology as it relates to world hunger

Most Frequent Article Themes in 2001 and 2002

2001

N=210

2002

N=173

Theme 1 N % of total Theme 1 N % of total

GMO Release 35 17% Trade 27 16%

Legal Reg 33 16 World Hunger 23 13

Plant GM 21 10 GMO Release 21 12

Theme 2 Theme 2

Legal Reg 25 12% Legal Reg 33 19%

Env Issues 22 10 Plant GM 15 9

Public Opin 20 10 Public Opin 14 8

World Hunger Theme Over Time

02468

1012

J an Feb Mar Apr May J une J uly Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Month

Freq

uenc

y

World Hunger

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

J an Feb Mar Apr May J une J uly Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

MonthFr

eque

ncy

World Hunger

2001Theme 1 N = 9Theme 2 N = 7

N = 16 (8% of 210)

2002Theme 1 N = 23Theme 2 N = 4

N = 27 (16% of 173)

Release of U.N

Report

African Refusal of GM Food Aid

Framing of Articles with World Hunger Theme

2001 2002 N=16 of 210(8%) N=27 of 173(16%)

Frame N % N %Sci Prog/Ec Prospect 9 56% 2 7%Public Acct 0 0 0 0Ethical 4 25 16 59

Globalization 2 13 5 19Runaway/Pandora 0 0 1 4None 1 6 3 11

THE DISCUSSION OVER TIME

02468

1012

Jan

Feb Mar

AprM

ay

June

July

AugSep

tO

ct

NovDec

Month

Fre

qu

en

cy

World Hunger

2001N = 16 (8% of 210)

Release of U.N Report

HEADLINES 20011/25 WSJ Editorial, Jacobson: Consumer Groups Shouldn’t

Reject Biotech1/26 NYT Pollack: Companies Unravel Rice Genome,

Providing Model for Grains2/4 NYT Pollack: Ideas &Trends; A Food Fight for High

Stakes2/6 NYT Letter to Ed., Jacobson: Re: A Food Fight for High

Stakes3/4 NYT Pollan: The Way We Live Now: The Great Yellow

Hype4/22 Post TV Week: “Harvest of Fear” PBS documentary

announcement6/8 WSJ Leggett: Unveiling Rules on Genetic Engineering,

Beijing Embraces a Controversial Science

HEADLINES 20017/8 NYT Crossette: Move to Curb Biotech Crops Ignores

Poor, U.N. Finds7/9 Post Editorial, Mallaby: Post staff: Food Fight7/10 WSJ Oyama: U.N. Urges Research Into Genetic

Crops For Hungry Nations7/16 Post Letter to Ed., Biotech Food: An Unhealthy

Endorsement 7/30 WSJ Letter to Ed., Miller: Science vs. the U.N.’s

Luddites8/5 Post Editorial, Biotech Panderers8/26 Post Editorial, Florence Wambugu: Taking the Food

Out of Our Mouths10/14 Post Book World: A Closer Look at the Stuff We Eat11/25 NYT McCoy: A Corporate Believer’s Turnabout

THE DISCUSSION OVER TIME

02468

1012

Month

Freq

uenc

yWorld Hunger

African Refusal of GM Food Aid

2002N = 27 (16% of 173)

HEADLINES 20022/20 WSJ King: U.S. Courts African Allies for Brewing Biotech-Food Fight-

Trade Official Seeks Closer Ties to Counter Europe’s Rejection of Gene Altered Crops

5/9 WSJ Zimmerman: Gates Fights Malnutrition With Cheese, Ketchup Incentives

6/10 NYT Reuters: U.N. Hunger Meeting Opens Today, Minus Most Top Leaders

7/31 Post Weiss: Starved for Food, Zimbabwe Rejects U.S. Biotech Corn8/3 Post Weiss: Zimbabwe Continues to Block Gene-Altered Corn8/10 Post Weiss: Zimbabwe Ends Altered-Corn Dispute; Mugabe, Relief

Agencies Agree to Grain Swap, Freeing Up Tons Of Food Aid8/18 NYT AP: Zambia Bars Altered Corn From U.S.8/23 WSJ Paarlberg: African Famine, Made in Europe8/23 WSJ Paarlberg: The Economy: EU Rejects U.S. Plea to Endorse

Safety of Corn for Hunger Relief8/30 NYT Cauvin, Between Famine and Politics, Zambians Starve9/2 Post Mallaby, Phony Fears Fan a Famine

HEADLINES 2002 9/4 NYT Cauvin: Zambian leader Defends Ban on

Genetically Altered Foods9/4 WSJ Johnson: In Debate Over Modified Foods,

Famine Weighs In9/5 NYT Dao: Protesters Interrupt Powell Speech as U.N.

Talks End9/6 NYT Swarns: Criticized by the West, Mugabe is a Hero

to Many9/7 NYT Editorial: Folly in the Face of Famine

9/8 NYT Lacey: Engineering Food for Africans

9/10 NYT Agence France-Presse: World Briefing Africa: Zambia: Food Aid Agreement

9/11 NYT Swarns: Hunger in Zimbabwe Takes Toll on Education

HEADLINES 2002

9/17 WSJ Editorial: Why Africans are Starving9/17 Post AP, Nessman: Famine Threatens 14 Million in

Southern Africa10/3 WSJ Letter to Ed., Ambassador Burghardt: The Fears

Behind the Big GM Food Fight10/30 WSJ Editorial, Kleckner: Boo! Biotech10/30 NYT After Study Zambia Rejects Altered Food11/17 Post Grunwald: Sowing Harvests of Hunger In Africa;

Drought and Disease Fuel Famine in South

11/17 Post Grunwald: Southern Africa Runs Short of Food and Hope; AIDS, Drought and Politics Fuel Famine

12/26 WSJ Thurow, Mitchener, Kilman: Seeds of Doubt: As U.S., EU Clash on Biotech Crops, Africa Goes Hungry-Tinkering With Banana Genes Could Save Uganda Staple, But the Seeds Stay in Lab-Using the Poor as Guinea Pigs?

Results

“A sound policy process would ensure that people affected by an issue have a meaningful say in decision-making, and can draw on expertise as they see fit.” (Cingranelli, 1993)

Sources of Information Cited

NYT Post WSJ

Source 2001N=12

2002N=22

2001N=12

2002N=14

2001N=8

2002N=18

Total 01N= 32

Total 02N=54

Industry affil 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

U.S. govt affl 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 3

EU govt affil 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1

Devl nat govt 1 7 0 1 0 1 1 9

UN affiliated 2 4 1 2 2 0 5 6

Media org 1 0 1 2 0 0 2 2

Author/editor 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0

Env gp/activ 2 0 0 1 1 2 3 3

University affl 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 3

Priv. Foundat 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1

Scientific Un. 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2

Farmer(s) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1

Other 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 3

None 3 8 8 6 2 6 13 20

Sources of Information for World Hunger Articles

QUOTES

United Nations…

7/10/01 WSJ, Oyama: U.N. Urges Research Into Genetic Crops For Hungry Nations

“The world’s richest nations must get over their fear of genetically engineered food if they want to help eradicate poverty in the world’s poorest countries, a United Nations report says.”

QUOTESDeveloping nation government…

8/18/02 NYT AP: Zambia Bars Altered Corn From U.S.“In light of uncertainties surrounding the likely consequences

of consuming genetically modified food”, Information Minister Newstead Zimba said on state television Friday

night, the “government has decided to take this precautionary principle on this matter.”

9/4/02 NYT Cauvin: Zambian leader Defends Ban on Genetically Altered Foods

“I am not prepared to accept that we should use our people as guinea pigs,” Mr. Mwanawasa said. (President of

Zambia)

Conclusions

“Because most mediated public policy issues and controversies are inherently multifaceted and subject to multiple interpretations, the potential for framing abounds” (Nelson, 1999).

“Public rhetoric, though not useless as a source of information about the true intentions of policy makers, does not reveal the whole story. A leader’s use of particular moral justifications for different types of foreign policy actions can be observed, and the varying frequency of use over time can be recorded. On this basis alone, we can draw conclusions about the public acceptability of different moral justifications for various foreign policy actions. But the full picture emerges only by assessing the consistency between the goals stated in policy rhetoric, and the set of actions pursued by policymakers, and the consequences of those actions.” (Cingranelli, 1993)

Conclusions

Conclusions

“Granted, it would be immoral for finicky Americans to thwart a technology that could

rescue malnourished children. But wouldn’t it also be immoral for an industry to use those

children’s suffering in order to rescue itself? The first case is hypothetical at best. The second is

right there on our television screens, for everyone to see.” *

*Michael Pollan, The Great Yellow Hype, NYT, 3/4/01