Shaping a Food Safety Debate

Abstract

Numerous studies of contacts between reporters and scientists have been undertaken, although few have focused on the degree to which these actors become embedded in their own control efforts. This study consists of interviews with sources—both scientists and nonscientists—and newspaper reporters involved in the coverage of food irradiation at two regional newspapers. It reveals the processes of boundary construction and the building of common knowledge among these actors, which prevent others from voicing their opinions on this particular postharvest technology. An interpretation of this data questions the prediction that food information wars will subside and the assumption that newspapers are public arenas.