Toby A. Ten Eyck

Imagining nanotechnology: cultural support for technological innovation in Europe and the United States

This paper compares public perceptions of technologies in the United States and Europe. Asked whether nanotechnology will improve our way of life, 50 percent of the US sample say “yes” and 35 percent say “don’t know.” The European figures are almost the mirror image, 29 percent saying “yes” and 53 percent saying “don’t know.” People in the US are also more optimistic than Europeans about eight more familiar technologies. We suggest that people in the US assimilate nanotechnology within a set of pro-technology cultural values. By contrast, in Europe there is more concern about the impact of technology on the environment, less commitment to economic progress and less confidence in regulation. These differences in values are reflected in media coverage, with more emphasis on the potential benefits of nanotechnology in the US than in the UK. Finally, we speculate on possible futures for the reception of nanotechnology in the US and Europe.

The National Media and Things Genetic Coverage in the New York Times (1971–2001) and the Washington Post (1977-2001)

Issues related to genetics and genetic technology have gained a great deal ofattention from researchers, policy makers, the press, and even some consumers. This article focuses on how one ofthese actors—the U.S. elite press—has developed a discourse around these issues. This discussion centers on the framing of articles, the sources used by reporters, and the differences between genetics as they relate to food and to medicine. Over 2,700 articles from the New York Times (1971-2001) and theWashington Post (1977-2001) have been analyzed. It is found that scientists and medical issues were much more likely to be framed as progressive than were articles on food or ones in which government officials were quoted. In addition, a more indepth analysis ofarticles pertaining to protests and demonstrations between 2000 and 2001 is presented.

The media and public opinion on genetics and biotechnology: mirrors, windows, or walls?

Arguments regarding the relationship between media discourse and public opinion have raged for decades, if not centuries. Comparing media coverage of biotechnology between 1992 and 2001 in two national newspapers with national survey data collected in early 2003, an argument is made that a general one-dimensional media effect is not occurring within the US public regarding media discourse. Given the multivalent characteristics of the media and the interpretive filters used by audiences—including ignoring information—even strong slants by the presumed opinion-leading press (the New York Times and the Washington Post) do not predict public opinion on a nascent issue such as biotechnology. While some reflections do appear between the media and public opinion, closer observations show these mirrors to be ephemeral.

The more things change …: milk pasteurization, food irradiation, and biotechnology in the New York Times

Abstract Discussions of science in the news often revolves around issues such as reporter–scientist relationships, how an issue was covered, or how certain issues are chosen among a myriad of possible topics. The aim of this project is to compare coverage between technological stories to evaluate journalistic practices over an extended period of time. Using the journalists-as-interpretive-communities perspective, we argue that New York Times coverage of food technologies over the past century has actually changed very little as the same types of experts and claimsmakers are quoted, trajectories of the coverage are similar, and the cultural resources used within the stories have not shifted to some new form of journalism. We focus on debates surrounding milk pasteurization, food irradiation, and biotechnology.

Is graffiti risky? Insights from the internet and newspapers

The act of creating graffiti is often perceived as being tied to risks, such as arrest or becoming a target for rival gangs. While graffiti writers seem aware of these risks, some use graffiti to send messages about issues such as race relations, governmental oppression, and war, while others see graffiti as an art form similar to painting on a traditional canvas. Using Lash’s work on aesthetic reflexivity within a risk model framework, we investigate internet images and newspaper accounts of graffiti to highlight the gap between the aesthetics of graffiti writing and the accounts of those who hold positions of power within structures such as city offices and police departments. This gap makes it difficult to distinguish between graffiti that is meant to enliven an area and graffiti that is used to promote violence.

Microbial levels in Michigan apple cider and their association with manufacturing practices

In recent decades, apple cider has been implicated in a series of outbreaks of foodborne illness. The objective of this study was to determine the presence and concentrations of pathogenic and indicator microorganisms in apple cider processed in Michigan and to evaluate the impact of thermal pasteurization, UV light radiation, and implementation of hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) plans on these microbes. Cider samples were obtained from Michigan mills between 1997 and 2004 and analyzed for Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, generic E. coli, total coliforms, and aerobic bacteria. Neither E. coli O157:H7 nor Salmonella were detected in any tested cider samples, suggesting a very low frequency of pathogens in Michigan apple cider. The persistent and relatively high frequency of generic E. coli observed in samples obtained in all years indicates a continued risk of pathogen contamination in Michigan apple cider, especially when it is untreated. The use of thermal pasteurization or UV light radiation and reported implementation of HACCP plans were associated with lower frequency and counts of generic E. coli, total coliforms, and aerobic microorganisms. However, the relatively high counts of indicator organisms in some cider samples that were claimed to be treated according to these pathogen reduction measures indicates that some processors had inadequate practices, facilities, or equipment for pathogen reduction or did not consistently or adequately apply practices or pathogen-reduction equipment in an effective manner.

Food irradiation in the news: The cultural clash of a postharvest technology

Food irradiation has been acommercially viable postharvest technology fornearly 50 years (the actual idea of usingionizing radiation to extend the shelf-life offoods is over a century old), yet it has beenused only occasionally and sporadically.Interviews with reporters and the sources theyused at a Louisiana newspaper and a Floridanewspaper uncovered three cultural spherespresent in the debate over this post harvesttechnology – food, science/technology, andjournalism. Each of these spheres were pointsof contention for reporters and sources, andthis has had an affect on the adoption of thetechnology among those involved in the foodindustry. Interviews with both reporters andthe individuals they relied on as sourceselucidate how different issues encompassedwithin different cultural spheres have beenlinked to this post harvest technology, andhave been used to help shape this debate. Thesecultural spheres offer various groups power tocontrol relations with reporters, though thatpower can be usurped by others, including thereporters themselves. Interviews with reportersand their sourses may help us understand howthe values attached to cultural spheres aremobilized by various groups to make sense of acontroversial topic, and how those groups gainentrance to public arenas and are then able tomaintain their presence.Food irradiation has been acommercially viable postharvest technology fornearly 50 years (the actual idea of usingionizing radiation to extend the shelf-life offoods is over a century old), yet it has beenused only occasionally and sporadically.Interviews with reporters and the sources theyused at a Louisiana newspaper and a Floridanewspaper uncovered three cultural spherespresent in the debate over this post harvesttechnology – food, science/technology, andjournalism. Each of these spheres were pointsof contention for reporters and sources, andthis has had an affect on the adoption of thetechnology among those involved in the foodindustry. Interviews with both reporters andthe individuals they relied on as sourceselucidate how different issues encompassedwithin different cultural spheres have beenlinked to this post harvest technology, andhave been used to help shape this debate. Thesecultural spheres offer various groups power tocontrol relations with reporters, though thatpower can be usurped by others, including thereporters themselves. Interviews with reportersand their sourses may help us understand howthe values attached to cultural spheres aremobilized by various groups to make sense of acontroversial topic, and how those groups gainentrance to public arenas and are then able tomaintain their presence. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2002

Does information matter? A research note on information technologies and political protest

Abstract The lack of attention paid to information technologies in predicting variations of political protest in cross-national studies is surprising. Given the amount of research that has been done on the impact of communication on behavior and the spread of information technologies across the globe, there is reason to believe that information technologies do play a part in the political process at the “street” level. This note takes a look at the independent role of information technologies, both mass information technologies and personal information technologies, on political protests, in addition to variables purported to measure individual and national well-being. Political protests in this study consists of demonstrations, strikes, and riots which took place in 86 countries between 1970 and 1977. Each type of collective behavior is treated separately in OLS regression.Abstract The lack of attention paid to information technologies in predicting variations of political protest in cross-national studies is surprising. Given the amount of research that has been done on the impact of communication on behavior and the spread of information technologies across the globe, there is reason to believe that information technologies do play a part in the political process at the “street” level. This note takes a look at the independent role of information technologies, both mass information technologies and personal information technologies, on political protests, in addition to variables purported to measure individual and national well-being. Political protests in this study consists of demonstrations, strikes, and riots which took place in 86 countries between 1970 and 1977. Each type of collective behavior is treated separately in OLS regression.

Oyster Coverage: Chiastic News As a Reflection of Local Expertise and Economic Concerns

The media, it is argued, are agents of legitimation - for themselves as well as others. Issues and social actors become recognized as important when they appear within the limelight of the news, and reporters are relied upon to correctly choose among the myriads of issues and actors vying for their attention. What happens, though, when an economically important cultural icon becomes a health threat? This is the situation facing news organizations in Southern Louisiana where oysters are both loved and loathed as food. We study newspaper presentations of oysters in Southern Louisiana over a ten-year period to investigate the ways in which this issue was approached. In many of the instances when negative articles appeared, positive statements could be found in the same issue of the newspaper, creating what we refer to as chiastic - defined as two parallel lines moving in opposite directions - media presentations. The presence of this type of news reporting is discussed in terms of the economic and cultural importance of the oyster, the economics of newspapers, and the stance of news organizations as cultural authorities.

Institutional and/versus commercial media coverage : representations of the University of California, Berkeley-Novartis agreement

In 1998, a contract was signed between the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) and Novartis in which the latter agreed to give UCBs Department of Plant and Microbial Biology US