Cloning: A study in news production

Public Understanding of Science

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 59-69

  Priest, Susanna Hornig ^a  

^a TEXAS A AND M UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0042405104     PISSN: 09636625     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1088/0963-6625/10/1/304     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. D. Hallin, The Uncensored War (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).
2. H. J. Gans, Deciding What's News: A study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time (London: Constable, 1980).
3. M. E. McCombs and D. L. Shaw, "The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media." Public Opinion Quarterly 36 (1972): 176-187; S Iyengar and D. R. Kinder, News That Matters: Television and American Opinion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987); and E. Noelle-Neumann, The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion - Our Social Skin 2nd ed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993).
4. M. E. McCombs and D. L. Shaw, "The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media." Public Opinion Quarterly 36 (1972): 176-187; S Iyengar and D. R. Kinder, News That Matters: Television and American Opinion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987); and E. Noelle-Neumann, The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion - Our Social Skin 2nd ed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993).
5. M. E. McCombs and D. L. Shaw, "The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media." Public Opinion Quarterly 36 (1972): 176-187; S Iyengar and D. R. Kinder, News That Matters: Television and American Opinion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987); and E. Noelle-Neumann, The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion - Our Social Skin 2nd ed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993).
6. Most articles were taken from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. The index also includes the Christian Science Monitor - perhaps not as prominent as it was in previous decades but an interesting contrast, in terms of ethics coverage, to the other, better-known, "big four."
7. Most articles were taken from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. The index also includes the Christian Science Monitor - perhaps not as prominent as it was in previous decades but an interesting contrast, in terms of ethics coverage, to the other, better-known, "big four."
8. Most articles were taken from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. The index also includes the Christian Science Monitor - perhaps not as prominent as it was in previous decades but an interesting contrast, in terms of ethics coverage, to the other, better-known, "big four."
9. Most articles were taken from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. The index also includes the Christian Science Monitor - perhaps not as prominent as it was in previous decades but an interesting contrast, in terms of ethics coverage, to the other, better-known, "big four."
10. Most articles were taken from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. The index also includes the Christian Science Monitor - perhaps not as prominent as it was in previous decades but an interesting contrast, in terms of ethics coverage, to the other, better-known, "big four."
11. M. J. Edelman, Politics as Symbolic Action: mass Arousal and Quiescence (Chicago: Markham, 1971).
12. B. Lewenstein, T. Allaman, and S. Parthasarathy, "Historical Survey of Media Coverage of Biotechnology in the United States, 1970 to 1996," paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Baltimore, Maryland, August 1998; J. Turney, Frankenstein's Footsteps: Science, Genetics, and Popular culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).
13. B. Lewenstein, T. Allaman, and S. Parthasarathy, "Historical Survey of Media Coverage of Biotechnology in the United States, 1970 to 1996," paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Baltimore, Maryland, August 1998; J. Turney, Frankenstein's Footsteps: Science, Genetics, and Popular culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).
14. T. H. Maugh, II, "Scientists Report Cloning Adult Mammal," Los Angeles Times, 23 February 1997, A1, A16.
15. The term "effects" implies a one-way relationship between media content and popular thinking that is not supported by contemporary scholarship; G. Tuchman, Making News: A Study in the Social Construction of Reality (New York: Free Press, 1978); P. J. Shoemaker and S. D. Reese, Mediating the Message: Theories of Influence on Mass Media Content, 2nd ed (New York: Longman, 1996).
16. The term "effects" implies a one-way relationship between media content and popular thinking that is not supported by contemporary scholarship; G. Tuchman, Making News: A Study in the Social Construction of Reality (New York: Free Press, 1978); P. J. Shoemaker and S. D. Reese, Mediating the Message: Theories of Influence on Mass Media Content, 2nd ed (New York: Longman, 1996).
17. D. Nelkin, Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, 2nd ed (New York: W. H. Freeman, 1995);
18. M. Schudson, Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers (New York: Basic Books, 1978).
19. This professional ethic in US journalism is generally believed to result from economic necessity rather than moral reasoning. Given the dominance of the Associated Press wire service, the dependence of US news media on advertising revenues for survival, and the fact that few US news markets have more than one daily print outlet, news has become a commodity that must appeal to as broad a range of consumers as possible.
20. Lewenstein et al., "Historical Survey of Media Coverage of Biotechnology in the United States, 1970 to 1996."
21. C. A. Taylor and C. M. Condit, "Objectivity and Elites: A Creation Science Trial," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 5 (1988): 293-312.
22. O. H. Gandy, Beyond Agenda-setting: Information Subsidies and Public Policy (Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex, 1982).
23. S. H. Priest and J. Talbert, "Mass Media and the Ultimate Technological Fix: Newspaper Coverage of Biotechnology," Southwestern Mass Communication Journal 10, no. 1 (1994): 76-85; Lewenstein et al., "Historical Survey of Media Coverage of Biotechnology in the United States, 1970 to 1996."
24. S. H. Priest and J. Talbert, "Mass Media and the Ultimate Technological Fix: Newspaper Coverage of Biotechnology," Southwestern Mass Communication Journal 10, no. 1 (1994): 76-85; Lewenstein et al., "Historical Survey of Media Coverage of Biotechnology in the United States, 1970 to 1996."
25. E. S. Clemens, "Of Asteroids and Dinosaurs: The Role of the Press in the Shaping of Scientific Debate," Social Studies of Science 16, no. 3 (1986): 421-456.
26. Kolata in particular became the subject of considerable controversy in science journalism circles shortly after the peak of the cloning story because of her alleged misuse of scientific sources to support a personal agenda. However, journalists always seek to control both their sources and their stories. Achieving professional prominence is dependent on their doing so successfully, while simultaneously maintaining the appearance of acting merely as neutral observers. For her version of how the cloning story unfolded, see G. Kolata, Clone: The Road to Dolly, and the Path Ahead (New York: W. Morrow & Co, 1998).
27. D. Nelkin and M. S. Lindee, The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon (New York: W. H. Freeman, 1995).
28. "Scottish Institute Seeks Patents for Cloning Process," Wall Street Journal, 9 May 1997, B2.
29. R. Langreth, "Cloning Has Fascinating, Disturbing Potential," Wall Street Journal, 24 February, 1997, B1.
30. R. L. Hotz, "With Cloning Success, Ethics Issues intensify," Los Angeles Times, 24 February 1997, A14
31. The debate about cloning people is hardly new to either bioethicists or consumers of science fiction. Nevertheless, its visibility on the mainstream news agenda is certainly unusual - in fact, unprecedented.
32. R. Goodell, The Visible Scientists (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977).
33. Social scientists conclusions are also presented as opinion; W. Evans, "The Mundane and the Arcane: Prestige Media Coverage of Social and Natural Science," Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 72, no. 1 (1995): 168-177.
34. "Germany Gets in a Lather about Altering Beer Genes," Wall Street Journal, 8 July 1996, A5C.
35. "Cloning for Good or Evil," New York Times, 25 February 1986, A26.
36. "Next, Really Prolific Cows," Los Angeles Times, 25 February 1997, B6.
37. G. E. Lang and K. Lang, The Battle for Public Opinion: The President, the Press, and the Polls during Watergate (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983).
38. S. H Priest, "Information Equity, Public Understanding of Science, and the Biotechnology Debate," Journal of Communication 45 no. 1 (1995): 39-54.