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Food crisis coverage by social and traditional media: A case study of the 2008 Irish dioxin crisis

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Aoife De Brun

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Abstract

The world of communication has changed significantly in the last decade as a result of the evolution of social media. Food crisis managers and communicators should be cognizant of the messages presented to the public by all media channels during a crisis. Using the 2008 Irish dioxin contamination incident as an example, a quantitative content analysis was carried out to investigate the relationship between social and traditional media. Messages published in printed newspapers (n = 141), blogs and forums (n = 107), and Twitter (n = 68) were analysed to investigate sourcing practice, story topic and use of tone. Results revealed that traditional media relied on diverse offline sources in reporting a wide range of topics. In comparison, social media responded faster and diminished faster, using offline and online media news messages as the primary sources in reporting very limited topics. No significant difference was found in the presence of negative tone across media.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Shan L, Regan Á, De Brún A, Barnett J, van der Sanden M, Wall P, McConnon Á

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Public Understanding of Science

Year: 2014

Volume: 23

Issue: 8

Pages: 911-928

Print publication date: 01/11/2014

Online publication date: 01/02/2013

ISSN (print): 0963-6625

ISSN (electronic): 1361-6609

Publisher: Sage

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0963662512472315

DOI: 10.1177/0963662512472315

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