Improving Risk Communication (1989) / Chapter Skim
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5 Common Misconceptions About Risk Communication
5 Common Misconceptions About Risk Communication
Pages 94-107
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From page 94... ...
Neither successful communication nor successful execution of the political process guarantees that risk management decisions will maximize welfare in terms of reducing exposure to hazards. Yet many people judge risk communication by the quality of the relevant risk management decisions.
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From page 95... ...
In addition, risk comparisons alone cannot establish levels of acceptable risk or ensure systematic minunization of risk, although they can help people comprehend unfamiliar magnitudes. Communication, Conflict, and Management Many people, especially decision makers, seem to think that well-crafted messages or communication campaigns can eliminate or reduce conflicts in risk issues.
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From page 96... ...
Risk messages commonly convey quantitative information that is unfamiliar and difficult to comprehend. These magnitudes and risk estimates are not easily understood without benchmarks or points of reference, and providing careful comparisons can help people understand this information.
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From page 97... ...
Another pitfall of risk comparison is the appearance of selecting risks for comparison that minimize or otherwise trivialize the risk in question (Covello et al., 1988~. Compendiums of risks, or risk ladders placing various risks along a spectrum from Tower to higher, may give this appearance when the risk in question is much lower than other risks and when there are few risks presented with comparable levels.
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From page 98... ...
This encourages comparing the risk in question to other risks that are familiar to most people with the intent of claiming that the level of the risk under examination is acceptable. The logic of using risk comparison to determine acceptable risk usually runs as follows: since you
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From page 99... ...
. A homeowner, for example, should not neglect the potential fire hazard of electrical appliances or gas stoves and furnaces just because the risk of annual fatality due to
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From page 100... ...
The adequacy of the information base is an important consideration not only because some statutes as well as current interpretation of the Administrative Procedures Act require regulatory decisions to be based on reasoned consideration of the evidence, but also because risk management decisions should be based on the best available information rather than arbitrary or unfounded beliefs and assumptions. It could thus be argued that the information base for a risk management decision would be inadequate if additional scientific data could provide at reasonable cost a more detailed or more complete understanding of the phenomena giving rise to the risk in question.
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From page 101... ...
, or the safety factors used to allow for various kinds of uncertainty, can have significant impact on the characterization of risk. Such issues can be at the center of a controversy and can dominate debate about them and the related risk messages.
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From page 102... ...
. Risk managers typically made confident statements about public opinion on the basis of anecdotal observation, in contrast to practicing social scientists, who usually venture carefully qualified statements only after extensive investigation.
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From page 103... ...
These critics claim, for example, that the news media are basically in the entertainment business and that the only thing that matters is the ability of a story to attract attention because this sells newspapers and attracts viewers. It is true that newspapers, radio and television stations, and the networks are businesses.
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From page 104... ...
The same is not always true of the reporting of the technical and social dimensions of risk messages. Some criticism of the news media emerges from a failure to examine the structure of the media industry or how journalists work.
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From page 105... ...
Positions that clearly differ in this way are attractive to the journalist because they define the range and because their juxtaposition sharpens the drama and heightens interest. To be sure, there have been instances in which media coverage has favored one extreme, such as the television network that showed
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From page 106... ...
But there is also some evidence that even in events with massive attention and media coverage, the news media seek balance. An extensive content analysis of media coverage of the nuclear industry accident at Three Mile Island found the balance between supportive and negative statements to be, if anything, more reassuring than alarming (Report of the Public's Right to Information Task Force, 1979; Stephens and Edison, 1982~.
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From page 107... ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT RISK COMMUNICATION 107 directly what we believe to be the most important problems confronting the practice of risk communication.
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