The representation of nano as a risk in Swedish news media coverage

Abstract

Focusing on the role of language in categorization and on the broad conceptual field centred on the morpheme nano, this study addresses the association between phenomena referred to by words having nano as a constituent and risk in Swedish newspaper reporting. The study raises the question of how nano-associated phenomena (e.g. nanotechnology and nanoparticle) are represented as risks? Articles considered for analysis contain both a word having nano as a constituent and the Swedish words for risk or danger. Articles representing nano-associated phenomena (e.g. nanotechnology and nanoparticle) as risks mainly fall into one of five groups: (I) nanotechnology, without reference to particles, materials or products; (II) nanotechnology, nanoparticles, nanomaterials and/or products containing such particles and materials; (III) nanoparticles in products, but without reference to nanotechnology; (IV) nanotechnology and nanorobots; and (V) non-nanotechnological nanoparticles. For each group, using a theoretical approach addressing the relational nature of risk, the paper analyses representations of objects at risk, bad outcomes, causal conditions, reference to applications and sources cited. Various patterns of these categories emerge for the five groups, indicating a diversified set of associations between nano and risk. In certain respects, the findings support the results of other studies of media reporting on nanotechnology, suggesting certain international patterns of newspaper coverage of nanotechnology drawing on both science and science fiction.

Keywords:

• nano
• risk
• newspaper media

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by research grants from the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS). I wish to thank Åsa Boholm, Hervé Corvellec and the reviewer for their constructive criticism and suggestions.

Notes

1. See https://www.retriever-info.com/en/services/research.html; last retrieved 6 July 2011.

2. Deciding whether or not two or more words are homonyms is exacting. The apparent homonyms might be related to the Greek word for dwarf in way similar to how, for example, the woman’s name Sophia is related to the Greek word sophia for ‘wisdom’, as in philosophy (meaning ‘love of wisdom’). Until a detailed etymological analysis of these supposed homonyms is conducted, this possibility cannot actually be ruled out.

3. The semantic field of potentially unwelcome outcomes is more differentiated in English than in Swedish. In Swedish, the words risk and fara replace the English terms risk, hazard, danger and peril.

4. There is no verb form of fara in Swedish corresponding to the English verb endanger.

5. These seven cases consist of: five articles discussing the risks posed by a research facility, which is said in passing to be used for nanotechnology research; one article discussing the risk of electronic devices that are too small to properly manipulate and manage; and one article discussing the potential risk of attributing excessive economic potential to nanotechnology (i.e. nanotechnology as an economic bubble).

6. In 2008, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation published a report on toxic substances in sunscreens (Naturskyddsföreningen 2008). The report, accompanied by a press release on 28 May 2008, influenced many Group IV articles, and, as will be clear below, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation is a commonly cited source in this group.