Outrage Factors in Government Press Releases of Food Risk and Their Influence on News Media Coverage

Abstract

An appropriate level of risk perception should be a critical issue in modern “risk society.” There have been many studies on the influences on risk perception. This study investigates whether risk communication scholar Dr. Peter Sandman's outrage factors intensify journalistic attention to health risks from food consumption. A content analysis of a health institution's press releases was conducted to examine 15 outrage factors of food risks conveyed in the governmental risk communication. In addition, the news stories covering the food risks informed by the press releases were calculated to evaluate the relation between outrage factors of a risk and the number of news stories covering the risk. Results showed that controllability was the most salient outrage factor, followed by trust, voluntariness, familiarity, and human origin; the greater the outrage score of a risk, the more news stories of the risk. For individual outrage factors, a risk with an implication of catastrophic potential was associated with an increase of news stories. Food providers’ distrustful behaviors also influenced journalistic attention to the food risks. The implication of the findings to health message designers is discussed.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Daun Jeong and Jihee Park for their contribution to this project.

Notes

¹Of the 20 outrage factors originally identified by Covello and Sandman, 5 were excluded in this study. This decision was made because they were considered to overlap with other factors or to be less applicable to food/drug hazards: e.g., understanding, effect on future generation, ethical/moral nature, media attention, and personal stake. The first three factors show similarity with familiarity, effects on children, and trust, respectively. With regards to media attention, this study examines the relation between outrage factors and the amount of news coverage, and its examination as an explanatory variable seems inappropriate. Also, personal stake conceptually signifies high interest to a specific person or group of people rather than the general public. The governmental organization provides information for the public in general, and thereby personal stake is also considered irrelevant.