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Environmental Communication Volume 14, 2020 - Issue 7: Special issue: Communicating gene editing: Agriculture, humans, and the environment. Guest editors: Dominique Brossard and Dietram A. Scheufele
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Research Articles

Science, God, and Nature: A Textual and Frequency Analysis of Facebook Comments on News Articles About Agricultural and Environmental Gene Editing

Brittany WalkerGrady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Department of Entertainment and Media Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USACorrespondence[email protected]
ORCID Iconhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1668-3243
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Jennifer MalsonGrady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Department of Entertainment and Media Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Pages 1004-1016 | Received 15 Mar 2019, Accepted 21 Apr 2020, Published online: 28 May 2020
 
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ABSTRACT

To understand online discussions of agricultural and environmental gene editing, this study undertook a thematic analysis of 107 Facebook comments and a frequency analysis of 1,290 Facebook comments on news posts posted by news media outlets about agricultural and environmental gene editing. Several themes emerged: gene editing as challenging a higher power, pro-science arguments, the conflation of gene editing with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and comparisons to science fiction. These findings provide insight into the particular context of Facebook comment sections as a way to understand the social media environment surrounding this emerging biotechnology.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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