'Not rocket science' or 'No silver bullet'? Media and Government Discourses about MRSA and Cleanliness
'Not rocket science' or 'No silver bullet'? Media and Government Discourses about MRSA and Cleanliness
复制标题
“不是火箭科学”还是“没有灵丹妙药”？
DOI：
10.1093/applin/amn006
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发表时间：
2007
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Koteyko N
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Koteyko N
耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA），通常被称为超级细菌，最近已经成为英国的一个主要政治问题，在2005年举行的大选中关于卫生政策的辩论中发挥了重要作用。虽然科学认识到缺乏关于现有措施控制和预防MRSA的有效性的证据，但英国媒体的报道主要是呼吁常识和实际经验的文章，呼吁政府更多地干预来对抗这种细菌。在本文中，我们探讨了围绕MRSA起源和传播的不确定性如何在媒体和政策圈的辩论中被描绘成特定的政治目的。利用话语分析和语料库语言学的既定技术，我们研究了构成MRSA两种话语的假设、判断和争论：根据一个话语，MRSA“不是火箭科学”，有“简单”的方法来应对感染风险，而根据另一个话语，MRSA是一个更复杂的问题，没有“银弹”。通过对不同故事情节的分析，“责备”、“责任”和“紧迫性”的具体概念被归因，有助于解释MRSA上升原因的不同“结构”是如何出现的，并导致了以清洁为中心的责备和辩护话语。
Methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA), commonly called a superbug, has recently been a major political issue in the UK, playing a significant role in debates over health policy in the general election held in 2005. While science recognizes the lack of evidence with regards to the effectiveness of existing measures implemented to control and prevent MRSA, the UK media coverage is dominated by articles that appeal to common sense and practical experience calling for more government interventions to combat the bug. In this paper we explore how uncertainty surrounding the origin and spread of MRSA is portrayed in debates within the media and policy-circles to particular political ends. Using established techniques of discourse analysis and corpus linguistics, we examine the assumptions, judgements, and contentions that structure two discourses of MRSA: according to one discourse MRSA is ‘not rocket science’ and there are ‘simple’ ways of coping with the risk of infection, whereas according to another discourse MRSA is a more complex matter and there is ‘no silver bullet’. The analysis of different storylines through which specific ideas of ‘blame’, ‘responsibility’, and ‘urgency’ are attributed helps to explain how different ‘constructions’ of causes for the rise in MRSA emerged and led to discourses of blame and defence centred on cleanliness.