Media, Talk, and Trust: The Social Amplification of Risk During Site Selection for a Bio-Research Facility

该项目旨在了解科学，舆论和媒体如何在塑造公共决策中相互作用。该项目的调查范围将是国土安全部目前正在评估的六个社区，以主办国家生物和农业防御设施（NBAF）。该设计采用了民意调查方法、与利益攸关方的深入访谈和媒体内容分析。这种多方面的设计将为旨在吸引当地居民的成功和失败的沟通策略提供见解，并帮助研究团队更好地了解公众审议如何帮助或破坏与各种公众就风险相关问题进行有意义的联系的努力。这项研究将有助于理解社会放大和风险衰减。特别是，PI对两个水平的结局变量感兴趣。在第一个层面，PI将探讨媒体报道，人际渠道和倾向因素的相互作用如何塑造对各种利益相关者的信任感，包括州和联邦一级的行政和监管机构，地方机构和政府，以及其他区域参与者。第一个结果变量可能直接影响第二个层次的结果变量，本项目通过对多个社区的比较分析进行研究：公众对风险的看法及其随时间变化的动态性质。

This project seeks to understand how science, public opinion, and media interact in shaping public decision making. The context of inquiry for this project will be the six communities currently being evaluated by the Department of Homeland Security to host the National Bio- and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF). The design incorporates public opinion survey methodology, in-depth interviews with stakeholders and media content analysis. This multi-faceted design will provide insights into both successful and failed communication strategies aimed at engaging local residents, and help the research team develop a better understanding of how public deliberation can help or undermine efforts to meaningfully connect with various publics on risk-related issues. The research will contribute to understanding the social amplification an attenuation of risk. In particular, the PI is interested in two levels of outcome variables. At a first level, the PI will explore how the interplay of media coverage, interpersonal channels, and predispositional factors shape feelings of trust toward various stakeholders, including executive and regulatory bodies at the state and federal level, local agencies and governments, and other regional players. This first outcome variable is likely to directly shape a second-level outcome variable that this project examines through comparative analysis of multiple communities: public perceptions of risks and their dynamic nature over time.