GM Crops in Hungary: Comparing Mass Media Framing and Public Understanding of Technoscientific Controversy

Vicsek, Lilla Mária (2014) GM Crops in Hungary: Comparing Mass Media Framing and Public Understanding of Technoscientific Controversy. Science as Culture, 23 (3). pp. 344-368.

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Abstract

Unlike some Western societies, in Hungary there has not been intensive public debate on the issue of genetically modified crops. The mass media has published little to inform Hungarian lay people about GM crops or their relevance to the country. Nevertheless the media did convey some general impressions, mainly from within an Anti-GM Threat frame. Several elements from the mass media were present in lay focus group discussions – e.g. GM crops branded a food risk, general focus on risks, health risk identified as important risk, foreign companies regarded as source of the problem and as being ‘just out for profit’, image of corn, rhetoric of deterioration, etc. This overlap is in consonance with theories postulating such similarities, whereby the media framing provides a resource which can be appropriated for public understanding. At the same time, there were also differences: some elements of the dominant media frame were mentioned only vaguely or in a somewhat modified way. Other issues raised in the media frame, not resonating with wider cultural themes, were absent from focus group discussions (e.g. environmental concerns). And participants were also able to rely on other conversational resources (analogous reasoning, cultural themes) to formulate some additional issues beyond the media reportage. KEY WORDS: GM CROPS, PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF BIOTECHNOLOGY, GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS, MEDIA FRAMING

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