title: Reassuring or risky: the presentation of seafood safety in the aftermath of the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
abstract: The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was enormously newsworthy; coverage interlaced discussions of health, economic, and environmental impacts and risks. We analyzed 315 news articles that considered Gulf seafood safety from the year following the spill. We explored reporting trends, risk presentation, message source, stakeholder perspectives on safety, and framing of safety messages. Approximately one third of articles presented risk associated with seafood consumption as a standalone issue, rather than in conjunction with environmental or economic risks. Government sources were most frequent and their messages were largely framed as reassuring as to seafood safety. Discussions of prevention were limited to short-term, secondary prevention approaches. These data demonstrate a need for risk communication in news coverage of food safety that addresses the larger risk context, primary prevention, and structural causes of risk.
authors.affiliation: Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. amelia.greiner@rutgers.edu
authors.forename: Amelia L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Greiner
authors.forename: Lisa P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Lagasse
authors.forename: Roni A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Neff
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Love
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chase
authors.forename: Natasha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sokol
authors.forename: Katherine Clegg
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D003146:Communications Media / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D059022:Food Safety; D060851:Gulf of America; D058015:Health Communication / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D059392:Petroleum Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012307:Risk Factors; D017747:Seafood / Q000009:adverse effects*