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Analysis of the TV coverage about the BfR and glyphosate
Project
Project code: BfR-RIKO-08-180101
Contract period: 01.01.2018
- 30.09.2018
Purpose of research: Inventory & Assessment
The aim is to analyze the German TV coverage about the BfR in connection to the debate about glyphosate in the years 2013 to 2017. The main research questions are: How is the BfR presented in the TV reports? Which actors get the chance to speak and what are their attitudes towards the BfR? How did the evaluation of glyphosate and the BfR change over time?
The BfR evaluated glyphosate as part of the regular re-assessment of active ingredients in plant protection products. It concluded that the available data suggest no carcinogenic risks for humans caused by glyphosate if it is properly used. This evaluation sometimes received harsh criticism by different actors in the media. Especially in television lots of critical reports on glyphosate and the BfR’s role in the approval process were broadcasted. A content analysis of the German TV coverage between 2013 and 2017 was conducted to study which actors dominated the debate about glyphosate and which issues and arguments they mentioned. As part of the analysis, 45 reports concerning plant protection products or glyphosate mentioning the BfR as well as 24 additional reports from the year 2017 concerning other issues were examined. The results show that TV coverage about the BfR was almost exclusively broadcasted by public channels. The sentiment towards the BfR was mainly negative when dealing with the issue of plant protection products/ glyphosate while being neutral for other issues. This corresponded with a general negative sentiment towards plant protection products and glyphosate. Critics of glyphosate had more chances to speak than actors who made positive statements about the advantages of plant protection products or the lack of health risks. Reports mainly covered the issues health, agriculture, risk assessment and the approval and regulation of glyphosate. Environmental and economic issues, on the other hand, received less screen time. When criticizing the risk assessment, reports predominantly disapproved of the BfR’s risk assessment approach and doubted its independence. The BfR mostly defended itself since there were few other advocates except the producers of plant protection products. In the interviews, the BfR employees used more technical terms than other actors. These should be replaced by more comprehensible terms, so that lay people can better understand the BfR’s evaluation. In addition, the BfR’s scientific approach should be made clearer in the future – especially, since BfR employees were presented less as scientists and more as government officials in relation to the issue of plant protection products and glyphosate.
Section overview
Subjects
- Crop Protection
- Toxicology
