Authors: Keith Roe, Ulrike Maris, Jan Van den Bulck
As a result of crises and food scares in a number of European countries in recent years public opinion has become very sensitive to food safety and animal welfare issues. This report presents the results of a descriptive content analysis of 14 newspapers from six countries on the ways in which the press deals with agriculture, food, and the food industry. In addition, in-depth interviews with journalists, opinion leaders from pressure and interest groups, and other relevant actors were conducted in each of the six countries. Finally focus group interviews with consumers were held to identify which issues are currently particularly sensitive in public opinion. The results show that, in the period studied, automatic milking was virtually absent from the newspapers studied. Given the fact that most news is ‘bad’ this implies that automatic milking is currently not an issue. However, while milk and dairy products have largely escaped the bad press received by some other sectors, issues surrounding animal health and welfare do receive significant and largely negative coverage. The interviews revealed a very large and growing gulf between food producers and consumers. In almost all groups the crises of recent years have resulted in widespread scepticism of the motives of the industry and the role played by governments in handling crises which, in some quarters, amounts to a serious credibility gap. However, in most cases, the direct effects of these developments on consumer behaviour appear to be relatively short.
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© Animal Sciences Group -
Wageningen UR. Last update:
20-02-2008 10:03. |
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