Risk Perception Of Mass Media

Based on Ningbo PX Incident, this dissertation employs content analysis and depth interview to explore risk perception and risk communication of media in the theoretical perspectives of Risk Society, Journalism and Communication. In this study, risk perception of mass media turns out to be very complicated, which is different from a Western theoretical hypothesis——"Social Amplification of Risk". New media which is represented by Weibo (a Chinese version of twitter) is very sensitive to risk perception on PX Project and tend to amplify the perception; while traditional media, influenced by many factors, prove complicated and even contradictory towards environmental risk perception. The public appear much alert to local government’s advocating of PX Project, suspicious to governmental promises, and quite emotional to governmental intervention. Compared with the risk of PX Project itself, local government pays much more attention to the subsequent risk of the project, which is social and political. Keeping social stability thus becomes the top priority of government agenda. This governmental stance has directly influenced the content and inclination of traditional media. According to the analysis in this paper, risk perception on PX Project of the public and that of the government are within different risk cultures, in different discourse systems, and with different features. Resolving risk relies on risk communication. Equal and two-way communication is the premises of resolving risk. In China’s risk field, media which lies between risk administrator and the public play an important role in risk communication. In Ningbo PX Incident, China’s media haven’t facilitated risk communication, but some of them have made retrospection and conclusion of previous environmental incidents, and have also put forward a series of suggestions regarding risk communication. It is an inevitable trend to give a full play to media in promoting risk communication. But against the background that PX Project has already been "demonized", under the current political decision-making mechanism and media administration system, it is far from enough to emphasize risk communication merely from technical and operational perspectives.