Media May be Hyping Benefits of Organic Food
K-State report says that many media claims concerning organics are inaccurate.
Compiled by staff
Published: Jul 22, 2010
Kansas State University Associate Professor of Food Safety Doug Powell has just published a report, "Coverage of Organic Agriculture in North American Newspapers," in the British Food Journal. In the report, Powell claims that media is much more likely to put a positive spin on organic foods and inaccurately claim that they are safer.
"We concluded that articles about organic production in the selected time period were seldom negative," he said. "Organic agriculture was often portrayed in the media as an alternative to allegedly unsafe and environmentally damaging modern agriculture practices. That means organic was being defined by what it isn't, rather than what it is."
The research looked at five major North American newspapers coverage of organic foods between 1999 and 2004. Over 600 articles were analyzed for topic, theme and tone. The results showed that 41.1% of the articles were neutral in tone toward organic agriculture and food, 36.9% were positive, 15.5% were mixed and 6.1% were negative.
Powell says that USDA has repeatedly said that organic standards are a verification of production standards, not food safety.
"Food safety was the least important in the media discussion of organic agriculture," Powell said. "The finding that 50% of food safety-themed statements in news articles were positive with respect to organic agriculture, while 81% of health-themed statements and 90% of environment-themed statements were positive toward organic food, indicates an uncritical press."
To view the report, click HERE.
Permalink: Click here
Tagged: organic, usda
|