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The ‘Book of Life’ in the Press

Comparing German and Irish Media Discourse on Human Genome Research

Patrick O’Mahony

National University of Ireland, Cork, p.omahony{at}ucc.ie

Mike Steffen Schäfer

Department for Sociology at the Freie Universität Berlin, msschae{at}zedat.fu-berlin.de

The essay compares German and Irish media coverage of human genome research in the year 2000, using qualitative and quantitative frame analysis of a print media corpus. Drawing from a media-theoretical account of science communication, the study examines four analytic dimensions: (1) the influence of global and national sources of discourse; (2) the nature of elaboration on important themes; (3) the extent of societal participation in discourse production; (4) the cultural conditions in which the discourse resonates. The analysis shows that a global discursive package, emphasizing claims of scientific achievement and medical progress, dominates media coverage in both countries. However, German coverage is more extensive and elaborate, and includes a wider range of participants. Irish coverage more often incorporates the global package without further elaboration. These findings indicate that the global package is ’localized’ differently due to national patterns of interests, German participation in human genome research, traditions of media coverage, and the domestic resonance of the issue.

Key Words: biotechnology • discourse analysis • frame analysis • globalization • human genome • mass media • science journalism

Social Studies of Science, Vol. 35, No. 1, 99-130 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0306312705046542
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