Contested processes, contested influences - a case study of genetically modified food in Britain

Howarth, Anita (2010) Contested processes, contested influences - a case study of genetically modified food in Britain. In: Koch-Baumgarten, Sigrid and Voltmer, Katrin, (eds.) Public Policy and the Mass Media The Interplay of Mass Communication and Political Decision Making. London, U.K. : Routledge. pp. 143-161. (Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science) ISBN 9780415485463

Abstract

This chapter presents the findings of qualitative empirical research conducted in 2006 into elite claims of indirect media influence on the British Government’s policy on GM food between 1997 and 2000. The paper will explore the contributions and limitations of applying Robinson’s interaction model to media-policy relations to this situation. In so doing, it will show how routinized and embedded policy processes and procedures were destabilized by media hostility and a crisis of consumer confidence. These compelled government to act but their scope for action was institutionally circumscribed and this has implications for how we understand the constraints on media influence.

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