If we follow Popper's metaphors of the searchlight or the net, we recognize that there is always an element of selectivity about what we study linked to various purposes and interests. The question he always asked was “what is the problem?” This is why different disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches can be found in the study of risk. Different problems are posed – though they may at some point be linked with other problems which others are trying to solve.

According to the German sociologist, Ulrich Beck, we now live in a “risk society”: obsessed with the risk of accidents, technological errors, ecological disaster, professional miscalculations, and scientific discoveries hurtling out of control (Beck 1995b). Risk has become a defining concept in public and political debate and the mass media are seen to play a key role in this social transformation. Pressure groups seek to attract media attention in their campaigns for safety measures, experts complain of media “scare-mongering,” industries and government bodies employ special “risk communicators” in an attempt to maintain (or woo) public confidence, and journalists themselves describe the attractions of scientific controversy and risk disputes (Adams 1992; Friedman et al. 1986; Hansen 1994; Sandman 1988).

Risk and the media

Several studies suggest that the media are paying increasing attention to scientific uncertainty and have been instrumental in generating public concern about particular threats (Cole cited in Goodell 1987; Goodell 1987; Peters 1995).