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Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach
Abstract
Media discourse and public opinion are treated as two parallel systems of constructing meaning. This paper explores their relationship by analyzing the discourse on nuclear power in four general audience media: television news coverage, newsmagazine accounts, editorial cartoons, and syndicated opinion columns. The analysis traces the careers of different interpretive packages on nuclear power from 1945 to the present. This media discourse, it is argued, is an essential context for understanding the formation of public opinion on nuclear power. More specifically, it helps to account for such survey results as the decline in support for nuclear power before Three Mile Island, a rebound after a burst of media publicity has died out, the gap between general support for nuclear power and support for a plant in one's own community, and the changed relationship of age to support for nuclear power from 1950 to the present.
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Citations
Cited by
Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches
Suchman, M. C. (1995) · The Academy of Management Review · doi:10.2307/258788 · Cited by 19,903
Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment
Benford, R. D., & Snow, D. A. (2000) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.611 · Cited by 9,953
Chong, D., & Druckman, J. N. (2007) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.072805.103054 · Cited by 3,071
Framing as a Theory of Media Effects
Scheufele, D. A. (1999) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1999.tb02784.x · Cited by 2,179
Brubaker, R. (2004) · Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Minority Rights · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511489235.004 · Cited by 1,303
Metadata
- Authors
- Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A.
- Venue
- American Journal of Sociology
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 1989-07
- Volume
- 95
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-37
- ISSN
- 0002-9602 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5390
- OpenAlex
- W2064601539
- Cited by
- 4,971
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 78.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach. American Journal of Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1086/229213
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