Plant biotechnology in German media: A linguistic analysis of the public image of genetically modified organisms

Abstract

This is an analysis of the media coverage of two highly controversial political decisions concerning plant biotechnology in Germany, namely the permission to cultivate the genetically modified potato Amflora for test purposes and the ban on cultivation of MON810 bt maize. On the data set of 251 press articles we give a mainly quantitative analysis of the lexical expressions used to refer to GMOs, the kind of presupposed background knowledge and the involved speakers. As the main result of our study we conclude that the media debate on plant biotechnology is a political opinion forming discourse, which is almost exclusively carried out by politicians as well as non-governmental and industrial stakeholders. We hold the view that acceptance for scientific research can only be obtained by restating one's own scientific position according to the background knowledge of the addressees. © 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.