Study: Journalists lack knowledge on agri-biotechnology
Posted by Truth About Trade & Technology
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
ABS CBN News
Original Publish Date: July 22, 2008
Despite being a major source of information for consumers, journalists have a low understanding about the uses and benefits of agri-biotechnology to the community, according to a study conducted by a University of the Philippines professor.
Prof. Madeline Suva of the College of Development Communication of UP Los Baños said the low understanding of agri-biotechnology among media practitioners should be a source of concern since mass media has great potential to shape public thinking about the issue.
"Journalists have the lowest understanding about the issue and yet they are the ones who write about science and agriculture. This is why they need to train and learn more and get more information to address the knowledge gaps on science," Suva told abs-cbnNEWS.com.
In her paper "Can Journalists Help Mitigate Hunger?", Suva cited results from a multi-sampling survey of 432 respondents including consumers, religious leaders, businessmen and traders, farmers and community leaders, extension workers, policy makers and scientists. A total of 35 TV, radio and print journalists on the agriculture beat responded to the survey conducted by SEAMEO Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA-BIC).
In the survey, 31 of the 35 journalist respondents said they “know some” about the uses of biotechnology in food production. However, most of the journalists were ambivalent about banning genetically-altered foods until more tests are done or paying extra if genetically- altered foods were properly labeled.
Suva said half of the journalists surveyed indicated high interest in the uses of biotechnology particularly in food production. This is because journalists value their role of keeping the public informed about issues that would affect public health and safety.
The study also showed that journalists were more open and optimistic about biotechnology and were very interested and concerned about the implementation, information dissemination, and knowledge generation of agricultural biotechnology.
Of the 35 respondents, 16 rated biotechnology as very beneficial, 15 said it was moderately beneficial while one respondent said it was not beneficial at all. Three journalists rated biotechnology as very hazardous, 16 as somewhat hazardous and 13 as not hazardous at all.
NGOs as primary sources
Suva said one danger of journalists having a low understanding of agri-biotechnology is that mass media would become a poor source of information about the issue. She said the study showed that more people tend to trust information coming from food regulators (72.8%), non-government organizations (72.7%) and newsletters (66.3%) on the issue of biotechnology.
She said one problem with trusting NGOs as a primary source of information is that people, including journalists, may not get all the information they need about biotechnology.
"All these different NGOs know how to handle media so what happens is that only those who are good at accessing the media will be able to speak out and make their voices heard. One side of the coin is that only those NGOs spreading negative information are having access to the media. They are creating a fear about the possible ill-effects about biotechnology," she said.
She said one failing of newsroom editors is to seek out proper information sources about biotechnology and giving enough importance to stories about the issue.
"We don't hear a lot from mass media about biotechnology. SEARCA-BIC sends a lot of press releases about the issue but most media outfits, including ABS-CBN, does not use them. The only media outlet that uses them all the time is the Philippine Star," she said.
She said one source of information for journalists would be state colleges such as UP Los Baños that devote much time in studying biotechnology. She said journalists should continuously update themselves on science and technology and even visit laboratories and field experiments to see what is really happening.
"Journalists need to be more informed now more than ever because of our problems about food security. Biotechnology is one possible solution to the country's problem with hunger and it is the job of journalists to know more about the subject," she said.
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