A Nutty Study: A Framing Analysis of the 2009 Salmonella Outbreak in Peanut Products

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine television news coverage of the 2009 Salmonella outbreak in peanut products through the scope of framing theory. The aim of this research was to understand how the television news media frame agricultural, particularly food safety, messages. By employing a qualitative content analysis, researchers analyzed television news transcripts from ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC that aired during the peanut product recall. The frames found from this research were informational, anti-Peanut Corporation of America, and anti-FDA. The most commonly used sources were victims of Salmonella, politicians, and current and former FDA off icials. No agricultural frames were present, and the only agricultural organizations interviewed were one representative of the Georgia Department of Agriculture and Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack. The researchers concluded that sources did not appear to have a large impact on the way the news was covered for this study. The researchers also found a need for more scientific food safety information to be communicated to the national media.

Journal of Applied Communications vol. 95(3) Full Issue

“…Research on news coverage of food safety crises found that reporters are not opposed to using agricultural organizations as sources, but many reporters may not be aware of these organizations and the experts that are available for interviews (Irlbeck, Akers, Baker, Brashears, Burris, & Duemer 2010). However, during the 2009 Salmonella outbreak in peanut products, researchers found that out of 101 television news stories about the outbreak, only two agricultural sources-the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and a state department of agriculture representative-were interviewed (Irlbeck, Akers, & Palmer, 2010).…”

Journal of Applied Communications vol. 98 (2) Full Issue

“…Food-borne illness outbreaks are typically heavily covered by the news media, as evidenced by coverage of the E. coli spinach outbreak in 2006, Salmonella outbreaks in peanut butter and eggs in 2009 and 2010, respectively, Listeria in cantaloupes in 2011, and lean finely textured beef in 2012 (Irlbeck, Akers, & Palmer, 2010;Waggoner & Irlbeck;2011;Whaley & Tucker, 2004). Understand-Support for this project was provided through the International Center for Food Industry Excellence.…”

Coming of Age: How JAC is Reflecting a National Research Agenda for Communications in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life Human Sciences

“…The array of studies that examined how specific topics or issues have been framed or portrayed (e.g., Meyers and Abrams, 2010;Irlbeck, Akers & Palmer, 2011;Abrams and Meyers, 2012) points to new directions for framing research. Studies that employed frame analysis primarily detected the presence (or absence) of discrete information items.…”