This project examines the impact of media use on beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Areas examined include biotechnology and other environmental issues, such as communication about wildlife problems in the State of New York.

Media use is an often under-recognized variable in the formation of people`s beliefs about the environment. Thus, in the projects I have chosen, media use is the common thread across the various topics such as biotechnology or wildlife. These projects show how news attention and television use impact general understanding about the issues. The project is needed because there is a relative lack of scholarship on this topic. The populations affected by this public are broad in nature. Because mass communication is the focus, the audiences affected by the research are also broad in nature. However, the work on wildlife is normally confined to New York, where it affects policymakers' decisions on how to interact with the general public In general, anyone interested in the role of mass communication would benefit from having a greater understanding of relationships between media use and the issues studied.

Six studies from 2005 can be identified. The first "Hunters' and Other Citizens' Reactions to Discovery of CWD in Central New York" dealt with the demographic correlates of peoples concerns about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in New York. The second and third, "Validating the Willingness to Self-Censor Scale: Individual Differences in the Effect of the Climate of Opinion on Opinion Expression" and "Willingness to Self-Censor: A Construct and Measurement Tool for Public Opinion Research" were basic communication studies on people`s self expression in public environments. The fourth, "Who cares about the issues? Issue voting and the role of news media during the 2000 U.S. presidential election" was also a basic research study focusing on relating media consumption to political issues. The fifth study, "Exploring the relationship between media attention and exposure and support for agricultural biotechnology" was applied research showing how media attenion to biotechnology is related. The sixth study, "Effects on risk perception of media coverage of a black bear-related human fatality," was an applied communication study focused on public communication about a wildlife damage incident in New York. It contributed to an undersating of state wildlife decision makers communication strategies on the issue

Changes in environmental policymaking in New York were the main impact of the projects. No dollar impact can be assigned.

biotechnology, life sciences and communication

• Dan Decker
• Tommy Brown
• Sei-hill Kim
• Dietram Scheufele
• Dominique Brossard
• Clint Nesbitt