Open AccessNot in our back yard: media coverage of community opposition to mobile phone towers–an application of Sandman's outrage model of risk perception
Author(s) -
Chapman Simon,
Wutzke Sonia
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 1326-0200
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-842x.1997.tb01765.x
Subject(s) - outrage , yard , opposition (politics) , mobile phone , perception , phone , government (linguistics) , media coverage , advertising , political science , media studies , business , sociology , telecommunications , psychology , law , computer science , politics , linguistics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
Australia has the world's second highest per capita use of mobile phones. To meet rapid expansion in use, transmission towers are being erected hastily, backed by federal government exemptions from normal local government planning procedures. In a case study of media reportage of a successful resident protest about the placement of transmitters adjacent to a kindergarten, uncertain risks to health were the ostensible concerns voiced by the protesters. Eleven of the 12 primary components and six out of eight secondary components of Sandman's model of community risk perception were consistent with both the protesters' expressed concerns about the transmission towers and the way in which the issues involved were framed by the media. (Aust N Z J Public Health 1997; 21: 614–20)