Representation of synthetic biology in Dutch newspapers

Abstract

The emerging field of Synthetic Biology (SB) is expected to bring many promising applications. However, there are also concerns for safety, security, and of ethical nature. It is widely acknowledged that to properly evaluate these issues, involving society in decision making regarding SB’s potential applications, risks, and ethical issues is necessary. One of the public’s major sources of scientific information are news media. However, it is largely unknown how SB is presented to the public by Dutch news media. In this study I applied quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate how SB is represented in Dutch newspapers. A total of 261 Dutch newspaper articles (published between 2000 and November 2016) were analyzed for five aspects, i.e.: 1) publication data, 2) motives for publication, 3) normative impression, 4) mentioned applications, risks, and ethical issues, and 5) metaphor use. SB representation in The Netherlands showed many similarities to other countries, such as German-language, English-language, and Scandinavian countries. It was found that SB media representation was predominantly event-based, positive, future-oriented, relatively small, and science-led. Results suggest that the public debate on SB has not yet started in The Netherlands.