January 2002 – Funk Library

ACDC News – Issue 02-24

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

Season’s greetings as we close out 2002.

All of us in the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center send you our holiday greetings. This has been an active, progressive year for the Center as we passed the 20,000-document mark and took other steps forward. More are ahead. Thanks to you for your interest, words of encouragement, suggestions and support.

Champagne campaign on a beer budget.

That’s the title of a recent summary of one presentation at the Cooperative Communicators Association meeting earlier this year. The account appeared in CCA News. Here are several of the tips that Roberta MacDonald of Cabot Creamery of Vermont offered to communicators about how to “make a modest marketing budget look like a million:”

Do not spend money on public relations or advertising without research
Take your goods or services to where “like” people are
Put the faces and farms of members on center stage
If there isn’t a contest in your field, make one up and win it

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Ditsch) for the full citation.

“Maybe an increase in local programming is in order,”

Wrote Ken Root, executive director of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, in a recent issue of NAFB Chats. He made this observation in the context of the trend toward station mergers, satellite feeds, computer automation and packaged programming. “Technology has allowed multiple stations to be operated with a small staff and the end product sounds great, but many stations have lost their unique local appeal.” He suggested ways in which farm broadcasters can remain “live and local.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Live and local”) or author search (Root) for the full citation.

His suggestion reminds us of a type of news coverage

Called “basic shoe-leather interactive” – not necessarily “online interactive.”

How farm broadcasters are adjusting to changes.

We in the Center watch for information about how professional agricultural communicators are adapting to change. Here are a few recent examples that involve adjustments by farm broadcasters. You can identify the following documents by title searches or author searches on the ACDC “Real Search” page.

A change in the airwaves” by Daniel J. Grant
Some farm broadcasters switching tune to survive” by Daniel J. Grant
East” by Rita Frazer
Stations cut farm news to consolidate” by Charlyn Fargo
The medium affects the message” by Robynne M. Anderson
Farm broadcasting beyond the studio”

You can identify other documents about trends in farm broadcasting

By conducting subject searches and cross-searches on the ACDC “Real Search” page, using terms such as:

Rural broadcasting
Trends “rural broadcasting”
Radio
Trends radio
Television
Trends television

Let us know when you see documents about this subject that are not in the ACDC collection now.

Media partnering: an example of effective coverage.

In recent issues of ACDC News we have cited samples of weak or shoddy media coverage of agriculture-related matters. We also note, with pleasure, an example of innovative, effective coverage. A report from the Pew Center for Civic Journalism described how four Idaho newspapers and television stations recently cooperated to shed light on the state’s ailing rural areas. The partner media polled rural residents and dug into documents that showed how rural resources were used. Resulting news reports “prompted two public-policy organizations to generate a…conference and a white paper that proposed steps for the state legislature to shore up rural Idaho.” Human stories had the most impact, according to one of the editors involved.

Reference: Use a title search (“Idaho partners”) or author search (Ford) for the full citation. The report was posted online at:
www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/civiccat/displayCivcat.php?id=317

Something missing in our talk about the future of communications.

(Like the food in army mess halls.) “In all our talk about the future of communications, content is often the thing that is not discussed,” observed Theodore Peterson in a 1966 speech to the Wyoming Press Association. “We tend to focus on technology, not on what the technology is to be used for. The value of the technological apparatus depends ultimately on the value of the content it carries. The army mess halls that I used to know had the finest stoves and mixers and steam tables in the world; alas, they seemed incapable of turning out edible food.”

Another question for ag journalism history buffs.

What was the first specialty periodical devoted to some branch of agriculture?
Please forward your reply to ACDC News at evansj@uiuc.edu by January 30.

Shopping in town – not what it used to be.

Is holiday shopping on your mind these days? Quite a hassle? Well, it seems that shopping was getting complicated long before our time. We close this issue of ACDC News by recalling a poem that appeared in Agricultural Advertising nearly 100 years ago:

“Used to drive up to the store,
Leave the team out by the door,
Trade our truck for calico,
Tea an’ sech; and off we’d go.
Goin’ shoppin’, ‘pears to me,
Isn’t what it used to be.
Nowadays ye’re at a loss
To pick out the real boss.
They don’t stop to tell you jokes.
Never saw sech dressed-up folks.
An’ the goods that they display
Fairly takes your breath away.

Everything’s trimmed up so grand –
Looks to me like fairyland.
An’ the goods you kin procure –
Garden tools and literatoor,
Furniture with spindle legs,
Turkish rugs an’ fresh-laid eggs.
Everywhere you cast your eye
There is things you’d like to buy,
All tired out when night arrives,
Couldn’t stop to save our lives.
With the mornin’s earliest ray
All on hand for bargain day.
Goin’ shoppin’! Gracious me!
“Tain’t what it used to be.”

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, questions and ideas for ACDC. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents that we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801) or electronic form (docctr@library.uiuc.edu)

ACDC News – Issue 02-23

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

Current environmental worries of Americans.

Agriculture-related aspects of the environment are on their minds these days, according to results of a national sample of adults surveyed in the Gallup Poll of March 2002. Following are the top five environmental problems about which respondents said they “personally worry…a great deal:”

Pollution of drinking water 57%
Pollution of rivers, lakes and reservoirs 53%
Contamination of soil and water by toxic waste 53%
Maintenance of the nation’s supply of fresh water
for household needs 50%
Air pollution 45%

Reference: Use a title search (“Environmental problems”) for the full citation.

Media in the doghouse? “Maybe we deserve it.”

Hans Matthiessen, president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, expressed that view recently in a blistering editorial. Triviality. Banality. Withering civil engagement. “News” talk shows that have “degenerated to tribunals.” Docu-soaps pretending to present reality. News broadcasts that are “a mere disaster.” Simplification. Sensationalism. These were among the concerns that Matthiessen expressed in his challenge: “It’s time for us to rekindle that flame between media and society.”

Reference: Use a title search (“If media”) or author search (Matthiessen) for the full citation. The editorial was posted on: www.ifaj.org/newsletter/index.html

Recently reported shortfalls in covering food and agriculture.

Here are a couple of the examples that we have seen recently and added to the ACDC collection:

“Significant gaps in coverage.” An article in Columbia Journalism Review looked at how the media have covered two food safety issues (antibiotics fed to poultry and listeria poisoning) over the past few years. “We found significant gaps in coverage, and with few exceptions, little enterprise reporting or explanation of what an action or lack of one means to ordinary people.”
Reference: Use a title search (“Food for thought”) or author search (Lieberman) for the full citation. Posted on: www.cjr.org/year/02/5/listeria.asp
“A little slight of hand” by the BBC. Cited as having referred to a food-related interest group as an independent watchdog.
Reference: Use a title search (“Media bias”) or author search (DeGregori) for the full citation. Commentary posted on:
www.cato.org/cgi-bin/scripts/printtech.cgi/dailys/11-02-02-2.html

Another report of media bias in covering agriculture.

This time it involved the meat industry. And it concerned the New York Times, a newspaper not known for getting it wrong. “Wow,” said Dan Murphy in his recent commentary in ‘The Meating Place,’ “where do we start cataloguing the errors in this story?” He described errors and imbalances in a Times article about proposed guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture involving tests for E.coli at meat packing plants.

Reference: Use a title search (“NY Times twists story”) or author search (Murphy) for the full citation. The commentary was posted online October 1, 2002, at: http://131.104.232.9/fsnet-archives.htm

You can find other documents about media coverage…

By conducting “Subject” searches on the “Real Search” page. Here are some subject terms you might use:

Mass media
Coverage
Reporting
Media effectiveness
Accuracy
Bias

“Can TV cooks become food safety celebrities?”

Maybe, said Douglas Powell, scientific director of the Food Safety Network, in a recent commentary. But they need to clean up their act. He and his associates studied more than 160 hours of television broadcasts featuring celebrity chefs.

“Based on 29 hours of detailed viewing, we observed basic food safety errors about every five minutes, especially cross-contamination…and time-temperature violations. Few used meat thermometers. And no one talked about how they ensured the safety of ingredients entering the kitchen.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Can TV cooks become”) or author search (Powell) for the full citation. The report was archived October 17, 2002 at:
http://131.104.232.9/fsnet-archives.htm

Farm periodicals – “the greatest agency for agricultural improvement.”

J. Clyde Marquis, editor of Country Gentleman magazine, made this observation during 1912 in a report about the social significance of the agricultural press. He pointed to the constant dissemination of information by hundreds of farm periodicals sent by the millions of copies each week to rural homes throughout the U.S. – “without ceasing and with growing force.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Social significance”) or author search (Marquis) for the full citation.

One of the most respected U.S. agricultural editors died on November 23.

He was Cordell Tindall, 88, long-time editor of Missouri Ruralist (1938-1979) and vice-president of Harvest Publishing Company (1971-1979). A 1935 agricultural journalism graduate of the University of Missouri, he was employed by an Illinois newspaper and by Capper Publications in Kansas before he became editor of the Missouri Ruralist. He served as president of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association in 1964.

An associate, Larry Harper, observed that “Cordell believed you had to have some fun while you were working. He enjoyed writing and writing about Missouri people.”

Chickens not birdbrains. More than dumb clucks.

Chickens are more intelligent than most people believe, according to researchers at the University of Bristol, England. Findings reported at a recent conference indicate that chickens can learn from each other. They can be taught what food to eat or avoid, adapt their behavior and learn to navigate.

Now, who can break their language code and permit ag communicators really to interact with them?

Reference: Use a title search (“Intelligence of pigs, chickens”) for the full citation. The news report was posted September 11, 2002, on: http://131.104.232.9/animalnet-archives.htm

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 02-22

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

Another study in counter-attacktics.

Communicators who follow the agricultural biotechnology “debate” found another spurt of criticism, name calling and number juggling in September. That’s when the UK Soil Association released a report, “Seeds of Doubt,” claiming:

Use of genetic engineering and biotechnology in U.S. agriculture has been an unqualified disaster.
It has severely disrupted GM-free production.
It has destroyed trade and undermined the competitiveness of North American agriculture.
It is endangering the environment.

Pro-biotech interest groups in various countries responded vigorously, countering those claims and describing the Soil Association report as politically motivated, confusing, misleading, dishonest and containing false notions.

Reference: For some sample references in the ACDC collection, use title searches such as: “Farmers not stupid” and “Let the facts speak for themselves” (posted online September 18, 2002, at: http://131.104.232.9/agnet-archives.htm) and “U.K. report offers ‘little more than confusion'” (posted online at www.lifesciencesnetwork.com/news-detail.asp?newsID=2489). You also can use a subject search (“biotechnology”) to identify other recent perspectives and concerns.

“…University food scientists need to…speak out on the GE food issue.”

A commentary from the Food Safety Network, University of Guelph, Canada, posed that argument recently. Justin Kastner and Doug Powell said: “When they do not think, when they do not speak out, scientists abdicate their leadership responsibilities and leave students to form their opinions in a sea of websites, conversations rooted in caffeine-stimulated intuition, and conspiracy-theory speculations.” They described and recommended an instructional strategy modeled more than 100 years ago by an agriculture professor at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Reference: Use a title search (“Lecturing and leading”) or author search (Kastner) for the full citation. The commentary was posted September 29, 2002, on www.foodsafetynetwork.ca

Top health and food concerns of Asian consumers.

A recent survey by ISIS Research among consumers in China, Thailand and the Philippines revealed the following as top-rated food and health concerns:

nutritional quality
microbial (germ) contamination
animal diseases that may be passed to humans

“Biotechnology foods was rated as the issue of least concern.”

Reference: Use a title search (“What citizens in Asia”) for the full citation. A news release about this study was posted by the Asian Food Information Centre at www.afic.org.

Americans on a mission to lose 20 pounds (but not to diet).

A survey early this year by NPD Group revealed that nearly two-thirds of American adults wanted to lose 20 pounds. That was up from 54 percent in 1995. However, if history is any indicator, only about 25 percent began the year on a diet. Furthermore:

“Even though weight is on the minds of more Americans, Eating Patterns in America respondents are less concerned with fat, cholesterol, salt and other nutritional issues than they were in the ’90s.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Americans are on a mission”) for the full citation. This summary was posted on: www.npd.com/corp/content/news/releases/press_020103.htm

When food shoppers enter a dirty-looking store.

More than half (52 percent) would leave a dirty-looking grocery store immediately without buying anything. Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) would immediately leave a dirty-looking fast food restaurant. These reactions were identified during August in a national U.S. survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation International. In addition:

“Grocery store and fast-food patrons spread the word about dirty conditions as well. In fact, a vast majority (90 percent) of those surveyed said they would tell friends and family not to patronize a grocery store or fast-food restaurant they found dirty.”

Reference: Use a title search (“New national survey uncovers grocery”) for the full citation. This news release from PRNewswire was posted September 18, 2002, on FSNet and archived at: http://131.104.232.9/fsnet-archives.htm

“Online surveys that any communicator can do.”

Members of the Cooperative Communicators Association got ideas about online surveying when they attended the annual CCA meeting earlier this year. The ideas came from Ron Levesque, member relations supervisor for Co-Op Atlantic, based in New Brunswick, Canada. He explained how he and his associates use Microsoft FrontPage to invite subscriber feedback, then use FileMaker Pro to convert the results into something they can calculate and display.

Reference: Use a title search (“Online surveys”) or author search (Levesque) for the full citation.

Lying to the end.

Early farm journals (and other kinds) tried to lure readers and advertisers by claiming circulation levels “far in excess of the truth.” You might appreciate this example from a 1885 issue of Western Plowman:

“The editor was dying, but when the doctor placed his ear to the patient’s heart and muttered sadly: ‘Poor fellow, circulation almost gone.’ [the editor] raised himself and gasped: ‘Tis false! We have the largest circulation of any paper in the country!’

“Then he sank back upon his pillow with a triumphant smile upon his features. He was consistent to the end – lying about his circulation.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Eastern and Midwestern Agricultural Journalism”) or author search (VanDerhoof) for the full citation.

Question of the Day – too tough.

It’s not surprising that no one correctly answered the question we raised in Issue 02-20: “What was the first attempt to form an association of agricultural editors in the U.S., and when?”

No, the American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA) was not the first such group formed. According to an item in the February 1969 issue of the AAEA Newsletter:

“…the first recorded attempt to form an association of Agricultural Editors came about 1858 when the editor of the AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST called a meeting in connection with the annual American Pomological Society. An organization was formed with H. P. Byram of the Valley Farmer, Louisville, Kentucky, as President, and Orange Judd of AA as Secretary.”

Whew. That’s much earlier than we would have guessed.

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 02-21

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

Challenges to farm publications (from nearly 40 years ago).

Advertising agency executive Bob Palmer offered these predictions about farm publications when he wrote in a 1963 issue of Agri Marketing magazine:

Advertising copy will become highly technical and media selection will be acutely affected.
Agricultural advertisers “will be deeply involved with the selection of those media that reach – and more importantly, influence – their primary market – the one-third of all farmers who will control all but 10 percent of the business.”
Consumer goods advertising in farm publications will decline rapidly.
Good farmers will need all three types of information: specialized, state (translate national into local application) and national-regional.
By 1970 fewer wives will be assistant farm managers; traditional women’s pages will create “an inconsistency of presentation which will seriously inhibit the development of your businesslike image.”
Subscription prices “must be high enough to guarantee that a publication is truly important to subscribers.”

Reference: Use a title search (“A challenge to farm publications”) or author search (Palmer) for the full citation.

And today? Tomorrow?

Results of a recent survey among 2,418 U.S. farmers identified agricultural magazines and newspapers as their first-ranked medium for continuing education and for awareness of new products, equipment and suppliers. Findings also indicated that 58 percent believe agricultural publications will be “more important” or “much more important” in the next 3-4 years. Only 8 percent said they believe ag publications will be “less important” or “much less important.” This pattern held across farmers of all ages, according to the findings by Martin Akel & Associates in an independent study sponsored by the Agri Council of American Business Media (ABM).

Reference: Use a title search (“Adoption of agricultural brands”) for the full citation. We have added a paper copy of the report to the ACDC collection. In addition, the report was posted on the ABM web site:
www.americanbusinessmedia.com/councils/agri/index.htm

New resources for research about agricultural publishing.

We are delighted to report that the historical materials of the Agricultural Publishers Association (APA) are finding a home in the University of Illinois Archives. APA officially dissolved as an independent organization during October and became the American Business Media (ABM) Agri Council. The APA materials will be processed into the University of Illinois Archives during the months ahead. During that process we in the Center plan to review them and identify for ACDC searchers those documents that may hold broad interest for researchers, students, teachers, practitioners and others. By so doing we can help expand the access and usefulness of information in the APA Archives.

APA materials seem especially relevant to the University of Illinois Library, which contains one of the most extensive research collections of U.S. farm periodicals.

What it takes to live 100 years.

In the previous issue of ACDC News we noted that Successful Farming magazine is observing its 100th birthday. If you, your students or others want to learn more about the keys to this unusual achievement, we may be able to help you do so. The ACDC collection contains dozens of documents about the origin and progress of Successful Farming, as well as the philosophies that have guided it. You can identify such documents through “Subject” searches on the “Real Search” page, using terms such as:

Successful Farming
Meredith
“farm journals” history

Planning to call a CEO this evening?

“You wouldn’t call a CEO of a company in the evening and expect him to respond,” said farmer panelists at an Agricultural Relations Council meeting during September. Similarly, they argued, evening phone surveys directed at farm homes are unprofessional. Members of the panel also offered other suggestions about how agricultural firms and organizations can communicate with – and for – today’s producers. A summary of the panel discussion appeared, along with other meeting highlights, in a special edition of ARClight Newsletter.

Reference: Use a title search (“Producer panel provides”) for the full citation. The issue was posted online at:http://www.nama.org/arc/arclight/september/02/special.htm

Consumers confused about nut labeling.

“Labeling of products that may contain nuts is inconsistent and often confusing,” according to a report from the Food Standards Agency in the United Kingdom. The report noted that consumers with nut allergy have to be extremely careful that the food they eat does not contain nuts and is not contaminated with nuts during production. “But the new report…shows that manufacturers use a wide variety of phrases to describe traces of nut contamination and the warning is often difficult to find on labels.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Nut labeling”) for the full citation. A summary of the report was posted on:www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/nut_labels

Best predictors of nutrition label reading.

Results of a national study reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association identified these attitudinal factors as strongest predictors of label use among adults:

Believing in the importance of eating a low-fat diet.
Believing in the association between diet and cancer.

Label use was significantly associated with lower fat intake, but not with the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Researchers also examined demographic characteristics and health behavior of label readers.

Reference: Use a title search (“Use of food nutrition labels”) or author search (Neuhouser) for the full citation.

Slim odds of dying from food.

According to the National Safety Council, the odds during 1998 of Americans dying from consuming food and poisonous plants were 1 in 90,082,667. Lifetime odds are 1 in 1,174,481. “In most states, you have a better chance of winning the lottery than of dying from bad food,” observed a recent Lean Trimmings item that reported these findings. The most recent data, compiled from statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, are from 1998.

Reference: Use a title search (“What odds”) or author search (Kernellu) for the full citation. The news item was posted on FSNet (September 4, 2002) atwww.foodsafetynetwork.ca.

Some recent reactions from Documentation Center users:

“I’ve found it to be very helpful. Lots of good information and a great links page.”
“Your news looks like a great resource.”
“Congratulations to the founders and those who have done the work necessary to collect and make available 20,000 documents. Mind boggling.”
“Thanks for another excellent ACDC News.”
“…really appreciated your good advice and information.”
“Thanks for your help.”
“An especially rich collection of materials…”

Do pigs discuss flying?

From G.K. Chesterton: “I have myself a poetical enthusiasm for pigs, and the paradise of my fancy is one where pigs have wings. But it is only men, especially wise men, who discuss whether pigs can fly; we have no particular proof that pigs ever discuss it.”

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 02-20

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

Conference resources from American Horse Publications.

Guest speakers and moderators furnished summaries and handouts from their presentations at the AHP annual meeting this summer in Park City, Utah. Here are some of those resources available on the AHP web site:

“45 super publication ideas in only 45 minutes (along with 15 bonuses)”
“Small but mighty: workshop for publishers of small publications”
“10 strategies to increase readerships”
“7 steps to strategic planning for editors”
“Marketing research: purposes, types, online tips”
“Advertising roundtable: the inner workings of the advertiser’s mind”
“Working in the horse world”
“Getting started in equine publishing: a workshop for writers, artists and photographers”

Reference: These were posted online at: http://www.americanhorsepubs.org/career_center/resources/index.html

Traditional knowledge – scientific or not?

A research project in India addressed that question recently and came up with a striking answer. Researchers identified 30 indigenous practices used by traditional rice farmers. Then they asked a team of scientists and extension officials from the same region to classify each practice as scientifically “rational” or “irrational.” Findings? ”

It was striking to find that among the thirty resource conserving and risk reducing practices identified it was just to three practices that the scientists and extension officials could not attach any scientific rationality.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Evaluation of indigenous knowledge systems”) or author search (Bonny) for the full citation.

A call for partnership.

Writing in the Journal of Forestry, Robin Wall Kimmerer also reported on relationships between traditional and scientific knowledge, as related to ecosystems in the U.S.

“Although Native peoples’ traditional knowledge of the land differs from scientific knowledge, both have strengths that suggest the value of a partnership between them.”

Kimmerer cited two areas in which traditional knowledge can be especially useful in such a partnership:

Identifying reference ecosystems
Illuminating cultural ties to the land

Reference: Use a title search (“Native knowledge for native ecosystems”) or author search (Kimmerer) for the full citation.

Food biotech debate will become “even more complex.”

A recent article in the Western Producer (Canada) summarized a report from the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee to the federal government about genetically modified food. “Existing GM varieties and technologies are relatively straightforward and simple to test and assess,” according to the report. Future generations of products will contain more complex gene transfer systems and new products with altered nutritional profiles. They “may require additional regulatory measures by government and may even be the subject of broader public debate to determine social acceptability.”

Reference: Use a title search (“GM food debate expected”) or author search (Wilson) for the full citation. The article was posted on: www.producer.com/articles/20020905/news/20020905news05a.html

Favorite comfort foods.

“On a cold and rainy afternoon, you decide that a bowl of chicken soup would hit the spot. While eating, you smile as you recall a rainy day long ago when your mother made you the same kind of soup.” That’s how an article in American Demographics introduced a research report about comfort foods – those foods consumed under a specific situation to obtain psychological comfort.

Results of this nationwide survey? “Potato chips top the list of Americans’ favorite comfort foods, followed by ice cream, cookies, and candy.” However, males and females recorded striking differences in their responses, as did respondents of different ages. Authors also described the influence of mood swings and the sources of cravings for certain foods.

Reference: Use a title search (“Taste of comfort”) or author search (Wansink) for the full citation.

Adoption of IT by small and medium-sized agrifood businesses.

A study reported recently in Outlook on Agriculture examined how such enterprises in Wales use information and communication technologies. Respondents reported that 38 percent already had a website and 58 percent were actively planning one. Half of those with websites said their online sales were increasing; half said sales were static. Authors also examined factors that influenced the adoption of such technologies and the kinds of support that small and medium-sized agrifood enterprises need.

Reference: Use a title search (“Social aspects of the impact”) or author search (Sparkes) for the full citation.

New edition of development communication book.

Sage Publications recently published the second edition of:

Srinivas R. Melkote and H. Leslie Steeves, Communication for development in the Third World: theory and practice for empowerment.

The authors set out to “trace the history of development communication, present diverse approaches and their proponents, critique these approaches as appropriate, and provide ideas and models for development communication in the 21st century. They incorporated development communication literature from the 1990s, with special emphasis on liberation theology and empowerment.

Reference: Use a title search (above) or author search (Melkote) for the full citation.

Mark Twain – farm editor.

If you haven’t yet read Mark Twain’s classic description of his experience as editor of an agricultural paper, then we recommend you do so. Choose a day when you need a lift, a new sparkle in the eye. Enjoy this six-page tale about how Twain filled in for a vacationing editor and, after only one issue, created a stir that boosted circulation to record levels. Yet his tenure was brief. The editor returned early to fire him and call his editorials “a disgrace to journalism.” You’ll learn why Twain left unrepentant.

Reference: Use a title search (“How I edited an agricultural paper”) or author search (Twain) for the full citation.

Question of the day for you.

What was the first attempt to form an association of agricultural editors in the U.S., and when?

Send your reply to ACDC News to: evansj@uiuc.edu ! A free copy of the book, Prairie Farmer and WLS: the Burridge D. Butler Years, will go to the first 10 persons with the correct answer submitted by November 15. (Note: This question is a toughie.)

Professional activity approaching

November 13-17, 2002
“Experience the magic of farm broadcasting.”Annual convention of National Association of Farm Broadcastersin Kansas City, Missouri.Information: www.nafb.com

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 02-19

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

Happy 100th birthday to Successful Farming magazine.

“In October 1902, Edwin Thomas Meredith published the first issue of his new magazine, Successful Farming, with a promise to do all he could to live up to the name.” That’s how current Managing Editor Gene Johnston described the origin of SF in his lead article of the October 2002 issue. “Since 1902, [it] has helped millions of farm families through two world wars, a Great Depression and a farm crisis, $12 soybeans and $8 hogs, too many droughts and floods to count (sometimes in the same year!), and astounding technological advances.”

Other articles in the centennial issue feature the Meredith family, long-time relationships with readers and a 100-year time line of agricultural developments and SF highlights.

Reference: Use title searches (“Our 100th birthday” – “Meet the family” – “Friends for 100 years” – “100 years deserves a celebratio for the full citations. SF articles are posted online at: www.agriculture.com/sfonline

“The media can’t simply report on impressions and feelings.“

In a recent commentary published by The Polling Report, Matthew Robinson argued that “if public polling is to have any meaning at all, the media can’t simply report on impressions and feelings.” He urged media pollsters to test what people know and what facts (if any) they are using to form their opinions. He cited examples in which public attitudes about important issues were based on shallow knowledge, not the “slightest clue.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Do media polls mislead”) of an author search (Robinson) for the full citation.

Damned lies and statistics

Is the title of a recent book about “untangling numbers from the media, politicians and activists.” Author Joel Best emphasized the social nature of statistics and the importance that statistics play in campaigns to create – or defuse claims about – new social problems. “Stat wars” is the term he used to describe the statistical efforts of advocates to support their claims about social problems. Stat wars create confusion, he argued. And he offered examples to reveal a number of oddities and inconsistencies about the use and interpretation of statistics. Among them:

“While we accept the (relatively high) risk of traffic fatalities, we worry about new technology – power lines or computer terminals or food additives – even though those who warn about technological risks usually offer far lower estimates for the number of people harmed by the new threat.”

“The best approach to stat wars is not to try and guess who’s lying or, worse, simply to assume that the people we disagree with are the ones telling lies,” according to the author. “Rather, we need to watch for the standard causes of bad statistics – guessing, questionable definitions or methods, mutant numbers, and inappropriate comparisons.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Damned lies”) or author search (Best) for the full citation.

Toward better science reporting.

A readable new book by Diane Swanson, Nibbling on Einstein’s brain, has taken the reader’s perspective in evaluating media coverage of science. A chapter on “Media Alerts” looks at how reporting can confuse or misrepresent science. An 11-question checklist helps readers review the reporting and critique the ads. (It also can help reporters and ad writers evaluate their own work.)

Other chapters feature:

“Baloney Busters” that look at how science can go wrong.
“Mind Traps” that look at “how the human mind – your mind – can muddle the science news your receive.”

Some examples in the book include science reporting about food.

Reference: Use a title search (“Nibbling on Einstein’s brain”) or author search (Swanson) for the full citation.

“Most farmers still speak as if they were born of man and woman – not spit out of computers,”

Noted Progressive Farmer editor C.G. Scruggs in an editorial nearly 20 years ago. However, he was concerned about a trend toward “gobbledygook spoken by researchers and even farmers we know. Remember where jargon sprang from. It was invented by politicians and some economists whose law is, ‘If you must talk, don’t say anything.'” His editorial offered advice to readers when they hear others use gobbledygook.

Reference: Use a title search (“Words that bother us”) or author search (Scruggs) for the full citation.

Another kind of confusion.

If producers (indeed, all of us) scratch heads these days over terms such as interfacing modules, Veris soil maps and spacial database creation, we might remember that confusion always seems to come with new information technologies. An example caught our eye in a 1925 document that we added recently to the ACDC collection. A U.S. Department of Agriculture survey among farmers, nationwide, at the dawn of radio broadcasting revealed: “.one of the chief reasons why more farmers do not own radio sets is because they feel that operation of the instruments calls for great technical skill. They are confused by such terms as Neutrodyne, Heterodyne and other radio nomenclature.”

Similarly, a writer in Country Gentleman magazine (1922) reported that he “sought an elementary textbook on radio science and was directed to a 600-page text.”

The focus and concepts of information technology may change, but the communications challenges seem to endure and grow.

Reference: Use a title search (“What makes the radio laugh?”) or author search (McMahon) for the full citation.

Surprised that bioengineered foods have been “snuck in.”

Most consumers that took part in focus groups conducted recently by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expressed great surprise that food biotechnology has become so pervasive in the U.S. food supply. According to the summary report that we have added to the ACDC collection: “The typical reaction of participants was not one of great concern about the immediate health and safety effects of unknowingly eating bioengineered foods, but rather outrage that such a change in the food supply could happen without them knowing about it.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Report on consumer focus groups”) or author search (Levy) for the full citation. The report was posted on: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/biorpt.html

Is the rural press still ahead of colleges?

“The agricultural journals have led the agricultural colleges from three to fifteen years in making transitions and additions to subject materials,” said C.C. Taylor in a report at the 1922 National Country Life Conference. The writer had studied subject materials of U.S. agricultural journals and agricultural college curricula in seven states during the previous 42 years.

Have you seen other comparative studies of this nature? If so, please let us know about them.

Reference: Use a title search (“Rural press as an educational agency”) or author search (Taylor) for the full citation.

A father-son chat about farming.

“Tell me, Dad,” said the son, “does owning your own farm make you more independent?” “It sure does, son. I get to work any time I want to before 7 in the morning and leave whenever I feel like it any time after 10 at night.”

Professional activities approaching

November 3-5, 2002
“Marketing – find the right fit.” Marketing superworkshopsponsored by Agricultural Communicators in Educationin Fort Worth, Texas.Information: www.aceweb.org

November 13-17, 2002
“Experience the magic of farm broadcasting.”Annual convention of National Association of Farm Broadcastersin Kansas City, Missouri.Information: www.nafb.com

Best regards and good searching

ACDC News – Issue 02-18

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

When will I see you again?

Under-cooked meats straight from the barbecue were the target this summer of a food safety campaign in the United Kingdom. A 30-second TV ad from the Food Standards Agency showed uncooked, pink meat in the middle of a sausage sizzling on the grill. Background music? It was the 1973 Three Degrees hit song, “When will I see you again?” Similar radio ads ran for four weeks.

This campaign responded to results of a 2001 survey — 12 percent of UK consumers said they had food poisoning in the last year.

Reference: Use a title search (“TV ad asks”) for the full citation. The news report about this campaign was posted on http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/66067

Health concerns of neighbors.

What kinds of health concerns underlie the conflicts and heated debates that have marked the emergence of large-scale swine production operations? A recent article in the Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health reviewed and analyzed research about public health concerns of neighbors exposed to emissions from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Results indicated that concerns involve more than odor.

Reference: Use a title search (“Public health concerns”) or author search (Thu) for the full citation.

Improved public view about swine farmers.

An advertising campaign by the Ontario (Canada) Pork Producers Marketing Board is reported to be influencing public views about how swine farmers are treating the environment. A report in Marketing magazine indicated that “83% of people surveyed see hog farmers as committed to improving the environment on farms, a 17-point shift since the launch of our advertising.” Findings are based on tracking studies from the spring 2002 campaign, first stage of a three-year advertising and marketing strategy.

Reference: Use a title search (“The other side of the story”) or author search (Vidoczy) for the full reference. The report was posted online (August 12, 2002) and archived at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/animalnet-archives.htm

When the public gets a bigger picture – a longer view – of clear-cutting.

The public generally dislikes this forest management practice. However, findings of a study in Washington State suggested that certain kinds of information about the practice can influence public views. Messages used in the study included information about why cutting is done, what the area would look like in the short term and what it would look like in the long term.

Reference: Use a title search (“Effects of an informational intervention”) or author search (Kearney) for the full citation.

Lost lessons from World War II.

Remove barriers to consumption before trying to change food habits. A recent study reported in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketingunderscored this oft-ignored lesson, and others, through a review of research conducted during World War II. At that time, U.S. citizens were encouraged to incorporate protein-rich organ meats into their diets – meats such as liver, tongue, hearts, kidneys, sweetbreads, pork feet and ox tails. More than 200 studies were conducted to help identify effective ways of adjusting food habits of Americans. Those studies, mostly unpublished, “restructured social norms, changed perceptions of taste, and helped assimilate variety into the U.S. diet.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Changing eating habits”) or author search (Wansink) for the full citation.

“The purpose of college publicity.is not to advertise the institution.”

So reported Henry Jackson Waters, president of Kansas State Agricultural College, in a 1916 address to the American Association of Agricultural College Editors. The ACDC collection contains this speech in which Waters argued: “The institution has no right to impose upon the newspapers in any such manner. If you are preparing your reading notices to advertise the institution, you should be required to put ‘advertisement’ at the end of the story and pay the regular rate for the space it occupies. Your business is to disseminate information.”

Reference: Use a title search (“The agricultural college and its editor”) or author search (Waters) for the full citation.

Rural communication – as broad as communication itself?

Harold Hoffsomer used a perspective parallel to that in analyzing the relationship between the academic fields of rural sociology and sociology. Rural sociology, he argued, “is related to the discipline as a whole and to its several component areas.” Similarly, from that perspective, rural communication relates to communication theory, processes, systems and methods as a whole. The unique dimensions of it involve subject content, audiences, settings, approaches and other special applications. Your thoughts?

Reference: Use a title search (“Rural sociology: its origin”) or author search (Nelson) for the full citation.

Favorite music in farm homes (45 years ago).

A 1957 radio listenership study in Iowa revealed big differences in the music preferences of farm women, men, girls and boys. For example, here are the top-ranked “favorite” types of music that each group identified:

Farm women, over 19:	Waltzes and “sweet” music	62%
	Current popular music	52%

Farm men, over 19:	Waltzes and “sweet” music	58%
	Western and country music	52%

Farm girls, 13 to 19:	Current popular music	88%
	Rock and roll, rhythm and blues	72%

Farm boys, 13-19:	Rock and roll, rhythm and blues	88%
	Current popular music	87%

Reference: Use a title search (“Farm radio audience figures”) for the full citation.

And some favorite stories.

We enjoyed running across a batch of hoop snake, joint snake, horsehair snake and doodlebug tales shared by readers in issues of the Illinois state farm paper, Prairie Farmer, during the 1920s. Here’s an example from one reader: “As I was hoeing corn one day I saw a large hoop snake come rolling toward me. I jumped to one side, but it hit the hoe handle with its horn, and in two hours the handle had swelled until it burst the eye of the hoe. What is your comment on that?” The editor’s reply: “I’m speechless.”

Professional Activities Approaching

October 17-19, 2002
45th Annual Meeting, National Market News Association inPhoenix, Arizona.Information: www.ams.usda.gov/poultry/mncs/nmna/nmna.htm

November 3-5, 2002
“Marketing – find the right fit.” Marketing superworkshopsponsored by Agricultural Communicators in Educationin Fort Worth, Texas.Information: www.aceweb.org

November 13-17, 2002
“Experience the magic of farm broadcasting.”Annual convention of National Association of Farm Broadcastersin Kansas City, Missouri.Information: www.nafb.com

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 02-17

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

Twelve new ACE research papers.

Here are the titles of 12 research papers presented at the recent Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) conference in Savannah, Georgia:

Thanks to help from the Research Special Interest Group of ACE, we are pleased to help announce these useful research reports and make them available to you in full-text electronic format.

Examples of our scattered literature.

These ACE research reports offer a good example of the widely varied sources of literature relevant to agricultural communications. You will notice (in the reference sections) a considerable range of journals that the researchers used and cited. Here are a few examples from off the beaten path: Newspaper Research Journal, Risk Analysis, New Yorker, The Economist, Information Technology and People, International Journal of Management Science, Food Control, Current Anthropology.

Quick turnaround.

We try to respond quickly and helpfully to requests for documents that ACDC visitors identify through their online searching. One of our quickest responses occurred recently when a searcher needed information for a fast-approaching project deadline. She had scouted locally (and online) for print copies or other full texts of documents identified earlier through her ACDC searching. So she checked with us, gave us the titles and numbers of documents she needed and, within a day, had 12 documents (about 80 pages of information) in hand.

At such times we appreciate anew our policy of maintaining a documentation center rather than merely a citation database.

Users benefit through our access to documents that we add to the ACDC collection. All documents that online searchers identify are available here at the Center or elsewhere within the University of Illinois Library. This policy, one of our first and most basic, seems especial important because a large share of information about agriculture-related communicating is not available in full-text electronic form.

Dining out — pigging out.

A healthy dining campaign may help improve beliefs and attitudes toward healthy menu choices, but it may not influence what diners order in restaurants. Findings of a study presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association suggested: “While higher income, time pressured individuals recognize the importance of healthy dining, they are less likely to view healthy menu items as appealing.” Authors described their social marketing campaign and offered recommendations for health education efforts.

Reference: Use a title search (“Responses to a healthy dining campaign”) or author search (Acharya) for the full citation. The paper was posted on: http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/pdf_view.pl?paperid=4457&ftype=.pdf

A call for “truth commission” food ads.

“Every commercial for food and drugs should be taxed — with the proceeds going to pay for ‘truth commission’ ads from independent researchers.” That proposal came early this year from Norman Solomon, writing in the Media Beat section of the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) web site. His reason: “We’re besieged by advertising that tells us what to put in our mouths — but doesn’t tell us relevant information that we need to know.”

Reference: Use a title search (“A modest proposal”) or author search (Solomon) for the full citation. The commentary was posted on: www.fair.org/media-beat/020620.html

Another approach: food labels “named and shamed” as misleading.

An “Honest Food Labelling” campaign by the United Kingdom Consumers’ Association is highlighting 19 summer-season products considered to have misleading labels. A news report in PA News cited several examples, including a brand of crème fraiche that the marketer “claimed had 50% less fat, but still contained 15g. in every 100g.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Misleading labels”) or author search (Hiscott) for the full citation. The report was posted online at: www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/fsnet-archives.htm

Farmers and fear appeals.

You probably have seen many research studies about the kinds of safety-related message appeals that influence farmers and others. Findings have been decidedly mixed. Here’s a recent farm safety study indicating that “.narrative-based messages and messages incorporating fear appeals are more favorably evaluated by farmers than messages that simply inform farmers or messages that rely on statistics.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Stories or statistics?”) or author search (Morgan) for the full citation.

One big gossiping family.

More than 20 years ago when Arthur C. Clarke looked at new communication technologies and the developing world he predicted: “Sometime during the next century, the human race will become one big gossiping family.” Are we on the trail?

Reference: Use a title search (“New communication technologies”) or author search (Clarke) for the full citation.

Professional activities approaching:

October 8-10, 2002
“Agriculture is Expanding.” 2002 Agribusiness Forum sponsored byNational Agri-Marketing Association in Kansas City, Missouri.Information: www.nama.org/forum

October 17-19, 2002
45th Annual Meeting, National Market News Association inPhoenix, Arizona.Information: www.ams.usda.gov/poultry/mncs/nmna/nmna.htm

November 3-5, 2002
“Marketing – find the right fit.” Marketing superworkshopsponsored by Agricultural Communicators in Educationin Fort Worth, Texas.Information: www.aceweb.org

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 02-16

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

Whatever happened to low-power television for rural areas?

In 1980 the Federal Communications Commission envisioned what Sterling and Kittross described as a “new age of neighborhood television stations and rural services where none existed thus far..” It launched a low-power television (LPTV) system and invited applications for such stations that might be constructed at relatively low cost. Two things happened, according to the authors in their history of American broadcasting:

Applicants (including large retail marketers) flooded the FCC with hundreds of applications that slowed and complicated the process due to legal, political, procedural and other aspects.
“The other problem was more serious and long lasting – how to support such tiny stations. Advertisers were not usually interested in their miniscule audiences, and few stations could afford the fees to secure programming for pay-TV.”

By the end of 1988, only 455 LPTV stations were on the air in the U.S., mainly in rural and some suburban areas. Currently, more than 2,300 of such stations operate. Have you seen reports about ways in which they are serving rural areas and interests? If so, please let us know.

Reference: Use a title search (“Stay tuned”) or author search (Sterling) for the full citation.

“Unlimited possibilities for rural America.”

A recent article in Rural Cooperatives magazine from the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggested that “broadband communications may offer rural areas across America the ability to develop new alternatives to reliance on farm income and erase the economic gap between town and country once and for all.” It cited examples involving telemedicine and distance education services.

Reference: Use a title search (“Closing the gap”) or author search (Thompson) for the full citation.

Proceedings of National Extension Technology Conference 2002 are available online in the form of abstracts, power point presentations and full-text papers.

Here are some of the topics addressed in sessions of NETC 2002 that took place during May at Pennsylvania State University:

High tech, high touch extension programs
Virtual private networking
The psychology of interactions between humans and web sites
Imaging migration
Extension-related uses of distance education
Videoconferencing
Web page management
Protecting your Internet privacy
High and low tech methods of developing extension publications

Reference: The sessions were posted on: www.netc2002.psu.edu

Needed: less reverence for mass communication research.

Robert Lindsay’s comments of more than 25 years ago still provoke thought about approaches to communication research in support of agricultural and rural development. In a Media Asia article that we added recently to the ACDC collection, Lindsay suggested that “what mass communication research requires as much as anything is a rapid dissipation of the reverence with which it is treated, especially in institutions of higher learning.”

“I think we academics – professors especially but including advanced-standing aspirants to our ranks – spend far too much time in pseudo-serious theorising, in wafting to the ceilings of our classrooms and laboratories great, obfuscatory clouds of pontification about communication ‘theory,’ about models and methodological trivia and hypotheses null-and-nonsensical.” The University of Minnesota communications faculty member suggested research areas and approaches that he thought more deserving of attention.

Reference: Use a title search (“Descending from the clouds”) or author search (Lindsay) for the full citation.

New student-produced ag college magazine (online).

A report from the University of Missouri explains that students and faculty of the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources “stay posted these days by visiting: http://cafnrcornerpost.com. There they find the new Corner Post news site, launched in February by students of the MU agricultural journalism program as an ongoing on-line publication.” Students researched the need, then designed and planned the site in several classes under the guidance of faculty advisor Marilyn Cummins.

Visitors to the site can find news of college and student events, calendars, opinion pieces, job and internship information “and even some fun stuff.”

Experimenting with field days.

Rural-urban communicating is one purpose of some new approaches being tried for field days, according to a recent article by Rich Fee in Successful Farming magazine. He cited an example in Minnesota and examined some other forces that are leading research stations, extension educators, marketers and others to re-examine their use of field days.

Reference: Use a title search (“Field days are changing”) or author search (Fee) for the full citation.

To whom should safe food handling campaigns be addressed?

Men. College graduates. Higher income households. People younger than 65 years. A recent nationwide study reported in the Journal of Food Protection indicated that these groups of U.S. consumers use relatively less-safe practices in handling and washing fresh produce.

Reference: Use a title search (“Safety of consumer handling”) or author search (Li-Cohen) for the full citation. The article was posted on: http://ernesto.catchword.com

“None so deaf as those who don’t want to hear.”

Crispin Tickell used that expression in a recent Science commentary to describe problems of communicating about climate change. It is always hard to give climate change the appropriate public urgency, Tickell noted, even when the existence of human-driven climate change is not in doubt. “Making unwelcome changes now to avoid possible consequences in an uncertain future is a difficult proposition to sell to anyone.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Communicating climate change”) or author search (Tickell) for the full citation. The article was posted (August 2, 2002) on: http://131.104.232.9/agnet-archives.htm

Molehills and mountains.

The following observation by Christian Grote caught our eye in an article that we added to the ACDC collection involving information imbalance in Asia:

“A mole hill in front of one’s own door is always more interesting than the mountain elsewhere.”

Professional activities approaching

September 18-20, 2002
“Looking back to Our Future.” Fall meeting of AgriculturalRelations Council in Chicago, Illinois.Information: www.nama.org/arc/future-index.html

October 8-10, 2002
“Agriculture is Expanding.” 2002 Agribusiness Forum sponsored byNational Agri-Marketing Association in Kansas City, Missouri.Information: www.nama.org/forum

October 17-19, 2002
45th Annual Meeting, National Market News Association inPhoenix, Arizona.Information: www.ams.usda.gov/poultry/mncs/nmna/nmna.htm

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 02-15

Posted on January 22, 2002 by Hailley Shaw

Competitive intelligence for tobacco public relations.

A recent article in the American Journal of Public Health described how the tobacco industry collects information about public health groups. Methods cited include information gathering under false pretenses, covertly taped strategy sessions, public relations spies at meetings, and others. The author concluded that “public health advocates often make light of tobacco industry observers, but industry surveillance may be real, intense, and covert and may obstruct public health initiatives.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Tobacco industry surveillance”) or author search (Malone) for the full citation. The journal article [92(6): 955-960] was posted on: www.ajph.org

Are the Internet and mobile phones changing life styles?

Not much in Japan, according to a national sample of 2,818 Japanese 16 years and older. Authors of the study that is reported in NHK Broadcasting Studies2002 found: “Many people are tapping the new media, using mobile phones and the Internet. They tend to feel that not much has changed in their daily lives by adopting these media.” When asked whether the Internet will change their future life style, 38 percent said the Internet “will change things” while 31 percent said it “won’t change things.”

Among the respondents employed in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, 30 percent reported that they use mobile phones. Internet use was low within this occupational group, with only 5 percent using both mobile phones and the Internet.

Reference: Use a title search (“Will the Internet take the place”) or author search (Shuichi) for the full citation.

Lots of farm radio listeners.

“Imagine a radio network with 440 million listeners – more than the combined population of the United States, Canada and Mexico. That network exists in the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network (DCFRN), Toronto, Canada,” according to Julienne Spence and Sarah Andrewes in a recent Agri Marketing feature. They explained that DCFRN has “educated radio listeners in developing countries since 1979 and established itself as the leading rural radio network for farmers.” In this article they described the formation, philosophy and approach used by this network that now spans 70 countries with more than 500 partner stations and 600 members. Funding comes primarily from donations and the Canadian International Development Agency.

Reference: Use a title search (“Spanning the globe”) or author search (Spence) for the full citation. The article was posted (June 2002 issue) on: www.agrimarketing.com

Farm broadcaster says this probably tops the list.

“As I reflect back upon the many great things I have been involved in, this probably tops the list,” said Ed Slusarcrzyk of the Ag Radio Network, Utica, New York in the July issue of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Chats newsletter. This article reported on recent activities of Slusarcrzyk and a colleague concerning Uganda. They took part in a conference of the East African Rural Broadcasters Association involving representatives from about 55 East African radio stations that serve millions of rural listeners. The report included a description of follow-up activities sparked by this interaction.

Reference: Use a title search (“Radio in Uganda”) or author search (Slusaracrzyk) for the full citation.

“Communicating about biotechnology” is the theme of a special issue of the online journal, AgBioForum.

Articles in this recent issue examine how consumers form perceptions about new technologies, such as agricultural biotechnology. Titles include:

“A primer on risk: an interdisciplinary approach to thinking about public understanding of agbiotech”
“Sending messages nobody wants to hear: a primer in risk communication”
“The dynamics of scientific controversies”
“Communication of food-related risks”
“Opinions about biotechnologies”
“Public perceptions and willingness-to-pay a premium for non-GM foods in the US and UK”
“The public debate on agrobiotechnology: a biotech company’s perspective”
“Mass media communications about agrobiotechnology”
“Compartmentalization: implications for food biotechnology coverage”

Reference: Use title searches for the full citations. The issue (Volume 4, Numbers 3 and 4) was posted online at: www.agbioforum.org

Netwar – “a much more fruitful avenue of study.”

A commentary by ePublic Relations Ltd. noted that much of the AgBioForum issue was devoted to risk theory – risk perception, risk management and risk communications. “Unfortunately, such devotion to understanding risk offers only limited insight into appreciating the opposition to biotechnology.” The commentary suggested that biotech communicators “adopt the mindset of a netwarrior” and described an all-channel network approach.

Reference: Use a title search (“21st century PR”) for the full citation. The commentary was posted on:www.epublicrelations.org/PRWarIdeas.html

Three kinds of change-related communicating.

We noted them recently while reviewing the proceedings of a 1970 workshop about communicating with the rural disadvantaged. Participants heard a suggestion from Louis A. Zurcher, Jr., that they consider three kinds of change-related communication:

Communication for change. Transmits motivational messages – encouragement to join, to learn, to be trained, to receive service, to modify some set of personality or social characteristics
“Such communication can be informative, educational, and accomplish at least some degree of poverty amelioration.”
Communication of change. Transmits what is happening or has happened that impinges upon the conditions that sustain poverty. “This form of communication can create a sense of legitimacy, of effectiveness, for poverty intervention attempts.”
Communication as change. Combines both of the other kinds, and “adds an important perspective of the change process. … The characteristics of both the advantaged and disadvantaged are seen to be part of the same overall social milieu and to have points of similarity as well as difference.” This perspective, he argued, helps maintain feelings of self-esteem and control in one’s social and physical environment.

Reference: Use a title search (“Characteristics of the disadvantaged”) or author search (Zurcher) for the full citation.

Communication – not always a change agent.

A deceptively simple observation by N. L. Chowla might speak to those today who are surprised or disappointed by the lingering agricultural biotechnology “debate” and other contentious issues. Chowla wrote in a 1983 issue of Media Asia:

“Communication is like a two-edged sword which works both ways – for reinforcement as well as for change.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Change – an Indian overview”) or author search (Chowla) for the full citation.

Professional activities approaching.

September 6-8, 2002
Meeting of North American Agricultural Journalists at St. Paul, Minnesota.
Information: http://naaj.tamu.edu/meetings.htm

September 12-14, 2002
“The Atlantic Odyssey.” Annual meeting of the Canadian Farm Writers’
Federation at Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Information: www.cfwf.ca

September 18-20, 2002
“Looking Back to Our Future.” Fall meeting of Agricultural Relation
Council in Chicago, Illinois.
Information: www.nama.org/arc/future-index.html Back to top