January 2003 – Page 2 – Funk Library

ACDC News – Issue 03-13

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Fifteen new research papers from 2003 ACE Conference.

We are pleased to help announce the peer-reviewed research papers presented during an Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) conference in Kansas City, Missouri, during June. Use the e-mail addresses to get in touch with authors of papers that may hold special interest for you.

Theme: “Technologies and teaching issues”

“Signaling quality in an E-commerce environment: the case of an emerging e-grocery sector.” Stan Ernst (Ernst.1@osu.edu), Neal H. Hooker, Julia Heilig, Ohio State University.
“GNC University: a case study in partnering business and education through distance learning.” Lisa K. Lundy (lkj@ufl.edu), Tracy A. Irani, R. Elaine Turner, Susan S. Percival, Britton McPherson, University of Florida.
“Developing agricultural communications’ products for stakeholders: examining the relationship between stakeholders’ backgrounds in the sciences/languages and their ability to decode scientific terminology.” Susan Grantham (grantham@ufl.edu), Tracy A. Irani, University of Florida.
“Relationship between Extension worldviews, perceptions of Extension roles, and the use of Extension in the Florida beef cattle industry.” Emily E. Eubanks, Tracy A. Irani (irani@ufl.edu), University of Florida.
“Critical thinking dispositions of agricultural communication students.” Emily Bisdorf-Rhoades, Lisa K. Lundy (lkj@ufl.edu), Tracy A. Irani, Ricky Telg, University of Florida.

Theme: “Communication sources, channels and current issues”

“Is your food safe or scary? How U.S. news magazines communicated food safety issues, 1990-2000.” Sherrie R. Whaley (whaley.3@osu.edu), Ohio State University; David L. Doerfert, Texas Tech University.
“Preferred communication sources and food-related risks: a statewide analysis.” Sherrie R. Whaley (whaley.3@osu.edu), Mark Tucker, Jeff Sharp, Lynn Knipe, Ohio State University.
“Reaching Florida urban opinion leaders: a quantitative study to uncover preferred communication channels.” Amanda Ruth, Lisa K. Lundy (lkj@ufl.edu), University of Florida.
“Future agricultural communicators’ awareness of and attitudes toward biotechnology issues reported in mass media.” Gary J. Wingenbach (g-wingenbach@tamu.edu), Tracy A. Rutherford, Deborah W. Dunsford, Texas A&M University.
“Selected college students’ knowledge and perceptions of biotechnology issues reported in mass media.” Gary J. Wingenbach (g-wingenbach@tamu.edu), Tracy A. Rutherford, Deborah W. Dunsford, Texas A&M University.

Theme: “Biotechnology: advertising, media coverage and public opinion”

“Consumer perceptions of trust, risk and credibility of agricultural biotechnology advertising.” Tracy Irani (irani@ufl.edu), Janas Sinclair, University of Florida.
“GMOs generate few fears here: an in-depth look at understanding, attitudes and behaviors about food irradiation and genetically modified organisms by Iowans.” Eric A. Abbott (eabbott@iastate.edu), Iowa State University.
“Framing biotechnology: a comparison of U.S. and British newspapers.” Lisa K. Lundy (lkj@ufl.edu), Tracy Irani, University of Florida.
“Oregon’s vote to label genetically engineered food: a case study of the media messages designed to influence voters.” David L. Doerfert (david.doerfert@ttu.edu), Cindy Akers, Jacqui Haygood, Mark Kistler, Texas Tech University.
“Opinion leaders’ attitudes toward genetic engineering: the Philippine case.” Lulu Rodriguez (lulurod@iastate.edu), Iowa State University.

“Americans starved for dietary information.”

That is the title from a 2002 Gallup Poll summary that we added recently to the ACDC collection. Nearly one in four Americans (24%) is very confused or somewhat confused about how to eat a healthy diet, up from 17% three years ago.

“A large percentage of Americans are trying to keep up-to-date on how to eat well – 55% say they pay at least a fair amount of attention to food warnings and nutritional recommendations.”

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

Are agricultural futures markets generating accurate price information?

Agricultural economist Scott Irwin shed light on this question in a presentation at the 2003 USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum. His research examined the extent to which increased concentration of trading by large, “managed” funds artificially increases price volatility in agricultural futures markets. Results revealed “strong evidence of a small, but positive, relationship” between futures price volatility and trading volume of large, “managed” funds.

Reference: Use a title search (Are futures markets) or author search (Irwin) for the full citation.

Professional activities approaching

September 28, 2003
“Media relations made easy.” Superworkshop of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE) at New Orleans, Louisiana.
Information: www.lsuagcenter.com/ace

October 1, 2002
Deadline for research papers and professional papers to be considered for presentation to the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association for Agricultural Scientists.
SAAS meets in Tulsa, Oklahoma,

February 14-18, 2004.
Submissions are open to all members of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE).
Information: rtelg@mail.ifas.ufl.edu.

Of interest to gardeners and job seekers.

We close this issue of ACDC News with two classified ads that may interest you if you garden and/or seek a change of occupation.

“For sale: Garden tools that make work easier and last longer.”
“Wanted: A competent person to undertake the sale of a new medicine that will prove highly lucrative to the undertaker.”

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 (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu).

ACDC News – Issue 03-12

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

“I don’t get to be Bob Woodward every day here

…but I do have a chance to make a difference in our community.” That was the observation of one reporter cited in a recent article about rural weekly newspapers in West Virginia. The article described rural newspaper journalism as an “intimate undertaking” and rural weeklies as “invaluable voices that often are the only source of local news.”

Reference: On the “Real Search” page of the ACDC web site, use a title search (Up close and personal) or author search (Temple) for the full citation.

Never use the word “miracle” in reporting about food or health.

“Leave that to ministers, mayonnaise-makers and sportswriters,” according to Mervin Block. His suggestion was part of an article in American Journalism Reviewabout how news media can help consumers deal with confusing, conflicting information about fat in the foods they eat.

Reference: Use a title search (Fat city) or author search (Smolkin) for the full citation.

Why “farmer participation” is often more talk than walk.

Internationally, hundreds of agricultural and rural development proposals and analyses call for greater farmer participation in matters that affect them. Experiences throughout the world are showing the need for “grassroots” rather than “top-down” approaches. A recent article in the Journal of Social Development in Africa offered a case example and identified some reasons for resistance to participatory approaches. Among them:

Participatory development “means giving away some of the authority that is most treasured by the traditional practitioner – the authority to decide for others.”
It calls for a total change in management styles, official and personal interactions as well as procedures. “It requires that development agencies soften their hierarchy, revise project management procedures and produce new training materials.”
Non-governmental organizations that “are the most relevant in spreading the ideals of participatory development” rely on external funding, so must account to their financiers rather than to the communities they are supposed to assist.”Reference: Use a title search (Trends in participatory development) or author search (Dipholo) for the full citation.

Training of environmental reporters.

A study reported in Newspaper Research Journal during late 2000 showed that fewer than half (45 percent) of the surveyed environmental reporters had specific training to cover the environment. Researchers also found that “many environmental reporters have reduced their commitment to the beat, and see their news organizations as doing the same.”

Reference: Use a title search (Changing work environments) or author search (Detjen) for the full citation.

Similar situation in training for health reporting.

A 1999 survey by Melinda Voss among newspaper health reporters in the Midwest U.S. showed that nearly 83 percent said they had “no training, besides on-the-job experience, that specifically helped them cover health issues.” Only 31 percent felt “very confident” reporting health news; others said they lacked proficiency and wanted help.

In a 2003 issue of Nieman Reports, Voss offered ideas about how to encourage professional development through workshops, seminars and curricula.

Reference: Use a title search (Why reporters and editors) or author search (Voss) for the full citation. The article was posted on:
www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/03-1NRspring/46-48V57N1.pdf
A related report by Voss was posted on: www.ahcj.umn.edu/files/checkthepulse.pdf

What interest does ACDC take in environmental and health reporting?

When you search the ACDC collection you can find hundreds of articles about these fields of interest. We don’t, however, include all aspects of environmental and health communicating. Here are some of the guidelines used to decide what goes into ACDC:

Environmental communications. We look for environment-related literature that touches on the connections between the environment and agriculture, food, and rural matters. For example, we are particularly interested in communications as related to soil and water conservation; pollution due to runoff of soil, fertilizers or pesticides from farmland; management of forests, wildlife and other rural aspects of natural resource management; food-related implications of global warming; and management of livestock wastes, among others. You will also find literature on media reporting about these aspects of the environment.
Health communications. In this broad subject area, we search particularly for literature about communications as related to (a) food, diet and nutrition and (b) rural health. As a result, for example, you will find considerable information in ACDC about consumer perceptions and understanding of food; how consumers make decisions about their diets; health aspects of food promotion and purchase; and nutrition education programs. You will also find literature about attitudes of rural people toward their health; information technology for delivering rural health services; and programs of health information/education for rural people.

On the powerful role of agricultural information.

“This study provides new evidence on the powerful role of information in shaping consumer response to agricultural biotechnology,” concluded a recent report from the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. The researchers used an experimental auction to assess consumers’ willingness to pay for three different food items with and without biotech labels. Prior to the bidding, each participant received one of six information packets containing statements about biotechnology gathered from a variety of revealed sources.

Findings showed that the information participants received significantly affected their bids for biotech-labeled and plain-labeled foods. Also, the study showed how consumers reacted not just to the content of information, but also to the source.

Reference: Use a title search (Effects of information on consumer demand) or author search (Tegene) for the full citation. The technical bulletin was posted on:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/tb1903/tb1903.pdf

Ethics and methods of covering sensitive rural matters.

“The Amish, Old Orders and the Media” was the title of a conference in Pennsylvania that addressed the topic during 2001. Recently we added to the ACDC collection a conference report published by Media Ethics. It featured six views of the “culture clash between the traditional Old Orders and the modern media of mass communication.” Presenters offered case examples, including perspectives on avoiding stereotypes and misrepresentations, finding sources, taking photographs, reporting deaths and crimes, and handling the “perils of insensitive deadline-driven ‘outsiders’ reporting on ‘insiders’.”

Reference: Use a title search (Amish, old orders and the media) for the full citation, including authors, titles and subjects covered in the individual presentations.

So, how did you farm magazine historians do?

How did you respond to the question raised in Issue 03-10:

When did demographic breakouts begin to appear in farm periodicals?

Our hunch – 1893 – is based on a technique, “zone advertising,” used by James M. Pierce, publisher of Pierce’s Farm Weeklies, as early as that year. In “zone advertising,” publishers divided their circulation so advertisers could cover territories or zones favorable to their selling plans. Pierce “zoned” editorial content as well as advertising.

Professional activities approaching

July 27-30, 2003
“Cleveland Rocks!” Agricultural Publications Summit, a joint meeting of
American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA), Livestock Publications Council (LPC) and American Business Media: Agri-Council in Cleveland, Ohio. Information: http://www.ageditors.com

July 30-31, 2003
Summer Meeting, Agricultural Relations Council, at Cleveland, Ohio. Celebrates 50th anniversary of ARC.
Information: http://www.nama.org/arc/

July 30-August 1, 2003
InfoAg 2003 at Indianapolis, Indiana. Organized by the Foundation for Agronomic Research, Potash and Phosphate Institute and Croplife Media Group.
Information: http://www.farmresearch.com/infoag/

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 03-11

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Educators, networkers, recruiters, trainers and salespeople.

Public affairs specialists fill all those roles, and more, according to a recent article in FDA Consumer magazine. Author Linda Bren reported that 2002 marked “the 50th anniversary of this elite team of more than 40 professionals” working within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They “reached more than 1 million people through 2,300 outreach and educational programs and 450 workshops, conferences, and meetings. All told, the team responded to over 10,000 inquiries in 2001.”

This article, added recently to the ACDC collection, described the history of public affairs specialists within FDA and cited examples to show their broadening range of responsibilities.

Reference: Use a title search (Public affairs specialists) or author search (Bren) for the full citation. The article was posted on: http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2002/602_pas.html

Grassroots approach worked better.

Two case histories reported earlier this year in Rural Cooperatives documented that point. A study by Randy Ziegenhorn examined results of two cooperative-like networks organized by Iowa hog farmers to improve their profitability. One cooperative, involving an Extension Service pork team, “was formed among those farmers described as ‘progressive enough to accept the networking concept’.” It played out into a “top-down, one-size-fits-all production model that didn’t fit the needs of the members.” Another network, formed by a veterinarian, developed a “bottom-up” plan to fit a group of farmers with similar production and financial needs.

The article briefly described results of the two network approaches.

Reference: Use a title search (Network difficulties) or author search (Ziegenhorn) for the full citation. Check with us at docctr@library.uiuc.edu if you are interested in seeing the article, but have no local access to it.

Participation: part of a long-term shift.

Bryant E. Kearl, University of Wisconsin, observed that in the 1960s “applied research in communications in agricultural development could confine itself to a single question: how can messages about improved farming practices be made more persuasive and brought more fully to the attention of the man on the land.” By the mid-1970s, he said, two important new questions had emerged:

What channels of communication, administrative or otherwise, will best integrate the contributions of diverse public and private agencies in meeting agricultural development needs?
2. What communications channels and devices will help rural people clarify their alternatives, organize their resources, and make those outside the community aware of their needs?

He foresaw an increasing “judgment that, to the maximum extent possible, the decisions that relate to development need to be decentralized and placed close to the people they affect.” More than a quarter century later, the extent to which that vision has or has not materialized remains a hot topic for debate, globally.

Reference: Use a title search (Communication for agricultural development) or author search (Kearl) for the full citation.

Room for improvement in food safety knowledge.

“We were very surprised to see that most people in Ireland do not know the correct temperature to operate the fridge at,” said the marketing and communications director of the Food Safety Promotion Board. A recent survey among more than 1,000 persons revealed that 78 percent did not know the correct temperature for food refrigeration. This finding, and others, illustrated “a clear need for greater information on food safety.”

Reference: Use a title search (New study reveals room) for the full citation. A news summary was posted at: http://www.safefoodonline.com

How you ask the biotech questions – it matters.

Public opinion findings (2001-2002) from Europe illustrate how opinions on eating food produced using biotechnology can be affected by the way the question was phrased or asked. A review by KRC Research indicated “more neutral language leads to higher levels of support.” For example, among European consumers, “few support using [biotechnology] to genetically modify food.” However, “50 percent of the UK respondents say they would support using biotechnology for ‘food production’.”

Reference: Use a title search (EU views on agri-biotech) for the full citation. A summary of the review was posted onhttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/CBTNews/2003_Issues/April/CBT_April_4.htm

Wings clipped on scientist critical of agri-biotech?

The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported earlier this year a “squabble” about whether a junior University of California-Berkeley professor “who has become a leading biotech industry critic can get a fair hearing in a tenure review.” The article involved Ignacio Chapela, “who in 1998 led a fight against a controversial research partnership between the biotech firm Novartis and Berkeley’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Chapela…also co-wrote a journal article in 2001 in which he reported finding gene fragments from bioengineered corn in the genomes of native Mexican maize.”

Critics and supporters of the junior professor, on campus and off, were weighing in with their views. In late March, the tenure review had already gone twice as long as usual.

Reference: Use a title search (Critic of biotech corn fears) or author text (Abate) for the full citation. Archived March 23 on: http://131.104.232.9/agnet-archives.htm. This document adds to ACDC resources involving information control, scientific communication, ethical issues and related subjects. Use subject terms such as these to scout the current collection.

How farmers are spending their time with media.

“How has the time spent with media changed, if at all, because of your use of the internet?” An Ag Media Research (AMR) radio study showed the following responses to that question among farmers interviewed early in 2003 at the Belt Wide Cotton Conference, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Convention and Commodity Classic:

34.7% said less time with television, 58.8% said no change
26.3% said less time with magazines, 64.6% said no change
17.2% said less time with radio, 75.6% said no change
32.8% said less time with direct mail

Reference: Use a title search (2003 AMR Intercept) for the full citation.

The rural “economy of affection.”

We noted that expression used in a recent journal article about persistence of the family farm. Researcher Jilly M. Ngwainmbi was analyzing this subject in Cameroon, but some of the points seem to resonate well beyond that nation.

“Agricultural policies driven by economic models which only assume farmers’ responsiveness to economic incentives, without considering other subjective values…tend to alienate farmers and are doomed to failure,” the author argued. Results of this case study indicated:
1. “There is a sacred component to agriculture,
2. there are rituals which provide for social bonding, and
3. there is a process of self-definition, self-determination, and self-actualization associated with food production.”

Reference: Use a title search (Persistence of the family farm) or author search (Ngwainmbi) for the full citation.

Professional activities approaching

July 27-30, 2003
“Cleveland Rocks!” Agricultural Publications Summit, a joint meeting of American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA), Livestock Publications Council (LPC) and American Business Media: Agri-Council in Cleveland, Ohio.
Information: http://www.ageditors.com

More rural classifieds

“Wanted: A laborer and a boy; with grazing for two goats; both Protestants.”

“Lost: Lost near Tipperary, on or about Tuesday morning last, a large pig. Had no marks on his ears except a short tail, and a slight limp in one leg.”

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 03-10

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Rural life – a crime scene on network news.

More than three of every four network television news stories about rural America focus on crime, according to a recent study by the Center for Media and Public affairs. A news release summarizing the findings of this 2002 analysis also reported an agenda gap between print and network coverage of rural issues.

“Land use issues such as urban sprawl received the most attention in major newspapers and news magazines, while television ignored these issues entirely. News reports in print or on television rarely linked rural life to agriculture, and Currier and Ives-like portrayals of rural charm were balanced by depictions of an economically challenged or socially marginal environment.”

Reference: On the ACDC “Real Search” page, use a title search (Rural life is a crime scene) for the full citation. The news release was posted on: http://www.wkkf.org/Programming/ResourceOverview.aspx?CID=274&ID=3786

CBS Television also “stirred up a hornet’s nest in rural America”

Recently when it decided to produce a reality show with real hillbillies. In FarmWeek, commentator Stewart Truelsen indicated: “Casting was under way in Appalachia and the South when CBS encountered a firestorm of criticism. … Country folks don’t mind poking a little fun at themselves, but get tired of New York and Hollywood looking down their noses at them.”

Reference: Use a title search (CBS stirs up) or author search (Truelsen) for the full citation. You can identify other related documents by conducting a subject search or cross-search, using terms such as “rural-urban communication” or “image farmers.”

Communication and communications. New and old perspectives.

Rapid changes in information technology are stirring new discussions about a well-worn subject. That is, how do “communication” and “communications” differ? A new book, Transforming communication, addressed the question aggressively as authors cited definitions that trace back decades, yet invite continuing renewal. One author put it this way:

Communication – “the quest for satisfactory and deeper human interaction and dialogue, based on a sharing of mutually recognized signs.”

Communications – “technology, systems innovation and the speed and quantity of messages.”

The editors observed in their introduction: “…more often than not communication is captured by information.” They described transformative communication as “future generations oriented, inclusive of alternative ways of knowing, critical of technocracy, and based on direct and structural free flow of ideas and of the worldviews that are seeded in them.”

Reference: Use a title search (Transforming communication) or author search (Leggett) for the full citation.

Can new grads side-step practical experience?

“No,” say employers these days when they talk with aspiring agricultural communicators. Most insist that courses aren’t enough to prepare professional communicators. And not much has changed over the past 90 years or so. We recently entered into the ACDC collection a 1911 Agricultural Advertising commentary that offered advice to new “ad school” graduates.

“The evolution of the safe, sane, well-balanced, hundred-point advertising man requires a certain amount of time, no matter what his natural qualifications may be or how well grounded he is as to correct principles. No one was ever known to skip this practical apprenticeship and to arrive at the fullness of advertising ability. …at best, an advertising course only fits you to capably begin an advertising apprenticeship.”

Reference: Use a title search (Plaint of the ad school graduate) for the full citation.

How agricultural editors and publishers are using the Internet.

A recent article in The ByLine, newsletter of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA), examined this matter. Editors and publishers cited varied uses such as:

Expanding on articles
Providing additional sources of information
Reaching readers between issues, through e-newsletters
Increasing interactivity with readers and among readers
Providing an instant outlet for news and perspectives on the news
Conducting polls and other kinds of online research
Delivering online education

Reference: Use a title search (Up with the web) or author search (Gullickson) for the full citation.

For you farm magazine historians.

Here’s another question for your consideration in our ongoing series:

When did demographic breakouts begin to appear in farm periodicals?

Let us know by June 15 if you have a handle on this one. There’ll be a big prize, of course.

Rural telephone customers taking a hit?

“Affordable telephone service in rural America may be at risk”, according to a recent study on interstate cost recovery trends. A study by the National Exchange Carriers Association (NECA) showed that “the local service bill continues to increase as regulators shift costs from interstate access charges, paid by long distance carriers, to line items paid by end-user customers. These shifts have a disproportionate effect on rural customers, who live in areas where the underlying cost of service is higher than in non-rural areas and who have lower average incomes than their non-rural counterparts.”

Reference: Use a title search (Study reveals shifts) for the full citation. A news release about the study was posted on: http://www.neca.org/print/neca_156_1128.asp?Archives

M. Wettach, agricultural photographer.

Two remarkable recent projects – a book and a television documentary – reveal the skills and eye of a man whose photos help reveal rural life and people in the Midwestern United States a half-century ago.

Leslie A. Loveless, A bountiful harvest: the Midwestern farm photographs of Pete Wettach, 1925-1965. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. 2002. 137 pages, including more than 100 photos selected from thousands in the Wettach collection. Contact: http://www.uiowa.edu/~uipress
“The people in the pictures: stories from the Wettach farm photos.” This documentary, produced by Laurel Bower, aired to popular acclaim on Iowa Public Television and is available in VCR or DVD formats. Contact via www.iptv.org or 800-532-1290.

Wettach worked for the Farm Security Administration as a county supervisor in southeastern Iowa during the 1930s and 1940s. An introduction to the book explains: “He carried his camera as he traveled across the countryside visiting clients. Although Wettach was not hired as an FSA photographer, his pictures provide a fascinating parallel to the more famous work of his FSA colleagues Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Russell Lee. Yet unlike their photographs, his reveal an amazing intimacy and familiarity with his subjects, who were frequently his friends, neighbors, family members, and clients.” During his career, he sold photos that appeared often in issues of Wallaces Farmer and other farm magazines, general interest publications and newspapers.

Professional activities approaching

June 14-17, 2003
Cool bytes: jazz nights.” Annual meeting of the International Associationof Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE), National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) and National Agricultural Communicators Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.oznet.ksu.edu/kc2003

June 18-21, 2003
Summer meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) In Louisville, Kentucky.
Information: http://www.nafb.com or Jeanette Merritt at 317-684-4173

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 03-09

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

How could a rural town of 558 residents and limited resources move aggressively into the world of information technology?

A recent AOL Rural Telecommunications Award recognized an imaginative effort in Maddock, North Dakota USA. You can see details in a case study reported in Information and communication technologies and rural development. This study described how the community caught a vision, assembled resources and created the Maddock Business and Technology Center.

A new building provided a centerpiece for action. Within it, the Center provides business services, public computer access, computer training and various computer-assisted courses. The Center even provides childcare services for young parents. It nurtures new or fledgling small businesses by providing “a package of training, affordable space, shared administrative and office services and equipment along with management assistance services.”

Reference: On the ACDC “Real Search” page, use a title search (Information and communication technologies) for the full citation.

Federal legislators view rural America today.

We have added to the ACDC collection an interesting 2002 research report, Perceptions of rural America: Congressional perspectives. The reported survey, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, involved a bi-partisan sample of 26 members of Congress representing a diverse range of states. Through personal interviews, legislators expressed their views about topics such as:

The importance of rural America to the nation
Whether rural areas represent something special in American society
Problems facing rural America
The state of rural policy (the farm bill)
Preserving the rural environment
Who speaks for rural America
The future of rural policy making

Communications emerged as a high-priority factor in the minds of these legislators. They agreed, for example, that expanding access to broadband in rural areas should a major goal in their legislative efforts.

Reference: Use a title search (Perceptions of rural America) for the full citation. The report was posted on: www.wkkf.org/Pubs/FoodRur/Pub3699.pdf

Digital gap narrowing for rural America?

The gap between households in rural areas and households nationwide that access the Internet has narrowed dramatically, according to an August 2000 study by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

“Rural households are much closer to the nationwide Internet penetration rate of 41.5%. In rural areas this year, 38.9% of the households had Internet access, a 75% increase from 22.2% in December 1998.”

Reference: Use a title search (Toward digital inclusion) for the full citation. The study was posted online at: www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide/execsumfttn00.htm

Some recent inquires directed our way.

Here are the topics involved in some of the requests that have come to the Center recently:

Attitude, perception and behavior surveys
Lists of free-lance agricultural writers
Access to samples of recorded farm radio programming
Current U.S. degree programs in agricultural journalism and agricultural communications
Role and effectiveness of journalism in support of agricultural and rural development
Sources of agricultural stock photos
Academic base for agricultural communications
Skills needed by farm broadcasters

And, yes, the inquiries sometimes fall outside of our help-zone. For example, we were not able to provide a copy of the following requested journal article: “DNA extraction method for PCR in mycorrhizal fungi.” A referral was all we could provide.

Back to the country.

Pushed or pulled? A recently published study examined the motivations of Americans involved in migration to farms during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Researcher Robert Boyd found that the rate of migration was greatest in places where the search for work by the unemployed was most intense and long-term. So he concluded: “The ‘push’ of economic dislocation was a more significant factor in the migration than was the ‘pull’ of the expected payoff to the movement.”

Reference: Use a title search (Migration of despair) or author search (Boyd) for the full citation.

“A class in agricultural journalism for girls has been established in the College of Commerce and Journalism of the Ohio State University.”

Would you believe this class was offered in 1918? According to a news report in Agricultural Advertising magazine, the class was intended to “help girls taking courses in home economics to learn how to prepare material for local and farm papers.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Class in agricultural journalism”) for the full citation.

Covering all sides of an issue.

U.S. farm broadcasters are taking a fresh look at their role in covering agricultural issues. A recent issue of NAFB Chats, newsletter of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, offered perspectives from three broadcasters. Among the comments:

“I think it’s a lot easier now to get both sides of the story.”
“I believe it’s good for any industry…to have two sides presented.”
“There’s a fine line between advocacy and objectivity. For many, many years, farm broadcasters have been viewed as advocates for agriculture and that’s still an important role. But in this day and age, we have to be journalists as well and that means we have to be objective and cover both sides of the story. That’s the kind of standard I want to set as a journalist.”
“Even though we have to ask those tough questions, they look forward to having us come back.”

Reference: Use a title search (Broadcasters say diversity) or author search (Crebs) for the full citation.

Rural news from the classifieds.

“Just received a fine lot of live Ostend rabbits. Persons purchasing the same will be skinned and cleaned while they wait.”

“Wanted – a young man to take care of a pair of mules of a Christian disposition.”

“No person having once tried one of these coffins will ever use any other.”

Professional activities approaching

May 13-14, 2003

Bridging the “digital divide.” Workshop focusing on Cooperative Extension System programs that help community leaders and residents move into the information age. Sponsored by the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development and hosted at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. Information: www.cas.nercrd.psu.edu/bdd.htm

June 18-21, 2003
Summer meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) In Louisville, Kentucky.
Information: http://www.nafb.com or Jeanette Merritt at 317-684-4173

June 18-22, 2003
“Farming under the public eye.” Meeting of the International Federation ofAgricultural Journalists (IFAJ) at the Agricultural University of Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Information: www.ifaj2003.nl

June 21-24, 2003
50 years: raising the standards of cooperative communication.50th Annual Institute of the Cooperative Communicators Association(CCA) in Madison, Wisconsin.
Information:www.communicators.coo

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 03-08

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Higher-wire balancing act for science communicators.

A talk delivered at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science highlighted this need. David Dickson used recent food safety scares in Britain to illustrate how “science communication has become a major factor in the formulation of policy on science-related issues, not just a commentary on the way such issues are addressed.” He argued that science communicators must “balance a desire to inform the public about the scientific perspective on controversial issues – such as BSE or genetically-modified crops – with an awareness of the political interests that may lie on each side of such a dispute.”

He recommended a two-way process in which science communicators become “proxies for the public when it comes to interpreting and articulating the relationship between science and society, or to put it another way, between knowledge and power.”

Reference: Use a title search (Bringing science communication) or author search (Dickson) for the full citation. The presentation was posted online at:
http://www.scidev.net/archives/editorial/comment52.html

Rural America after 9/11.

“A quarter of people who live in large cities nationwide say their lives have changed in a major way” since the attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a year-later survey by Princeton Survey Research Associates. That is “twice the rate found in small towns and rural areas.”

Reference: Use a title search (One year later) for the full citation. This survey report was posted on: http://www.people-press.org/reports

How an era of media mergers may affect environmental news coverage.

Will fewer media outlets and pervasive cross-ownership result in one-dimensional coverage of environmental issues? Probably not, according to results of a recent 29-year content analysis involving 1,180 articles about environmental pollution. They appeared in four kinds of newspapers that vary widely in circulation, geographic location and types of readers. Researcher Linda Jean Kensicki observed that predictions of one-dimensional content may be off base. Why? Because the content already is one-dimensional and has been unchanging. “…all newspapers showed a rather monolithic presentation of the environmental movement and of air pollution. … This could only be explained by a pervasive strength in journalist norms, routines and values.”

Reference: Use a title search (No exceptions to the rule) or author search (Kensicki) for the full citation. The research paper was posted (September 2002, Week 3) on:
http://list.msu.edu/archives/aejmc.html

Dangers of editing with both eyes on the advertisers.

“If an editor must write with both eyes on the advertisers, it’s a long farewell to social, economic and moral progress.” This comment in an editorial of Farm, Stock and Home (1915)reveals the deep roots of concern about the dangers of compromising editorial freedom and integrity in commercial farm publishing. The concern has not been confined to farm publishing, of course, but touches all periodicals that rely on reader subscriptions and advertising for their survival. Nor has the concern appeared to diminish through the decades.

Reference: Use a title search (Advertising and editorial freedom) for the full citation. For another early reference about this issue, use a title search (Standards of practice).

New research about media coverage of agriculture.

Two research reports dealt with this subject at the recent National Agricultural Education Research Conference in Nevada:

Cartmell, J. Dyer and R. Birkenholz, “Gatekeeping decisions of Arkansas daily newspaper editors in publishing agricultural news.” Results showed, for example, that in choosing agricultural news the editors viewed health, food safety and environmental issues as the areas of greatest interest.

“J. Haygood, S. Hagins, C. Akers and L. Kieth, “Associated Press Wire Service coverage of agricultural issues.” Findings indicated that fewer than one-half of the statements from the Associated Press news service were based on verifiable facts. Researchers called for “continued educational efforts to increase the agricultural literacy of reporters.”

Reference: The papers were posted online at: http://aaaeonline.ifas.ufl.edu/NAERC/2002/naercfiles/papers.htm

Innovative rural uses of information technologies.

The East Clare Telecottage in Ireland offers an interesting example, as reported in a 2001 report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). County of East Clare features a predominantly agricultural economy (sheep and dairy) that is experiencing a population drain. The East Clare Telecottage, created in 1991 as a cooperative venture, later became private. At the time of the OECD report, it employed nine persons fulltime and delivered to the community a wide range of IT-related services. Examples:

printing, word processing, mailing, photocopying, message services
telemarketing services and call center services to help local businesses reach customers through advertising or marketing campaigns
consultancy services to help local interests respond to calls for proposals
training programs for individuals and businesses. Examples: delivery of the European Computer Driving License and courses for farmers through an agreement with the National Farm IT Centre

Reference: Use a title search (Information and communication technologies) for the full citation.

“Communicator, market thyself,”

urged Mark Bagby in his president’s column within a recent issue of CCA News. He explained to fellow members of the Cooperative Communicators Association, “…we went into this line of work because we love to create communications. We never realized we’d have to market ourselves and our departments, but that’s exactly what has happened, particularly when the term ‘communications’ has been co-opted by some to mean ‘hardware’.” He described other reasons for urgency in communicating within organizations about the value of what communicators do.

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

Professional activities approaching

June 14-17, 2003
Cool bytes: jazz nights.” Annual meeting of the International Association of Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE), National Extension Technology Conference (NETC) and National Agricultural Communicators Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.oznet.ksu.edu/kc2003

June 18-22, 2003
“Farming under the public eye.” Meeting of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) at the Agricultural University of Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Information: www.ifaj2003.nl

June 21-24, 2003
50 years: raising the standards of cooperative communication.50th Annual Institute of the Cooperative Communicators Association(CCA) in Madison, Wisconsin. Information:www.communicators.coo

Hotshot agricultural salesmanship.

From an agri-business letter to a customer:

“We note that we have not been favored with your patronage for some time, and hope for a continuance of same.”

Best regards and good searching.

ACDC News – Issue 03-07

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Struggling with the acronyms.

“Who cares what I-F-A-S means?” Donald Poucher asked in a recent agricultural communications research paper. His analysis involved marketing efforts of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) at the University of Florida. Demonstrated private industry success led him to observe that the actual words in a “name” acronym are irrelevant. He cited this example:

“…who knows (or cares) about the meaning of IBM, KFC, 3M, AT&T, MGM, IT&T, NASDAQ, and many others? What matters is the branding of the name and its positioning among customers and potential customers.”

Reference: On the “Real Search” page, use a title search (“Out with the old”) or author search (Poucher) for the full citation. The paper was posted on:
http://agnews.tamu.edu/saas/2003/poucher_.htm

“People eat with their eyes,”

Said H. A. Bereman in a 1916 article urging farmers to be more careful about promoting what they produce. “Did you ever think of that? That’s why we color our butter, and keep the white and brown eggs separate, and arrange the berries happy side up, and put things in spick and span shape before offering them to people who pick what looks nice.”

Looking ahead, Bereman argued, “As the farmer of the future is bound to devote more attention to marketing, advertising will occupy a large place in the plant of farm management. The only limit to this branch of business farming is the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the farmer himself.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Advertising farm products”) or author search (Bereman) for the full citation.

Communication for development – 10 insights gained.

Jan Servaes recently identified 10 “developments that seem to have taken shape” to influence viewpoints about the role of communication in development:

The growth of a deeper understanding of communication itself
A new understanding of communication as a two-way process
A new understanding of culture
The trend toward participatory democracy
Recognition of the imbalance in communication resources
The growing sense of globalization and cultural hybridization
A new understanding of what is happening within the boundaries of the so-called nation-state
Recognition of the “impact” of communication technology
A new understanding towards an integration of distinct means of communication
The recognition of dualistic or parallel communication structures

Reference: Use a title search (“Communication for development”) or author search (Servaes) for the full citation.

When awareness meets profit in development communication.

Results of a recently reported study among coca growers in the jungle valleys of Peru offer a graphic lesson about the chasm between awareness and action. The growers – involved in illegal commercialization of coca leaf and cocaine basic paste (CBP) production – “consider coca leaf to be a most profitable product and a unique opportunity to improve their quality of life. Although growers acknowledge that a problem exists among local users, they do not assume any responsibility for CPB consumption and dissemination in rural areas.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Attitudes and values of Peruvian coca growers”) or author search (Rojas) for the full citation.

Community participation – the forms it takes.

Researchers Sheridan Coakes and Brian Bishop have noted that theories and analyses of social participation focus primarily on the political and formal role of participation. However, their recent research among rural women in six shires of Western Australia showed that persons “find it difficult to separate formal and informal participation, when both have an equally important role to play in community life.” When the women were asked about their involvement in their communities, about 50% referred initially to their informal participation within the community rather than to formal community groups or associations.

Reference: Use a title search (“Defining the nature of participation”) or author search (Coakes) for the full citation.

Forces driving the privatization of information for agriculture.

Steven A. Wolf identified six economic and social forces in his introduction to a recent book featuring this subject:

Consolidation and globalization of agriculture and agribusiness, resulting in more in-house information expertise and use of advisory services. At the same time, more part-time and/or small farmers need diverse kinds of information, often outside the traditional extension model.
More customized information products (such as computer-aided databases and precision farming) rather than generic sets of regional recommendations. More interactive means of communication (such as internet and cellular technologies).
Relaxed trade barriers, lower domestic subsidies and more producers competing internationally for market share. As a result, “farmers and agribusinesses have great incentive to capture the benefits of information and ‘shield’ information from other firms.”
More differentiation of farm products and farm inputs, calling for more specialized information.
Growing importance of environmental quality, diet and health, greater awareness of agriculture-related risks and resulting need for new kinds of information delivered to varied publics.
Declining public investment in agricultural research and extension, resulting in more privatization of research and “marginalization of Extension.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Privatization of information”) or author search (Wolf) for the full citation.

And some time-tested advice to part of the private sector.

You can see that we close this issue of ACDC News on an historical note. How about this piece of advice from a 1904 issue of Agricultural Advertising magazine?

The well-bred Cow is lady-like
And gentle, mild and bland,
Altho’ sometimes her leg she’ll hike
And kick to beat the band.
Which teaches advertisers they
Must to the Public bow
Or, like the cow, the Public may
Kick up an awful row

Professional activities approaching

April 15-17, 2003
Keep it fresh.” Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show at San Diego,California. Sponsored by the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA).
Information: http://www.nama.org/amc/

June 14-17, 2003
Cool bytes: jazz nights.” Annual meeting of the International Associationof Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE), National ExtensionTechnology Conference (NETC) and National Agricultural CommunicatorsCommunicators of Tomorrow (ACT) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.oznet.ksu.edu/kc2003

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 collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801) or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu).

ACDC News – Issue 03-06

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Going online for further information.

Internet users in rural areas (45%) and small towns (47%) were more likely than those in large cities (38%) or suburbs (39%) to go online for additional information about stories they first saw in traditional media. These findings came from a 1996 Pew Research study that we added recently to the ACDC collection. Researchers observed considerable crossover among online users between use of traditional media and use of the Internet. They speculated that rural-urban differences may reflect “the limitations of the traditional media available to [rural and small town residents] locally.”

Reference: Use a title search (“News attracts most”) for the full citation. The summary of findings was posted on: www.people-press.org/reports

Rural and urban views of wilderness.

Similar, but quite different. That’s what researchers found in a study of attitudes and perceptions of wilderness in the U.S. Survey findings indicated that both rural and urban respondents expressed a positive attitude toward wilderness and a relatively high degree of environmental concern. However, findings from a photo task revealed that rural and urban residents differed in their understanding of what constitutes wilderness – and perceived the same environment in different ways.

Reference: Use a title search (“Wilderness”) or author search (Lutz) for the full citation.

Accuracy and appeal of those TV weathercasts.

Researcher Jeffrey Demas noted recently that television weather has not been studied in a communication journal since 1982. So he analyzed the accuracy of weather forecasts in central Ohio (USA) and interviewed 315 residents of that area. Among his findings:

Stations were very accurate in predicting within 48 hours, but quite inaccurate in extended forecasts.
The surveyed residents said they not only rely on the five-day forecasts, but also believe them to be accurate.
Most respondents said they choose weather forecasts for reasons other than perceived accuracy.

Reference: Use a title search (“Weather accuracy”) or author search (Demas) for the full citation. The research paper was posted (September 2002, Week 1) on:
http://list.msu.edu/archives/aejmc.html

Looking for agriculture-related literature on weather reporting?

We actively collect documents about this subject because weather information is often critically important to agricultural producers. You can identify dozens of documents if you search the ACDC collection using “weather” or “weather reports” as subject terms on the “Real Search” page. And you will see need and opportunity for more research about this aspect of agricultural communications.

Surprises off the beaten path.

It’s always a surprise to see the wide scatter of literature about the communications aspects of agriculture, food, rural affairs and related topics. As you know, we actively search for such literature, wherever it originates. Here are several examples of diverse periodicals from which we gathered articles during recent weeks: Ambio, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, American Behavioral Scientist, Ziff Davis Smart Business, Choices, Economic Botany, Journal of Community Psychology, Public Management, Agroforestry Systems, Expert Systems with Application, Substance Use and Misuse, and Food Policy.

As always, we welcome leads from you. Our limited efforts hardly scratch the surface in identifying and helping make available the global body of information about this important subject.

We are not alone in struggling to identify literature related to the communications aspects of agriculture.

After all, what should be defined as agriculture? Agricultural librarians and documentalists have wrestled for decades with this question, globally.

“I find it difficult to bring to mind a single subject that may not be implicated [in agriculture],” D. Leatherdale put it in 1973. According to B. Oviss Oruma in 1987, “Agriculture before the 20th century was understood to be related rather narrowly to farming. Since then, however, documentalists, agriculturists and agricultural researchers have redefined agriculture so generally as to make it unmanageably vast. So broad has agriculture become that it now embraces animal sciences, crop husbandry, forestry, fisheries, human food and nutrition, rural development and sociology, biotic resources, environmental sciences and much more.”

Today, we can add substantially to that list as agriculture is seen to encompass the entire food chain and the public/consumer aspects related to it. And, of course, every part of agriculture involves communications – the other partner concept of interest to us.

Reference: Use a title search (“Problems of information management in agriculture”) or author search (Oruma) for the full citation.

At the same time, our knowledge base is deteriorating – physically.

We are continually challenged by reports such as one in 1992 from the National Agricultural Library. The title read, “Study finds nation’s agricultural knowledge in danger.” Findings indicated that more than one-half of the monographs and serials in that important collection were disintegrating. More than one-fourth were brittle at that time, the contents in need of transfer to another medium.

We at ACDC share in the urgency of that mandate. Our role must involve not only helping identify and gather useful information, but also helping preserve it.

Reference: Use a title search (Study finds agricultural) or author search (Norris) for the full citation.

Risks of reporter specialization.

What happens when newspapers use specialized reporters on the news staff? Will specialized reporters increase the diversity of media content and help the public become informed about a wider range of public problems?

A research report that we added recently to the ACDC collection provided little support for such a scenario. Instead, researchers concluded: “What specialist reporting provides, these findings suggest, is another mechanism that makes it more likely that elites will be presented repeatedly as experts in news reports.” Findings such as these sound a caution note for agricultural reporters, among others.

Reference: Use a title search (“Specialization among reporters”) or author search (Griswold) for the full citation.

When consumers get positive and negative messages.

A recent study reported in Food Policy examined how consumers react when they are exposed to favorable and unfavorable information about food irradiation. Researchers reported:

“The surprising result is that when we presented both positive and negative information simultaneously, the negative information clearly dominated. This was true even though the source of the negative information was identified as being a consumer advocacy group and the information itself was written in a manner that was non-scientific.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Experts and activists”) or author search (Hayes) for the full citation.

Professional activities approaching

April 15-17, 2003
“Keep it fresh.” Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show at San Diego, California. Sponsored by the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA).
Information: http://www.nama.org/amc

June 18-22, 2003
“Farming under the public eye.” Meeting of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists at the Agricultural University of Wageningen, The
Netherlands. Information: http://www.ifaj2003.nl

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 collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801) or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu).

ACDC News – Issue 03-05

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Why the farm press concentrates on conventional agriculture and downplays alternative agriculture.

Pressures from advertisers or other interest groups? Desire to avoid controversy? Lack of reader interest? Results of graduate research by Sharon Wood-Turley suggest another reason. “This study reveals…that the explanation for the concentration on conventional agriculture in the farm press is closely related to the ideological leanings toward the technocracy that prevail among many of the agricultural journalists who write for mainstream farm publications.”

The study involved use of Q-methodology to define the attitudes of a sample of farmers and agricultural journalists, university researchers and government workers. Most members of the farm press fit within a type identified as “Technocrats with Blinders,” that is “enamored with technology.” The author examined implications of these findings and suggested communication strategies “that would lead to more thoughtful, balanced reporting of technological advances in agriculture and to greater coverage of alternatives to those technologies.” Findings also carry implications for those who help aspiring agricultural journalists prepare for their careers.

Reference: On the ACDC “Real Search” page, use a title search (Assessment and comparison of attitudes) or an author search (Wood-Turley) for the full citation.

Rural communities as forgotten resources.

“Villages: the forgotten resource” is the title of an article written 20 years ago about communications needs in “developing countries.” The author, chief of a United Nations communications unit, sounded a note similar to today’s experience in the U.S. as many rural communities face decline. He argued that local communities hold untapped potentials. Some governments, he noted, were looking toward small industries and other approaches to help rural areas and take advantage of the potentials within them.

“That is where communications will play a big part,” he suggested, especially with training of rural residents and marketing of their outputs. What parallels hold, or might hold, today?

Reference: Use a title search (Villages: the forgotten resource) for the full citation.

Innovative local uses of new information technologies.

Here are several examples that we have found in documents added recently to the ACDC collection:

In India, an experimental network of village centers provides weather reports, produce prices and other local and global information via Internet. Reference: Use a title search (Village-life.com) or author search (Le Page) for the full citation.
In rural Malaysia, mobile Internet units are used to provide computer training for teachers and students. Reference: Use a title search (Internet on wheels) or author search (Wong) for the full citation.
In Australia, several kinds of online conversation groups permit interaction of rural and urban women across state and national boundaries. Reference: Use a title search (Voices from elsewhere) or author search (Grace) for the full citation.

One of the highest adoption rates.

The global area of transgenic (genetically modified) crops increased 35-fold during the past seven years, according to an annual global review conducted by Dr. Clive James. Commercial transgenic crops totaled 58.7 million hectares in 2002, compared with 1.7 million hectares in 1996. “This ranks as one of the highest adoption rates for crop technologies,” according to the summary report.

Reference: Use a title search (2002 global GM crop) or author search (James) for the full citation. The summary was posted on: http://www.isaaa.org/kc/

Five mistaken marketing assumptions about biotechnology.

A recent article in the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology described “mistaken marketing assumptions about biotechnology:”

“The biotechnology controversy will be forgotten”
“Science sells and fear fails: people will be biotech advocates once they have the facts”
“Consumers buy products, not processes”
“Good for medicine means good for food”
“Biotechnology education is a trade association issue”

Researchers Brian Wansink and Junyong Kim also suggested some implications for effective consumer education and marketing.

Reference: Use a title search (Consumer marketing of biotechnology) or author search (Wansink) for the full citation. The article was posted on:
www.consumerpsychology.net/insights/pdf/marketingofbiotech.pdf

Coverage gaps and bias – agricultural and general news perspectives.

“What agricultural industry communication specialists perceived as important issues in agriculture was different than the pattern of coverage of those issues in popular periodicals.” So concluded Barbara Whitaker in her master’s thesis about coverage of agricultural and food safety issues in the U.S. Content analysis also indicated that the three selected news periodicals (Newsweek, Time and U.S. News & World Report) provided more coverage (62%) of such issues than did the selected agricultural periodicals (Farm Journal, Progressive Farmer and Successful Farming) (38%). An analysis of news bias indicated “both news and agricultural periodicals contained biased reporting.”

Reference: Use a title search (comparison of levels of bias) or author search (Whitaker) for the full citation.

Other recent research about media coverage of agriculture.

Are you interested in other recent documents about this lively topic? If so, do “Subject” cross-searches on the “Real Search” page of the ACDC web site, using subject terms such as:
<“mass media” coverage>
<“mass media” reporting>
<accuracy reporting>
<bias reporting>

Some are available in full-text electronic form.

Pioneering Canadian agricultural communications students.

During late January a group of about 25 University of Guelph undergraduates formed the first international chapter of Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. It’s the Canadian Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (CanACT) and it is affiliated with the U.S.-based National ACT organization. President Kendra Kelton of Oklahoma State University was on hand to help celebrate this initiative.

Members will use CanAct to “help connect budding professional agricultural communicators with those in industry.” A news report explained that approaching events of the Guelph chapter include discussions with guest speakers about topics ranging from agricultural communications through radio and television to how to get started as a freelance writer.

Reference: Information about CanACT is posted at: http://www.uoguelph.ca/~canact.
Information about National ACT is posted at http://natact.ifas.ufl.edu/

Professional activities approaching

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 collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801) or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu).

ACDC News – Issue 03-04

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

See new agricultural communications research papers on the “New Features” page of this ACDC web site.

You can get full-text copy of nine papers presented recently to the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS). Members met in Mobile, Alabama, during early February.

Reference: On the ACDC home page, click on “Feature Articles” (left side menu).

Remembering the value of research-based communicating.

“It was the experiment station and not the agricultural college that has wrought such a marvelous change in the farmers of America toward scientific agriculture,” said Frank H. Hall in 1904. He was speaking at a meeting of the American Association of Farmers’ Institute Workers in St. Louis, Missouri.

Hall explained: “It was my privilege to compare the agricultural conventions of this state…at two periods separated by a decade within which the experiment station became a potent influence. The dominant intellectual and moral attitude of the earlier period was distinctly disputatious and dogmatic. … In the second period the dominant attitude was that of scientific conference.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Relation of the agricultural college”) or author search (Hall) for the full citation.

Horses and houses in competition.

A newspaper in the heart of Kentucky’s Bluegrass country helped local citizens find common ground for community development through an award winning series of articles. “Common ground: deciding how the Bluegrass should grow” was the title of this eight-part series published by the Lexington Herald-Leader. “We wanted to get past pat phrases and ideological camps,” explained the editor. The series won first prize for investigative reporting from the Kentucky Press Association.

Reference: For a case report of the effort, use a title search (“Lexington builds common ground”) or author search (Ford) for the full citation. The report in Civic Catalyst Newsletter was posted on:
www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/civiccat/displayCivcat.php?id=256.

Attitudes of newspaper editors toward agriculture?

Generally positive, according to the results of a recent study among daily newspaper editors in Arkansas. Researchers found that editors “possessed positive attitudes toward the agricultural industry, although they were less positive about the image of agriculture or about agriculture’s performance in educating the public about the agricultural industry.”

Editors also “agreed that journalists should receive instruction in agriculture and that K-12 students should be required to take at least one course in agriculture.” Researchers offered recommendations for such efforts.

Reference: Use a title search (“Attitudes of Arkansas”) or author search (Cartmell) for the full citation. The research paper was posted on:
http://aaaeonline.ifas.ufl.edu/NAERC/2001/Papers/cartmell.pdf

Media still struggling to cover biotechnology.

An article in the December issue of “AgBiotech in the News” explored some of the dilemmas facing mass media as they attempt to cover complex issues related to agricultural biotechnology. Among these dilemmas cited:

The typical journalistic approach of seeking balance by pitting one side against the other creates problems. Opposing voices selected for coverage may be extreme, or they may be unbalanced in the depth and soundness of arguments they present.
Some opposing voices may have more resources with which to gain public attention.
Scientists often don’t want to comment on “hot-button” issues.
Coverage varies widely from one mass medium to another, and within media.
There is a tendency for some media “to cast players in over-simplified roles.”
International differences may influence media coverage of biotechnology. For example, reporting in Europe may reflect more environmental or health concerns than that in the U.S. because Europeans “have lived through a number of food crises and tend to have less faith in regulators.”

Reference: Use a title search (“Odd couple”) for the full citation. The article was posted on: http://pewagbiotech.org/buzz/display.php3?StoryID=87

The most important form of grassroots communicating in the world.

It’s community radio, according to Charles Fairchild in a new book, Community radio and public culture. “Community radio is fast becoming the most important form of grassroots communication in the world,” he argued. Why? “…this is due in large part to the strong reactions by many people to the aggressive expansion of specifically American media worldwide, especially in Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

“As corporate entities become increasingly distant and untouchable, local media institutions are developing that are immediate, participatory, and increasingly able to contact and talk to one another. They are no competition for direct broadcast satellites and probably never will be, but they are the only possible institutions that can be controlled and directed by the local population and made to serve their interests, needs and desires.”

Fairchild included some rural dimensions in his thought-provoking examination of media access and equity in Canada and the United States. Examples include the respected Farm Forum programs in Canada and a case study of a community radio station serving native Canadians in the rural Six Nations and New Credit Reserves near Brantford, Ontario.

Reference: Use a title search (“Community radio and public culture”) or author search (Fairchild) for the full citation.

“Are your livestock depressed?”

An online commentary from the United Kingdom raised that question recently, in the wake of traumatic disease scares. Commentator Mike Meredith reported on research that described signs of “depression” in farm animals: reduced activity, loss of reactivity, heads drooping, eyes half-closed

“Could it be that stress, or even more specifically ‘depression,’ is at least as important as the infectious agents that we usually focus our disease preventive attention on?” Meredith asked. Referring to a trend toward a more holistic approach to human health — one that involves beliefs and faith along with medicines and surgery — he concluded: “Is there a livestock equivalent of ‘faith, hope, and compassion’?”

Reference: Use a title search (“Are your livestock”) or author search (Meredith) for the full citation. The commentary was posted on:
www.smartgroups.com/message/viewdiscussion.cfm?gid=774210
&messageid=7014

First specialized agricultural periodical in the U.S. The Horticultural Register was America’s first specialty paper devoted to a branch of agriculture – founded in January 1835. That’s according to Frank J. Holt in an historical analysis of the agricultural press of America, 1792-1850. Holt carried out this research project for a master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin.

Professional activities approaching

Who might have known this?

Could today’s scholar in agricultural journalism gain ready access to this kind of insight about the history of farm publishing in the U.S.? This piece of the past came from a master’s thesis. How many master’s theses get distributed widely, summarized in scholarly journals, or otherwise reported for long-term access?

We ask these questions for a special reason – to encourage you to let us know when you see theses or dissertations that are not already in the ACDC collection. Please help us identify and make available these valuable materials that often sit on library shelves, little known and little used.

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 collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Com Documentation Center, 69 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801) or electronic form (at docctr@library.uiuc.edu).