ACDC Newsletter – Page 34 – Funk Library

ACDC News – Issue 04-06

Posted on January 31, 2004 by Elizabeth Ray

On “The Archers” – an enduring rural radio program

A Financial Times (London, England) article that we added recently to the ACDC collection featured Graham Harvey, agricultural counselor to ” The Archers.” It is “the country’s most-loved soap opera about life in the shires,” having aired on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) network since 1950.

Harvey shared his perspectives on the Archers and other featured families in a changing world – tenant farmers, organic farmers, corporate-minded farmers and others. His analysis also extended to reasons that prompt urban listeners to remain actively interested in rural people, conditions, issues and trends.

Reference: Use a title search (Field marshall) or author search (Smockum) for the full citation.

Does ACDC actually include literature about rural soap operas and such?

You bet. In Britain, “The Archers” series (above) is a major channel for rural-urban understanding. And early this year we added the report of a member survey involving the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association. The membership profile revealed a strong rural dimension and results of the survey by Bill Tedrick emphasized organizational communications and member decision making.

From our perspective, the recreational aspects of rural communicating can be as worthy as economic, operational and other aspects. Whenever you see such literature, please pass it along or alert us to it at docctr@library.uiuc.edu

Reference: Use a title search (Spirit of friendly competition) or author search (Tedrick) for the full citation.

Coverage of development news “neither significant nor encouraging”

That is how D.V.R. Murthy described results of a 1995 content analysis of four India newspapers. Development news accounted for only four to eight percent of the total number of news items published. Coverage of development news on the front page was negligible in all four newspapers.

Agriculture, health and transportation were main themes covered within that small sliver of the news hole.

Reference: Use a title search (Developmental journalism) or author search (Murthy) for the full citation.

Gardening — Fun? Drudgery?

It seems that Americans consider gardening one of their favorite leisure-time activities. Results of Harris Polls between 1995 and 2001 consistently show gardening among the top five leisure-time activities mentioned, according to a report that we added recently. Other favorites include reading, TV watching, spending time with family/kids and fishing.

Reference: Use a title search (Reading, tv, spending time) or author search (Taylor) for the full citation. The document was posted online at www.harrisinteractive.com

Beefs about USDA information management.

A commentary published in the New York Times earlier this year examined how the U.S. Department of Agriculture is handling a “dual, often contradictory mandate:”

promote the sale of meat on behalf of American producers
guarantee that American meat is safe on behalf of consumers

Commentator Eric Schlosser expressed concerns about the Department’s promotion- and industry-oriented emphasis in its public information about Mad Cow disease discovered in the U.S. Other concerns involved disease testing policies, meat recall powers and the role of lobbying interests.

Reference: Use a title search (Cow jumped over) or author search (Schlosser) for the full citation.

When you want to involve local influential groups

In your communicating, here are key principles for doing so. Thanks to John Woods, education/communication specialist of Chemonics International, for providing a paper that described guidelines for enlisting the support of such groups in a nutrition education program. The 10 guidelines apply well beyond that specific program:

Start with only one group
Think like each group thinks
Groups must be adopters themselves
Tailor the package to fit their needs and interests
Do not give them too much information at once
Emphasize the advantages to them in becoming involved
Serve them in a “helping role”
Follow up with them
Learn from them
Give them recognition

Reference: Use a title search (Basic recommendations for motivating) or author search (Woods) for the full citation.

A “rambling mess of scientists arguing and contradicting each other”

That is how Deborah Blum recently described investigative science reporting that lacks focus. “People call this the he said, she said phenomenon or sometimes the talking heads dilemma,” Blum continued in her book chapter, “Reporting on the changing science of human behavior.”

“No one is going to read 4 days of stories that end up with one enormous ‘Huh?’ There needs to be a flow and a direction to a series, a point of view. I organize my stories around viewpoint; it helps me select the topics I am going to cover and how I am going to present them.”

Reference: Use a title search (Reporting on the changing science) or author search (Blum) for the full citation.

Agricultural attachés becoming communications specialists

An article in AgExporter featured U.S. agriculture’s eyes and ears abroad – the agricultural attachés of the Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Reporter Linda Habenstreit described what they do, what they have accomplished since their inception in 1919 and what lies ahead for them.

Thomas Hamby, former agricultural minister-counselor was quoted as observing: “I see attachés evolving from nuts and bolts agricultural technicians to communications and public relations specialists, who must understand and confidently represent U.S. agricultural interests abroad.”

Reference: Use a title search (FAS attachés) or author search (Habenstreit) for the full citation. The article was posted on:www.fas.usda.gov

Sorting through — a cautionary note for communicators.

“Where is the life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
(T.S. Eliot in Two Choruses from the Rock)

Communicator activities approaching:

April 14-16, 2004
“Make Your Mark.” 2004 Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show in Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.nama.org/amc

April 30-May 1, 2004
Annual meeting of Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) in Seattle, Washington.
Information: www.toca.org

May 24-27, 2004
“Education and Extension for Multi-Function Agriculture.” Annual conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education in Dublin, Ireland.
Information: www.aiaee.org/2004.htm

Best regards and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions 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. Send

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

March 2004

ACDC News – Issue 04-05

Posted on January 31, 2004 by Elizabeth Ray

On “The Archers” – an enduring rural radio program

A Financial Times London, England) article that we added recently to the ACDC collection featured Graham Harvey, agricultural counselor to “The Archers.” It is “the country’s most-loved soap opera about life in the shires,” having aired on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) network since 1950.

Reference: Use a title search (Field marshall) or author search (Smockum) for the full citation.

Does ACDC actually include literature about rural soap operas and such?

You bet. In Britain, “The Archers&quto; series (above) is a major channel for rural-urban understanding. And early this year we added the report of a member survey involving the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association. The membership profile revealed a strong rural dimension and results of the survey by Bill Tedrick emphasized organizational communications and member decision making.

Reference: Use a title search (Spirit of friendly competition) or author search (Tedrick) for the full citation.

Coverage of development news “neither significant nor encouraging.”

Agriculture, health and transportation were main themes covered within that small sliver of the news hole.

Reference: Use a title search (Developmental journalism) or author search (Murthy) for the full citation.

Gardening — Fun? Drudgery?

Reference: Use a title search (Reading, tv, spending time) or author search (Taylor) for the full citation. The document was posted online at: www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll

Beefs about USDA information management.

A commentary published in the New York Times earlier this year examined how the U.S. Department of Agriculture is handling a “dual, often contradictory mandate:”

promote the sale of meat on behalf of American producers
guarantee that American meat is safe on behalf of consumers

Reference: Use a title search (Cow jumped over) or author search (Schlosser) for the full citation.

When you want to involve local influential groups

Start with only one group
Think like each group thinks
Groups must be adopters themselves
Tailor the package to fit their needs and interests
Do not give them too much information at once
Emphasize the advantages to them in becoming involved
Serve them in a “helping role”
Follow up with them
Learn from them
Give them recognition

Reference: Use a title search (Basic recommendations for motivating) or author search (Woods) for the full citation.

A “rambling mess of scientists arguing and contradicting each other.”

Reference: Use a title search (Reporting on the changing science) or author search (Blum) for the full citation.

Agricultural attachés becoming communications specialists.

Reference: Use a title search (FAS attachés) or author search (Habenstreit) for the full citation. The article was posted on: www.fas.usda.gov

Sorting through — a cautionary note for communicators.

“Where is the life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
(T.S. Eliot in Two Choruses from the Rock)

Communicator activities approaching:

April 14-16, 2004
“Make Your Mark.” 2004 Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show in Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.nama.org/amc

April 30-May 1, 2004
Annual meeting of Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) in Seattle, Washington.
Information: www.toca.org

Best regards and good searching.

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

March 2004

ACDC News – Issue 04-04

Posted on January 31, 2004 by Elizabeth Ray

“Mad cow” stirs news and views from interest groups.

It was easy to see competing interest groups offer divergent views after the discovery of a case of “mad cow” disease in the United States. Three examples from many:

The Center for Consumer Freedom (supported by the food industry, restaurants and interested consumers) expressed concern that “radical social activists” would exaggerate the risk of this discovery and use it to “steer Americans toward organic meat.”
www.consumerfreedom.com
“Organic beef – it’s what’s safe for dinner!” announced a news release from an organic beef marketer. “Organic beef is the safer option for families concerned abut Mad Cow Disease.” Posted December 31, 2003, on http://131.104.232.9/fsnet-archives.htm
“Organic Trade Association reminds consumers that organic beef is a smart choice.” Posted January 5, 2004, onhttp://131.104.232.9/fsnet-archives.htm

Want to find more about “mad cow” communicating?

On the “Database Search” page of this web site, you can find dozens of other articles, reports and consumer survey summaries about it. Conduct “Subject” searches and cross-searches, using terms such as:

“mad cow”
diseases beef
“food safety” beef
attitudes beef

Lots of agricultural advertisements

If you are interested in agricultural advertising you may be pleased with a rich resource that could well be new to you. Recently, we added two interesting links through the ACDC web site:

Agricultural advertising collection. Thousands of ads featuring agricultural equipment, dairy products, chemicals, farm papers and other agricultural themes are part of the D’Arcy Collection at the University of Illinois. This collection, maintained by the Communications Library, includes almost two million original advertisements published between 1890 and 1970.
Agricultural advertising exhibit. See 20 images of agricultural and food advertisements in the University of Illinois Advertising Exhibit. The exhibit, organized within 17 subject themes, features advertisements selected from the D’Arcy and Woodward Collections.

Reference: See these sites on the “Useful Links” page of this ACDC web site.

Needed: more than hard-systems thinking.

There is no holistic planning of the rural telecommunications system in terms of rural development, according to a study by T.N. Andrew and D. Petkov.

“The planning process and techniques used are very much based on the assumptions of systems engineering and hard operations research,” they observed. They called for more consideration of “softer issues such as cultural diversity, ownership of the system and user inclusivity, negotiations with multiple stakeholders and a firm grasp of socio-economic issues” that are “just as important as hard technological issues.”

Reference: Use a title search (Need for a systems thinking approach) or author search (Andrew) for the full citation.

For example, look at the adoption of rural telephony

Claude S. Fischer found a strong “human agency” in his analysis of the diffusion of the telephone in rural and urban areas of the U.S. between 1900 and 1920.

Farmers loudly demanded this new technology, he found, even when vendors said it was inappropriate for them. “They demanded it vociferously enough to build it themselves, to adopt it at a higher rate than did the ‘natural’ market of city-dwellers, and later to pester the major telephone companies through the regulatory commissions and politicians. And they insisted on using it in their own way, to meet their own needs, be it for gossip or banjo concerts, rather than fit ‘appropriate’ uses.” In 1920, more American farm families (39 percent) had telephones than did town families (33 percent or less).

Reference: Use a title search (Revolution in rural telephony) or author search (Fischer) for the full citation.

Rural ruckus over radio station ownership rule

A recent article in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, Wyoming) examined the debate that has arisen since the Federal Communications Act eased restrictions on radio station ownership.

“…the biggest impact of concentration of radio station ownership is not in the major metropolitan markets,” the Center for Public Integrity was cited as saying. “…it is far greater in smaller communities in rural areas.”

Other sources described advantages of greater concentration in station ownership. Among them was an executive of Clear Channel Communications Inc., which now owns about 1,200 stations nationwide.

Reference: Use a title search (Radio station ownership rule) or author search (Lowell) for the full citation.

New GMO musical

How about dining on a fishikin – a creature that looks like a fish, but tastes like a chicken? Or adopting a de-Cat – a kitten that does not claw, meow or shed? A “fantastical, quirky world where all things are scientifically possible” is featured in an original musical play in Canada about the perils of genetic modification. It is a creative approach to communicating about biotechnology.

According to a report in the Ottawa Citizen, playwright Michael Larrass was inspired to write the play through his volunteer work with Food Action Ottawa. Timothy Piper composed the music.

Reference: Use a title search (Genetic science offers something to sing about) or author search (Lawson) for the full citation. The article was archived (December 17, 2003) at http://131.104.232.9/agnet-archives.htm

“Back off the hi-tech lingo.”

That advice to agricultural scientists came from agricultural journalist Tom Bechman in a recent issue of Prairie Farmer magazine. “Otherwise, how will we ever know when they find something really important?”

He was referring to new terms popping up in research studies – terms such as “ionomics” and “proteomics.” Bechman observed to his rural readers, “Let’s hope universities and USDA don’t forget about your everyday world, the world where you struggle to make a profit with today’s technology.”

Reference: Use a title search (How much science) or author search (Bechman) for the full citation

Over the 25,000 mark

It is a special pleasure to report that the ACDC collection now contains more than 25,000 documents, all identifiable through online searching. We topped that mark on February 13 and are headed toward new levels in efforts to serve. The total, large as it looks to those of us who have assembled it, is actually modest. We are learning that communications aspects of the agriculture/food enterprise, globally, are much more extensive, documented and vital to societies than was apparent when agricultural communications faculty members here at the University of Illinois began this collection effort.

Communicator activities approaching:

March 12-19, 2004
World Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists in South Africa. The Congress starts in the north (Mabalingwe Nature Reserve) and ends south in Cape Town.
Information: www.agriwriters.org.za

April 14-16, 2004
“Make Your Mark.” 2004 Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show in Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.nama.org/amc

April 30-May 1, 2004
Annual meeting of Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) in Seattle, Washington.
Information: www.toca.org

Best regards and good searching.

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

February 2004

ACDC News – Issue 04-03

Posted on January 31, 2004 by Elizabeth Ray

U.S. public lukewarm toward farming and agriculture?

Only 52 percent of U.S. adults hold a “very” (17 percent) or “somewhat” (35 percent) positive view of farming and agriculture, according to an August 2003 Gallup Poll. Most others (27 percent) in the national sample said they felt “neutral.”

Reference: On the “Database Search” page of this ACDC web site, use a title search (Gallup Poll, August 2003) for the full citation.

On obesity and the strategy of trial lawyers.

A growing public debate about obesity in Americans prompted Pierce Hollingsworth to comment in a recent issue of Food Technology magazine. He described four “time-tested elements” of a strategy that trial lawyers might be expected to use. Public communicating is central to them:

Create a villain
Establish the economic cost
Promote any supporting medical research
Advance the notion of industry malice and deception

Reference: Use a title search (Power, policy, politics and fat) or author search (Hollingsworth) for the full citation.

Obesity statistics are seriously flawed

According to the Center for Consumer Freedom, a Washington-based organization supported by the food industry, restaurants and interested consumers. A CCF news release that we added recently to the ACDC collection identified several problems involving commonly cited statistics about obesity of Americans. Among them:

Data indicating that 61 percent of Americans are overweight or obese reflect a change of definition in 1998 by the U.S. government. The redefinition re-classified 39 million Americans as “overweight.”
Statistics attributing 300,000 U.S. deaths annually to excess weight are based on inconclusive research. “…the data linking overweight and death…are limited, fragmented and often ambiguous.”

Reference: Use a title search (Obesity statistics) for the full citation. The release was posted online at: http://www.consumerfreedom.com/release_detail.cfm?pr_id=28

On reaching Iowa producers of apples and cider.

A 2002 mail survey by Andrew Zehr examined the communications needs and behaviors of apple and cider producers in Iowa. Results indicated that producers placed the greatest amount of trust in interpersonal information sources. “They trust institutional information sources slightly less while generally reporting a low level of trust in the media for food safety information.”

The study also measured the levels of exposure and attention to mass media messages about food safety within the context of apple growing and cider production. A third dimension tested whether the use of mass media resulted in a third-person effect on producers’ views about the general public’s level of worry concerning food safety issues.

Reference: Use a title search (Communication needs and behaviors) or author search (Zehr) for the full citation. The paper was posted online at: http://list.msu.edu/archives/aejmc.html October 2003.

Isolation has little impact on Internet subscription

According to results of an analysis of the demand for Internet service in rural and remote communities of Western Australia. Researchers Gary Madden and Grant Noble-Neal used survey data to estimate econometric subscription and use models.

They found that the need to communicate for work and educational purposes largely determined Internet subscription. Isolation had little impact, except the local isolation of farms from nearest towns.

Reference: Use a title search (Internet use in rural) or author search (Madden) for the full citation.

“What these people need is radio.”

A study reported recently in Technology and Culture traced the rise in popularity of radio in rural America during the 1920s and the portrayal of farmers in the general press and farm press during that time. Randall Patnode analyzed editorial and advertising copy in six urban daily newspapers and six major farm periodicals between 1922 and 1926.

Contrary to the common assumption that radio helped bridge the rural-urban gap, findings of this analysis suggested that radio:

Exaggerated the shortcomings of farm life
Supported the increasingly urban and modern way of life
Isolated and marginalized rural dwellers
Added to the distinctions between urban and rural life
May have accelerated the decline of the family farm

“Although hearing sounds over the radio in the early 1920s was astounding,” Patnode concluded, “the real revolution in radio was in the way it amplified existing social and cultural differences.” He observed that the “utopian proclamations attached to radio and other new technologies have less to do with the future than they do with our sense of past failures.”

Reference: Use a title search (What these people need) or author search (Patnode) for the full citation.

Practices that farmers must forget

Kevin Morgan and Jonathan Murdoch recently examined how knowledge is distributed within two kinds of economic networks:

Conventional food chain. It relies on intensive inputs, so tends to distribute knowledge toward input suppliers.
Organic food chain. It distributes knowledge back toward the farm as farmers must relocalize their understandings of the production process.

The findings, reported in Geoforum, led authors to conclude that farmers who wish to operate in the organic food chain “must forget many of the practices so characteristic of the conventional chain in order to (re)learn how to farm in an ecologically benign fashion … In the organic chain, we argue, farmers can once again become ‘knowing agents’.”

Reference: Use a title search (Organic vs. conventional agriculture) or author search (Morgan) for the full citation.

“Wal-Mart Factor” in the food chain

A recent article in Amber Waves (published by the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture) featured food marketing trends driven by consumer demand and aided by information technologies. A section on “The Wal-Mart Factor” described radio-frequency tracking systems, case-ready meats, animal welfare guidelines and other consumer-oriented marketing tools being introduced by the food industry.

Reference: Use a title search (From supply push) or author search (Martinez) for the full citation. The article was posted online at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Amberwaves/november03/features/supplypushdemandpull.htm

Communicator activities approaching:

March 5-6, 2004
“AG.COMM.Inc.: the business of communication.” Professional development event for members of National Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT). Hosted by the University of Arkansas ACT chapter in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Information: http://cavern.uark.edu/depts/aeedhp/actweb/actworkshop/

April 14-16, 2004
“Make Your Mark.” 2004 Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show in Kansas City, Missouri.
Information: www.nama.org/amc

A communicator guideline

The wise young owl sat in an oak.
The more he saw the less he spoke.
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why aren’t we like that wise young bird?

Best regards and good searching.

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

February 2004

ACDC News – Issue 04-02

Posted on January 31, 2004 by Elizabeth Ray

Who provided financial support for that research?

Americans would like to know the corporate connections of scientists quoted in news media, according to a national survey commissioned by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

“According to the telephone poll of 1,026 randomly selected adults, 74 percent think reporters should disclose whether university scientists quoted in articles receive funding from companies that have a financial stake in the topic at hand.”

Reference: On the “Database Search” page of this ACDC web site, use a title search (Poll: science and money) for the full citation. A summary of survey results was posted online at: http://cspinet.org

Also – on disclosing the financial ties of authors in scientific journals

Some scientists have sent letters to hundreds of such journals urging them to strengthen their policies on disclosure of “potentially biasing conflicts of interest.” Concerns expressed in two CSPI releases (below) that we have added recently to the ACDC collection involve topics such as agricultural biotechnology, pesticides, intellectual property policies, chemical pollution, drugs and diseases.

“Scientists call on journals to disclose authors’ conflicts of interest:” http://cspinet.org/new/integrity_disclosure.html

“Journal editors urged to disclose conflicts of interest:” http://cspinet.org/new/200308211.html

Brock Center for Agricultural Communication featured

A recent article in The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, California) featured this center at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The center, funded largely by a trust established by Cal Poly alumnus Jim Brock, helps create a bridge of communication between the agricultural industry, the media and the public. By giving hands-on experience to about 50 students a year, it also helps future agricultural communicators learn how to report agricultural news, take photos, work on special projects and coordinate events. In the article, Director J. Scott Vernon described how effective communicating serves the agricultural economy of California

Reference: Use a title search (California center gives students) or author search (Stevens) for the full citation.

Agriculture not on the radar chart of concerns in the U.S. public mind

At least, not for a national sample of U.S. voters asked to identify the “number one problem facing this part of the country today.” (September 2003) Less than one-half of one percent cited agriculture, farming and ranching as the number one problem. Higher on their lists: economy (25 percent), unemployment (9 percent), jobs (8 percent) and at least 22 other problems.

Reference: Use a title search (Battleground 2004 Survey) for the full citation. Let us know if you are interested in details and do not have local access to the survey report.

Trends in food advertising claims

Researcher Pauline Ippolito examined that matter by analyzing the types of health- and nutrition-related claims made in food advertising in U.S. magazines during a 20-year period. Her content analysis involved more than 11,000 advertisements that appeared between 1977 and 1997 in eight magazines. She analyzed findings in the context of changing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations for the use of terms such as “healthy.” Among the findings of her study:

“The share of food ads with “Healthy/Smart/Good For You” appeals fell by nearly 50 percent, compared with the level before a revised FDA standard was proposed.

Reference: Use a title search (Asymmetric information in product markets) or author search (Ippolito) for the full citation.

No such thing as the public opinion about biotechnology

Despite “a strong and natural desire for simplified summaries,” Baruch Fischhoff and Ilya Fischhoff have provided an insightful caution about doing so. In an article that we have added to the ACDC collection, they summarized attitude studies and came up with these suggestions:”

People distinguish among biotechnologies.
Different people have different views about biotechnologies.
People have limited knowledge about biotechnologies – and know it.
People have strong opinions about how biotechnologies are managed.
People have complex evaluative schemes – and respond to evidence.

These insights hold direct implications for professional communicators in their approach to planning communications programs related to biotechnology.

Reference: Use a title search (Opinions about biotechnologies) or author search (Fischhoff) for the full citation. The article was posted online at: www.agbioforum (V. 4, No. 3-4).

Can information and communication technologies be pro-poor?

Authors of a recent article in Telecommunications Policy answered their own question with a “No,” based on 20 years of cross-country evidence. They reported, “…historically, telecommunications rollout has had a positive and significant impact on increasing inequality and little impact on quality of life variables.” Their analysis provided preliminary confirmation that rollout has historically only benefited the wealthy. In addition, they cited emerging evidence that the Internet “also will be a force for income divergence.”

Reference: Use a title search (Can information) or author search (Forestier) for the full citation.

Professional activity approaching:

February 6-7, 2004
“Bioscience communications in agriculture and food.” ECOD-BIO workshop in Ghent, Belgium, for European bioscience communicators.
Information: E-mail Jonas De Backer at jonas.debacker.vib.be

February 14-18, 2004
Agricultural Communications Section of Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Information: www.saasinc.org

March 5-6, 2004
“The business of communication.” Regional Conference of Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT) at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Information: http://cavern.uark.edu

“The most effective risk communication tools.”

Researchers Sarah Wakefield and Susan Elliott explored the role of local information systems in communicating about environmental risks. Their findings, reported in Professional Geographer, revealed newspapers to be an inconsistent tool, especially in terms of helping citizens participate in environmental decision making. However, residents surveyed in the study reported that they consider face-to-face communicating with friends, neighbors and officials at public meetings as most credible

Authors concluded, “In the last analysis, then, people – not print – are the most effective risk communication tools.”

Reference: Use a title search (Constructing the news) or author search (Wakefield) for the full citation.

A lesson in crisis communicating.

We close this issue of ACDC News with a lesson in crisis communications, as related to food. It comes from The Farm That Blew Away, a book by Australian author Wilbur G. Howcroft:

A crusty old chap from Mirboo
Found a whopping big frog in his stew.
Said the waiter, “Don’t shout
And don’t wave it about
Or the others will all want one too.”

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. Send

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

January 2004

ACDC News – Issue 04-01

Posted on January 31, 2004 by Elizabeth Ray

How about parents suing snack food companies over obese children?

The Health Pulse of America 2003 Survey raised that question among U.S. adults. “No,” said 84 percent of the respondents. Those respondents said they think parents should not be able to sue major snack food companies if they believe their child became obese from eating junk food and drinking soft drinks. They favored the government passing laws to prevent such lawsuits.

Reference: On the “Database Search” page of this ACDC web site, use a title search (Health Pulse of America 2003) for the full citation. Let us know if you are interested in the survey and do not have local access to it.

“Fish out of water”

Is the title of a lively case report and commentary about environmental conflict, publicity methods and interest group lobbying in the Klamath River watershed near the California-Oregon border. The report detailed what author Sheldon Rampton described as “a fierce propaganda war that united government water agencies, wealthy farm interests, corporate-funded think tanks and far-right conspiracy theorists in a campaign whose stated objective was to ‘save farmers’ but whose actual purpose was to gut the Endangered Species Act.”

Reference: Use a title search (Fish out of water) or author search (Rampton) for the full citation. The report was posted online by the PR Watch organization: www.prwatch.org

International trends in the use of privatized extension

We have added to the ACDC collection a summary of a recent e-mail discussion on privatized extension. The Agricultural Research and Extension Network of the Overseas Development Institute, London, hosted and summarized it. Discussion revealed a wide sampling of interpretations and uses of private extension delivery. Editors noted:

“A number of experiences in both industrialised and developing countries provide opportunities for examining the advantages and limitations of a privatisation strategy for extension.” Case examples ranged from purely market-based extension services to cost recovery options for public services and public programs that provide a partial subsidy for private extension providers.

Reference: Use a title search (Changing incentives) or author search (Chapman) for the full citation. The paper was posted online at: www.odi.org

To agronomists: address the schism between scientists and “”regular people.”

Members of the American Society of Agronomy heard that challenge during their 2003 annual meeting from Margaret A. Davidson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An innovator in sustainable agriculture and coastal resource management, Davidson urged scientists to address the schism in various ways. Among them:

explore the role of science in society and their responsibility for science communication
focus on protecting resources through communications at the local level about the effects of lawn chemicals, for example, rather than on more research in areas such as modeling
create ties with their journalism departments and environmental journalism organizations
build a bank of ideas and cultivate media attention

Reference: Use a title search (Scientists must accept) or author search (Davidson) for the full citation. The news account was archived (December 3, 2003) on: agnet-archives

Growing gaps in Internet use among U.S. farmers.

Large farm operators with more education are making the most applications of the Internet, according to research reported during 2003 by Timothy Park and Ashok Mishra.

“If the benefits of Internet are to be enjoyed more widely, this suggests that special efforts may be needed to target small farmers and less-educated farmers. Further, emphasis might need to be targeted more to smaller operators who are in the beginning stages of farming, producers who would like to learn more and become more proficient at examining marketing data and trends for commodities, or households that might not be operating a large farm but instead might be tracking off-farm investments.”

Reference: Use a title search (Internet usage by farmers) or author search (Park) for the full citation. The research paper was posted online at: http://agecon.lib.umn.edu

Agricultural journalists – too timid, too nice.

Agricultural journalism is “better than it used to be, but journalists in the industry are still too timid and too nice, afraid to raise the questions that need to be asked.” Veteran agricultural writer Gene Logsdon offered that view at the 2003 Ag Publications Summit. He urged more “outcry against concentrated business and consolidation. We need to start writing about the dark side of what’s going on, but be sure to do it with some humor.”

Reference: On the “Database Search” page of this web site, use a title search (Challenges of ICTs) or author search (Girard) for the full citation. The presentation was posted on: www.fao.org

A case example during the workshop

Described how a rural radio magazine in French language combines radio with a mix of other information technologies: e-mail, Internet telephone communication, FTP protocol file transfer, instant mailing, sharing of applications to access a remote computer and others. Content flows by Internet from rural correspondents in four African countries to coordination teams, then to about 100 African radio stations for broadcast. These technologies also permit online training of the broadcast journalists involved.

Reference: Use a title search (Stayin alive) or author search (Wall) for the full citation of this report highlighting Logsdon’s career and perspectives.

How news beat traditions may influence coverage of food biotechnology.

Robert Logan observed in an Agbioforum article that some of the news media’s problems in covering agricultural biotechnology might be linked to structural organization and traditions within the nation’s newsrooms.

“Until very recently, neither the agricultural nor food beat radiated the traditions to cover science, the public policy overtones of environmental journalism, or the zeal to investigate public documents and databases that infuses investigative journalism.”

Logan offered several suggestions for media organizations.

Reference: Use a title search (Compartmentalization: implications for food) or author search (Logan) for the full citation. The article was posted online at: www.agbioforum.org v. 4 no. 3-4

Please let us know if you would rather not receive ACDC News

As Year 2004 begins we want to tell you how much we appreciate your interest in this e-newsletter. We hope it is helpful, interesting and convenient for you. However, we do not want to send something to you that you would rather not receive. So at any time please let us know if you would like to be removed from the list. You can do so by contacting us here at the Documentation Center: docctr.aces.uiuc.edu

Other possible subscribers you might suggest? Let us know of – or refer us to – associates or other persons you think might like to receive future issues of ACDC News through our free online mailings of it.

Professional activity approaching:

February 14-18, 2004
Agricultural Communications Section of Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Information: www.saasinc.org

Behold the roly-poly pig.

We close this New Year 2004 issue of ACDC News with a piece of advice for communicators (and others) from an issue of Agricultural Advertising published 100 years ago:

Behold the roly-poly pig,
His sides all puffed with fat;
Unconscious that as he grows big,
There waits the rendering vat.

Then let me never swell with pride
Nor my hat-band increase,
Else like the pig I be at last
Reduced to plain soap grease.

Best regards and good searching.

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

January 2004

ACDC News – Issue 03-23

Posted on January 31, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Season’s greetings and best wishes.

As we approach the end of 2003 all of us in the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center here at the University of Illinois extend season’s greetings and best wishes for your year ahead.

2003 – a remarkable year for us.

We are grateful for many developments during the past year. Among them:

A new administrative home within the Funk Library of the University of Illinois Library system as a special collection and information service.
New collaboration with library associates, plus a continuing partnership with associates in Information Technology and Communication Services (ITCS) and other units on campus.
A new location – from Mumford Hall to the new Library, Information and Alumni Center of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.
An expanding collection that now tops the 24,000-document mark.

Your encouragement sparks this effort.

Thank you for using the Center and extending your encouragement. Feedback such as this warms our hearts:

“Ready for a rave?”
“ACDC is awesome. You have no idea of your impact on agriculture, I’m sure. But it is wonderful.”
“I always love receiving the ACDC electronic newsletter. … I appreciate this fun, helpful resource!”
“Great resource”
“I am impressed by your site…”
“Thank you for your quick response…”
“WOW!! What a treasure trove of articles, links, etc.”
“…a wonderful resource on agricultural communications.”

As always, we appreciate and welcome your suggestions about how we can make this resource more helpful to you.

Consumers fearful about poisoned food?

Recently we added to the collection part of a report of a national poll that addressed the question. An Opinion Dynamics Poll during October 2003 invited a sample of U.S. registered voters to identify what they consider the biggest terrorist threat to the United States. Nine percent cited the threat of water or food supplies being poisoned.

Reference: On the “Database Search” page of this web site, use a title search (Opinion Dynamics Poll) for the full citation. Let us know if you are interested in the full results and do not have local access.

More freelancers these days. How they cope.

Meghan Sapp, a freelance agricultural journalist based in Brussels, Belgium, offered an insight in a recent issue of The ByLine, newsletter of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association. According to Sapp, a recent survey among journalists in 18 European countries indicated that more than 25 percent were freelancers. Her report identified techniques that freelancers use in Europe to deal with “their own unique set of issues.”

Reference: Use a title search (Freelancers face common issues) or author search (Sapp) for the full citation.

Internet – window to the world. Community radio – mirror of local knowledge.

Put them together in creative ways and “the two just might offer us the most powerful tool we have yet known to combine research and reflection to harness knowledge for development.” Bruce Girard explored that vision during 2001 in a workshop sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Reference: On the “Database Search” page of this web site, use a title search (Challenges of ICTs) or author search (Girard) for the full citation. The presentation was posted on: www.fao.org

A case example during the workshop

Reference: Use a title search (JADE, a network) or author search (Ouattara) for the full citation. The presentation was posted on: http://www.fao.org

Not television (in 1932), but approaching it.

Decades before television came into U.S. homes, a college editor in Ohio was putting broadcast audio and sequential visuals together in a creative way for rural extension. A report in the June/July 1932 issue of AAACE newsletter described the innovation by Rensselaer Sill:

“Five rural audiences in Ohio, located in different counties, only a few weeks ago listened to a radio talk by P.B. Zumbro, extension poultry specialist at Ohio State University, and simultaneously viewed a series of pictures projected on a screen from a film strip illustrating the talk.”

The audiences “considered these meetings highly successful and requested other similar meetings on various subjects.”

Reference: Use a title search (Not television) for the full citation.

“University structures are a poor basis for managing complicated programmes of multidisciplinary research and implementation.”

That observation came from Gerard van der Horst during a 1982 international conference about the role of universities in integrated rural development. He cited experiences in collaborative programs that involved universities in Indonesia and the Netherlands. Among the challenges (that still sound familiar, internationally):

Wide variation in quality and interest levels of academic departments involved
Program mandates too broad and not integrated at all levels
Plans of operation too rigid, not open to adjustments

Reference: Use a title search (Science as a tool) or author search (van der Horst) for the full citation.

Professional activity approaching:

February 14-18, 2004
Agricultural Communications Section of Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Information: www.saasinc.org

Accountability – hot new topic? Not really.

Accountability of extension services, advertising and public relations programs, and other kinds of communicating gets more attention than ever these days. We recently noted several proverbs from Africa recognizing the timeless nature of this struggle for accountability of resources and effort:

“If nothing has been forged, then what happened to the charcoal?”
“Ten digging, ten filling – lots of dust, no hole.”
“If the machete doesn’t want to cut brush, it had best sneak back to the sheath.”

Best regards and good searching.

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

December 2003

ACDC News – Issue 03-22

Posted on January 31, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Search questions coming our way.

You may be interested in some of the topics involved in special requests that come our way in the Documentation Center. Here are several topics on which we have tried to help provide information during recent months:

Daily newspaper reporting of issues facing rural communities
Changing roles of extension services
Credentials and characteristics of agricultural communications students
How farmers decide to take part or not take part in commodity groups and other kinds of agricultural organizations
Resources to help agricultural scientists learn how to write for journals and other information outlets
Changes in agricultural journalism and how schools are revising programs to address those changes
Trends in agricultural coverage by general mass media

Not sure where to look? Check with us. Let us know (docctr@library.uiuc.edu) whenever you can use help in identifying and gaining access to information about agricultural communications topics on which you are working.

Needs and potentials for new kinds of local market reports?

What kinds of improvements in agricultural market reporting might be invited by trends such as (a) more product specialization, (b) more consumer interest in organic foods and (c) more efforts by producers to sell their products directly to consumers?

Should some local market reports be directed toward consumers?

Should new kinds of local farm products be featured, more price categories reported, new sources of price information tapped, new kinds of quality indicators used?

A thoughtful examination of disseminating market information took place during a 2001 international workshop on farm radio broadcasting.

Reference: On the “Database Search” page, use a title search (Marketing and rural finance) or author search (Shepherd) for the full citation. The presentation was posted on: www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6721e/x6721e22.htm

Four “key researchable issues” for communicators

A new report has highlighted several high-priority needs for communications research on university-industry relationships that involve agricultural biotechnology. These issues, among others, emerged through an expert workshop sponsored by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology and the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

Have academic scientists allowed their work plans, research objectives or publications to be changed by industry funding?
How often are university scientists denied access to research materials or information?
Is there a decrease in the free exchange of knowledge and information, and if so, what force(s) are driving it?
Are publication delays due to intellectual property issues prevalent?

Reference: Use a subject search (University-industry relationships) for the full citation. A report of the proceedings was posted on: www.pewagbiotech.org/research/UIR.pdf

Same data – different media takes.

As we collect documents in ACDC we often are struck by differing ways in which media and organizations interpret and use research data. Here’s a recent example of headline and lead-in treatments that caught our eye. Both drew upon the same research report:

“Farmers say no to GM crops in survey. Australian farmers are yet to embrace genetically modified crops with a new survey finding overwhelming opposition to the new technology.” (Australian Associated Press) This treatment picked up on a finding that 74 percent of farmer respondents said they would not consider growing GM crops at this stage.

“Farmers ‘back’ GM crops: survey. A new national survey of farmers’ attitudes to genetically-modified crops has found the majority support the technology…” (Australian Broadcasting Corporation News) This treatment picked up on a finding that 58 percent said they would consider planting GM crops if their perceived problems were overcome.

“Agriculture and innovation” is the title of an interesting radio program started during 1999 in Tunisia.

“Usually it was researchers and technical advisors who passed on information and recommendations to farmers,” explained the authors of a journal article that we added recently to the ACDC collection. “Agricultural extension in Tunisia meant teaching and training farmers, not listening to and learning from them.”

This program invites farmers to describe their innovations on air. Listening farmers, researchers and others are invited to interact with the innovators, by call-in or letter. Listeners who respond receive prizes and each broadcast generates feedback from 20-30 listeners. A first-year review of the program showed that it is well accepted among listeners. Also, it is influencing the attitudes of researchers and development agents.

Reference: Use a title search (Local innovation) or author search (Nasr) for the full citation.

Four-part mission for rural lifelong learning.

Shiojiri City’s Agricultural Academy in Japan features an impressively broad vision of continuing education for agriculture in the 21st century. A report that we added recently to the ACDC collection cited the following motto for the Academy, which the city has operated since 1985:

Offer dreams to people on the farm (people formation)
Give a boost to the farming area (land formation)
Give power to the producing center (product formation)
Give unction to the regional community (hometown formation)

This report by Suzuki Fukumatsu described the development and progress of the Academy, including courses offered.

Reference: Use a title search (Lifelong education) or author search (Fukumatsu) for the full citation.

“Traditional media training simply cannot win debates with GMO advocates,”

Concluded a commentary by the International Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources. The commentary described an October 27 segment of the NBC-TV “Today” show featuring the controversy over genetically modified foods. It included interviews with a food scientist, a consumer, a biotechnology industry advocate and an anti-GMO author.

“Unfortunately, biotech failed to seize its moment of glory,” the commentary concluded. “Its representative reacted exactly the way the NGOs predicted and allowed the opposition to steal the trophy.”

Reference: Use a title search (Why biotech advocates lose) for the full citation. The commentary was posted on:www.biotech.ifcnr.com/article.cfm?NewsID=439

Professional activity approaching:

February 14-18, 2004
Agricultural Communications Section of Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Information: www.saasinc.org

On being a professional communicator.

We end this issue of ACDC News with thoughts expressed 45 years ago by David Berlo, a respected communication scholar at Michigan State University. He wrestled with this matter in a thought-provoking presentation to educational communicators at a training session of the National Project in Agricultural Communication (NPAC).

“We can never be sure that we are responsible, that we are wise, that we speak the truth, that we analyze validly, that we conclude beneficially. All we can do is worry about it. All we can do is think about it, whenever we communicate. … [If the professional communicator] can be convinced that responsibility is his personal concern, that he must manipulate, but that he must strive to do this responsibly, if he is frustrated continually, and always faced with self-doubt, and self-criticism, we will come out all right.”

Reference: Use a title search (Philosophy of communication) or author search (Berlo) for the full citation

Best regards and good searching.

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

December 2003

ACDC News – Issue 03-21

Posted on January 31, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

On the economic value of agricultural public relations.

A disease outbreak in strawberries gave Timothy Richards and Paul Patterson an opportunity to analyze the economic impact of media reports about it. They analyzed coverage by the top 50 newspapers in the U.S.

Adverse information reduced grower profits, the researchers found, and positive information from growers could partially offset the effects of negative information. “…both negative and positive media exposure had significant effects on commodity prices, but their impact is not symmetric.”

Reference: One the “Database Search” page, use a title search (“The economic value”) or author search (Richards) for the full citation.

More specialization coming (returning) in journalism education?

A recent analysis of journalism education and national media systems in Europe led researchers to observe:

“In the long run, differentiation and deregulation of the national media markets will result in a higher specialization of journalists that has to be considered in journalism education. Again this development may lead to a segmentation of the profession, which means that journalists will no longer be provided with general and/or basic knowledge of journalistic skills but instead will be trained for a specific field or for specific media.”

Reference: Use a title search (Summary: challenges for journalism education) or author search (Frohlich) for the full citation.

Needed: rural radio education in Africa.

A 1999 survey involving 18 African countries showed that 14 had at least one training institution for radio work, public or private. However, with only one exception, “there are no formal training institutions on the continent specializing in rural radio” and “very few trainers in rural radio.”

This situation exists despite the fact that “rural radio in Africa is considered the best means of communicating with rural populations” that make up a majority of African citizens.

Reference: Use a title search (Training needs for trainers) or author search (Kamlongera) for the full citation. A summary of the survey was posted on: www.fao.org

How news media cover small-town violence.

“An examination of big-city newspaper coverage of violent crimes in small towns during a recent five-year period reveals a remarkable degree of uniformity in the language reporters use to characterize life in these places.” So reported Russell Frank in a recent issue of Rural Sociology. He found that newspapers deployed four core motifs in stories about crimes in small towns:

Everyone knows everyone else.
The front door is unlocked; the key is in the ignition.
Small towns are “sleepy” places.
Terrible things are not supposed to happen there.

Frank argued that small towns described in the news are symbolic landscapes reflecting a pastoral orientation among journalists and the culture at large.

Reference: Use a title search (“When bad things happen”) or author search (Frank) for the full citation.

Farmers often know more than expert professionals about the life and world around them

Njoku Awa reported in a 1989 article about indigenous knowledge in rural development. He cited examples from two studies involving local ecosystems:

A local informant “was able to identify by name 206 out of 211 varieties collected and could draw finer distinctions between different types of plants than the professional taxonomist for whom she was working.”
The average adult in a group of rural residents in the Philippines “could identify a staggering 1,600 different species, which was some 400 more than had previously been recorded in a systematic botanical survey.”

“Eventually,” Awa concluded, “the transformation in human relations implicit in the true meaning of the word ‘participation’ may turn out to be a more important change than the many worthy development projects stultified over the years by their designers’ refusal to accord local peoples (and their knowledge) the respect and seriousness that true participation involves.”

Reference: Use a title search (Indigenous knowledge) or author search (Awa) for the full citation. Awa’s vision remains timely and challenging throughout the world. You can identify many other references through subject searches in the ACDC collection. Use terms such as “indigenous knowledge,” “traditional knowledge” and “participation.”

Country radio – how it developed

We recently added a book that may be useful to those interested in rural music and radio programming:

Rick Stockdell, The development of the country music radio format.

“It simply documents the progress country radio has made since the days of the Barn Dances and tells how country radio has grown into one of the handful of mass appeal radio formats of this day.”

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

“Dialogue instead of debate”

Is the title of an article describing efforts in Australia to improve communications about rangeland management. This controversial subject easily stirs argument. Author Stephany Kersten, University of Sydney, tested a dialogue-building process among pastoralists, extension advisors and researchers.

Keys to creating dialogue? “Issues such as relationship building before and during the meeting, respect of participants for others’ understandings, acceptance of multiple existing realities and creating a non-threatening environment were crucial for dialogue to emerge. If not, debate will be the main mode of communication, adding to the frustrations already existing between the participants in the process.”

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

Professional activity approaching:

We recently added to the ACDC collection a document that examined four dilemmas facing journalists who cover risk issues such as pollution:

December 4-5, 2003
“Risk perception: science, public debate and policy making.” International conference at the Charlemagne Conference Centre, Brussels. Information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/risk_perception/index.htm

Reporting on the love life of the bullfrog.

U.S. Department of Agriculture heard loud criticism during the early 1930s for publishing a “worthless” bulletin popularly described as featuring the love life of the bullfrog. Wrong on two counts, replied a USDA communicator in a Public Opinion Quarterly article that we entered recently into the ACDC collection. First, the USDA did not publish any bulletin on frogs. Second, the research by a Cornell University scientist (“Frogs: their natural history and utilization”) held scientific interest and commercial importance.

For communicators, this article also provided a useful description of the various information services offered by the USDA at that time.

Reference: Use a title search (Information techniques) or author search (Harding) for the full citation.

Best regards and good searching.

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

November 2003

ACDC News – Issue 03-20

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Elizabeth Ray

Cybercafes and other local community networks

were featured in an international conference report that we added recently to the ACDC collection. The Internet can “play a vital role in supporting local communities in social, educational, cultural, and economic development,” said reporter Madanmohan Rao. One speaker reported that nearly 5,000 cybercafes around the world are giving cyberspace a human face. They “are community centers for the 21st century.”

This document identified some local community networking projects in various parts of the world and mentioned the role of libraries, FM radio and other local channels for communicating.

Reference: On the ACDC search page, conduct a title search (Local community networks) or author search (Rao) for the full citation. The report was posted on: http://www.isoc.org/oti/articles/0201/rao2.html

Networks are important, as long as they belong to the radio stations.

That perspective about local radio broadcasting came from a presenter at the First International Workshop on Farm Radio Broadcasting in Rome, Italy, during 2001. It differs markedly from trends in network ownership of U.S. radio stations.

Reference: Use a title search (The action of Francophonie) or author search (Lamonde) for the full citation. The presentation was posted on: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6721e/x6721e42.htm

Do the mainstream media favor quiet social movements?

Evidence of “yes” appeared in a study by Ann Reisner about how six national newspapers covered the farm use of pesticides. The topic is one in which the interests of agriculture (a morally good occupation) and environment (nature as a moral value) conflict.

“The study showed that, contrary to expectations, newspapers supported social change (were largely critical of pesticide use and sympathetic to organic agriculture). Farmers were portrayed positively as quiet social movement participants, and newspapers suggested that government and universities were blocking infrastructural change that should be supported. The study contradicts earlier theories of the press and social movements that suggest that newspapers contain, rather than promote, social change.”

Reference: Use a title search (Newspaper construction) or author search (Reisner) for the full citation.

Extension – more than a conduit of messages.

The “conduit” role is appropriate, but too narrow. So argued Charles Antholt in a journal article that we added recently to the ACDC collection. “If this is the principal role conceived for extension, it would be more appropriate to concentrate on reducing the unit cost of information transfer.”

The author emphasized three added roles for extension. He was applying them to extension services for farmers in Pakistan, but they seem equally appropriate and important for other audiences and settings.

Enhance the ability of families to use the resources available to them for their own well being.
Diagnose problems and articulate them as necessary to public or private sector research organization
Help groups organize to help themselves.

Reference: Use a title search (Strategic issues) or author search (Antholt) for the full citation.

Into the wastebasket – for survival.

“Think for a moment of the poor editors,” urged a commentator in a 1933 issue of The Dairy Record. “Do you know, gentle reader…that the editor spends a lot of his time throwing ‘news’ from the various government departments, the 48 state colleges, the 48 state departments of agriculture and lesser fry, into the waste basket?”

“Do you know what happens to a publication that prints this stuff in too liberal quantities? I’ll tell you. They go broke in a year’s time. If the editor and advertising manager suddenly decided to print this news – technically known as blah – they would end up…with one shirt between them.”

Reference: Use a title search (Is this sort of thing) for the full citation.

On the other hand, is access to government information being limited?

That question is alive, as it applies to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. You can follow it on the “USDA Media Access Issue” section of the North American Agricultural Journalists (NAAJ) web site (http://naaj.tamu.edu) The issue sparked during May when Sally Schuff, Washington editor of Feedstuffs, described two examples of USDA efforts to limit press access. In one case, reporters were told they could not seek hallway interviews after “closed-press” meetings in USDA buildings. You will find postings of interactions between mid-May and mid-July, including a response from USDA Press Secretary Alisa Harrison.

Some dilemmas for journalists covering risk issues.

We recently added to the ACDC collection a document that examined four dilemmas facing journalists who cover risk issues such as pollution:

Is balance always desirable? “No.”
Is balance a simple arithmetic matter of giving an equal number of pro and anti statements or points of view? “Several dangers lurk in this view of balance.”
How does the journalist’s choice of sources affect the overall slant of his or her news story? Use “official” or ” expert” sources without question? Use fringe group sources or extreme opinions to spice up stories?
To what extent does or should the journalist’s or news organization’s own judgments about the merits of a particular issue influence the way a story is told?

Reference: Use a title search (Role of the media) or author search (Lichtenberg) for the full citation.

Ten millionth volume.

The University of Illinois Library, with which the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center is affiliated, acquired its 10 millionth volume during October. With a total of all materials now at 23 million, the UI Library is the largest public university library in the world. We are thankful daily in having a great pool of resources available in our search for agricultural communications literature.

And you add much through your encouragement and help in strengthening this collection.

On serenading pigs.

A British farmer who plays classical music to his pigs created a “bitter local row” this fall after his neighbors complained to local authorities. Too noisy, said the neighbors. However, according to the Agence France Pressearticle, farmer Raymond Collier insisted that his animals sleep much better after a symphony or two.

“It calms them down and it might even make them grow bigger.”

Best regards and good searching.

hard copies to:
Ag Com Documentation Center
510 LIAC Library
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
or electronic copies to: docctr@library.uiuc.edu

November 2003