Media Attention and Exposure in Relation to Support for Agricultural Biotechnology

Abstract

This article shows that attention to television news, science television, and entertainment television are all significantly related to a composite measure of agricultural biotechnology support after controlling for demographics as well as self-reported biotechnology awareness, trust in institutions, and perceived role of science. These findings contradict previous commentary that suggested that no measurable relationship exists between communication variables and biotechnology support. It is also hypothesized that some biotechnology support may be an outcome of heuristic processing by survey respondents.