Citation

Mellor F. Public Underst. Sci. 2010; 19(1): 16-33.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Institute of Physics in association with the Science Museum, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0963662507087307

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Natural scientists often appear in the news media as key actors in the management of risk. This paper examines the way in which a small group of astronomers and planetary scientists have constructed asteroids as risky objects and have attempted to control the media representation of the issue. It shows how scientists negotiate the uncertainties inherent in claims about distant objects and future events by drawing on quantitative risk assessments even when these are inapplicable or misleading. Although the asteroid scientists worry that media coverage undermines their authority, journalists typically accept the scientists’ framing of the issue. The asteroid impact threat reveals the implicit assumptions which can shape natural scientists’ public discourse and the tensions which arise when scientists’ quantitative uncertainty claims are re-presented in the news media.