Popularizing the Internet: Traveling Companions Supporting the Good News

• Per Hetland ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Oslo

     University of Oslo

     Noruega

     
• Localización: Nordicom review: Nordic research on media & communication, ISSN 1403-1108, Vol. 36, Nº. 2, 2015, págs. 157-171
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Ejemplar
• Resumen

  • In popular science and technology writing, “boosterism” is prominent. Writers overwhelmingly describe science and technology in enthusiastic terms, thereby promoting the deficit or Public Appreciation of Science and Technology model (PAST). A crucial aspect of the PAST model is its pro-innovation bias: writers enroll chaperones in the texts, such as spokespersons, users, celebrities, witnesses, experts, and authorities, to support their claims. Both “boosterism” and pro-innovation bias constrain the public’s critical understanding of science and technology. This study includes a detailed exploration of pro-innovation bias in the popularization of the Internet in the Norwegian press and how journalists use chaperones to support their claims. The author demonstrates that, in popularizing the Internet, pro-innovation bias manifests several other biases, such as individual-praise, pro-technology, individual-blame, technology-blame, and source biases.