Damian Maye has co-authored a paper which has been published in the first 2017 edition of Sociologia Ruralis.
The article draws from research that Damian conducted with Dr Rhiannon Naylor (lead author) from the Royal Agricultural University on the social science study, which accompanied the Badger Vaccine Deployment Programme and was funded by Defra.
Science has a powerful role in society. It can fuel innovation, shape policy and influence public opinion. However, science can also be highly controversial and subject to substantial disagreement and debate. Such debates are often evident in the media which regularly reports on areas of disagreement and debate.
The article maps the reporting of knowledge controversies in the media in relation to bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and badger vaccination (as a method to control disease spread from badgers to cattle), which has become a highly politicised issue in recent years. It explores how controversies originating in scientific discourses are used by different stakeholders to support their knowledge claims.
The article is available online http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soru.12105/full
The full reference is:
Naylor, R., Manley, W., Maye, D., Enticott, G., Ilbery, B. and Hamilton-Webb, A. (2016 – in press) The framing of public knowledge controversies in the media: a comparative analysis of the portrayal of badger vaccination in the English national, regional and farming press. Sociologia Ruralis, Volume 57, Issue 1, January 2017, Pages 3–22. DOI: 10.1111/soru.12105
