ABSTRACT
It is possible to divide those involved in the genetically modified (GM) debate into very broad categories: politicians, scientists, journalists, corporations, protestors, NGOs, the public. For the university scientists whose views were reported, to be a member of 'the public' is to be ignorant and irrational, while the labels 'politicians' and 'journalists' were for them synonymous with duplicity and smooth-talking opportunism—in contrast to their own stolid inarticulate honesty. For among the other opponents of GM are many of the newspaper's old enemies: the European Union, religious fundamentalists, 'Old Labour', intellectuals, environmentalists, proponents of alternative lifestyles, and direct action groups committed to civil disobedience. A cynical view of 'the Press' might consign these GM issues to a list of replacement topics for journalists to fill in gaps when readers tired of the other recurrent news items: terrorism, Iraq, Palestine, the EU, educational standards, immigration, public services.
