ABSTRACT
The movement toward upstream public engagement in making decisions about emerging technology, including nanotechnology, is a positive development that reflects optimism about the possibility of practicing better democracy in a risk society. News about science, technology, and risk is sometimes described as “subsidized” news, dependent on “information subsidies” from those handing out free information in the form of press releases or statements made at press conferences, whether industry, government, research institutions, or nonprofit groups. Risk communicators can point out both nanotechnology’s benefits and its risks, but powerful predilections to interpret technology as a good or as a bad influence on the direction of societal change are still with us, and still seem likely to rule the day. The credibility of these leaders and the levels of trust accorded to them play a major role in the impact their utterances have about a particular risk issue, particularly as they are reported by the mass media.
