ABSTRACT
In much risk communication related to environment and health issues, there has been a split in media opinions and a difficulty for experts to convince the public of their scientific findings. Different groups of risk communities, experts, scholars, and the general public often have different risk perceptions. The “authoritative” risk assessment is rarely interpreted correctly by the public, and conversely, public perceptions and responses to risk are considered irrational by risk managers. This situation creates difficulties in risk communication among these communities . These difficulties have sometimes led to environmental protests and movements. This chapter applies the risk story model theory to the case study of the Kunming paraxylene (PX) protest incident, to illustrate the dynamics of interaction and competition among the risk stories presented by experts, scholars, the general public, and media organizations.
