Shielding risk

<jats:p>This article suggests that a theory of risk communication is incomplete without incorporating how risk is not only promoted, but also shielded: shielding risk refers to the strategic use of dominant cultural symbols, narratives and communication formats to deflect and often negate claims about risks. Many risk narratives are normatively based on institutional information sources, and reified through communication formats. It appears that all cultures shield risks, and our failure to locate and understand these may reflect limited theoretical perspectives about the relationship between a general theory of communication and social action, on the one hand, and risk communication, on the other. Clarifying how risk is shielded by institutional formats of social control can illuminate the role of mediated information and entertainment-oriented narratives in constructing social reality. I discuss the shielding of risk communication by focusing mainly on examples from the United States: guns, expanding prison population and military influences on universities</jats:p>