State of the art on fire risk communication amongst journalists and media

The concept of risk communication appears during the 1980’s as a result of public's claim over environmental policy making; and public information and participation. In the 1970’s, people were largely content to leave control in the hands of established authorities, such as the Environmental Protection Agency; however people became visibly upset, distressed, and even outraged when they felt excluded (Covello et Sandman 2001).
Risk communication was created as a scientifically based discipline, to guide the new partnership and dialogue of government and industry with the public, addressing a fundamental dilemma: “The risks that kill people and the risks that alarm them are often completely different”. Other factors that have contributed to its rapid growth was the increase in public interest in health, safety and environmental issues, and media coverage of them; the mistrust in risk management authorities and public demand for the right to participate as a full partner in all phases of risk assessment and risk management; the increase on the demand for information generated by public concern about risk from past, present and future activities, and the increase on the awareness by governments and industry that risk controversies often threaten the achievement of their organizational goals.
It is important to note that some authors have explicitly cautioned against an unbalanced re-emphasis on communication exercises that serve solely to increase public trust and consent, rather than on facilitating stakeholder and public dialogue as a contribution to mutual learning and innovation (Irwin 2006; Wynne 2006).