Technical Communication Quarterly Sep 1998

Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the role of technical communicators

Jeffrey T. Grabill Georgia State University ; W. Michele Simmons Brazilian National Association of Graduate Programs in Communication

Abstract

In this article, we build on arguments in risk communication that the predominant linear risk communication models are problematic for their failure to consider audience and additional contextual issues. The “failure”; of these risk communication models has led, some scholars argue, to a number of ethical and communicative problems. We seek to extend the critique, arguing that “risk”; is socially constructed. The claim for the social construction of risk has significant implications for both risk communication and the roles of technical communicators in risk situations. We frame these implications as a “critical rhetoric”; of risk communication that (1) dissolves the separation of risk assessment from risk communication to locate epistemology within communicative processes; (2) foregrounds power in risk communication as a way to frame ethical audience involvement; (3) argues for the technical communicator as one possessing the research and writing skills necessary for the complex processes of constructing and communicating risk.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
1998-09-01
DOI
10.1080/10572259809364640
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
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