Listed below are three bibliographies of risk communication articles – useful mostly for early work in the field, before it got too big to bibliograph.
After the three bibliographies I have listed 13 websites on risk communication and related topics that I routinely check out. Some have approaches very similar to mine. Some are less similar. Their inclusion on this list isn’t meant to imply that I endorse everything they say … or that they endorse everything (or anything!) I say.
Bibliographies
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Health Risk Communication (National Library of Medicine Current Bibliographies in Medicine)
This bibliography on “Health Risk Communication” was compiled by Marcia Zorn and Scott Ratzan, and currently lists 847 citations ending in October 2000. The Introduction notes that “English language publications about risk communication were selected which focus primarily on risk communication of scientific information.” And further: “Our concern for this bibliography is with the presentation of scientific risk information; the strategies, tactics, and models that are used to communicate scientific risk information to an audience; and the difficulty of translating scientific knowledge in a meaningful way to enable the public to make informed health decisions.”
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Compiled by Philip C.R. Gray and Peter M. Wiedemann of the Research Centre in Jülich, Germany, this is a “critical guide,” not really a bibliography. It lists only a small number of items, and describes and assesses each one in considerable detail. As the Introduction (“About this guide”) emphasizes, the focus “is on resources that are practically useful” – including websites and journals as well as specific books, reports, and articles. It was last updated in September 2000.
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Risk Communication Bibliography (National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health)
Updated in June 2006 with over 850 citations, this is the most current of the three bibliographies. It is also the only one that provides a sophisticated search capability. Compiled for the National Cancer Institute by Neil D. Weinstein and his colleagues at Rutgers University, it includes mostly articles from refereed journals. The compilers note that “to set realistic boundaries, we focused this bibliography on publications that relate to the specific task of explaining the nature and magnitude of hazards to the public. This focus unavoidably neglects important social, legal, political, ethical, and institutional issues in risk communication.”
Websites
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Rusty Cawley, a public relations professional turned risk communication expert, posts on this blog several times a day. His posts are mostly brief descriptions (with links) of articles appearing elsewhere that shed light on risk communication issues and strategies – especially (but not exclusively) with respect to controversies affecting corporate reputations. Other Rusty Cawley resources of value:
- Links to several dozen risk communication PowerPoint presentations by Rusty can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/rustycawley/presentations.
- Cold Crisis TV is Rusty’s “vlog ” – video posts on various risk communication topics.
- In 2010 Rusty tried to organize what he found most useful in the outrage management section of my website into a Pearltrees post.
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Futureye is an Australian consultancy directed by Katherine Teh-White. Its focus is a lot broader than risk communication (“stakeholder engagement, sustainability and corporate responsibility strategy ”) – but it does risk communication extremely well. An archive of articles from its “Members’ Circle ” quarterly newsletter is very useful, though you have to look separately at each issue to see what’s in it.
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This website is maintained by Tony Jaques, an Australian academic and consultant on issues management. Tony’s list of publications (many of them on his site) is impressive. His twice-monthly newsletter on “Managing Outcomes ” is worth subscribing to. (His archive of past newsletters goes back only to June 2011.)
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Bernstein Crisis Management is a consulting firm focused on corporate reputational crises. But there’s a lot of value on this website:
- Brief articles on the basics
- An archive of ezine/newsletter posts going back to 2000 (with a link to subscribe)
- A blog on reputational crisis issues
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David Ropeik is a former television journalist who now consults and writes on risk perception, risk communication, and risk management. There’s not actually much on his website so far. But David’s blog “How Risky Is It, Really?” on the Psychology Today website is worth reading. So is his Huffington Post blog.
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The Holmes Report and its associated blog are about public relations, not risk communication. But Paul Holmes is a PR guy who gets risk communication, and his work is worth reading.
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James Donnelly is a crisis communication (in my terms, “outrage management ”) V.P. with the huge Ketchum public relations firm. His personal website has a blog that’s worth following. It also archives some of J.D.’s articles and links and video clips.
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Hennes-Paynter Communications is a crisis communication (in my terms, “outrage management”) consultancy in Cleveland, run by Bruce Hennes and Barb Paynter. Its twice-monthly newsletter is full of links to other articles of interest to risk communicators. Past issues are archived but not indexed topically. Subscriptions are free.
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Craig Pearce Strategic Communication
Craig Pearce is a sole practitioner in Australia, focusing on reputation management. I love his website’s subtitle, “Short-term pain for long-term gain ” – a nice summary of outrage management. The website has an interesting blog, and offers a free email subscription to Craig’s periodic “PR Insights ” newsletter. He has also posted a generous list of other people’s PR-related blogs that he follows.
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The Website of Dr. William Leiss
William Leiss is Canada’s best-known risk communication expert. He is co-author (with Douglas Powell) of Mad Cows and Mothers’ Milk: the Perils of Poor Risk Communication, and a Fellow and Past-President (1999–2001) of the Royal Society of Canada. In recent years Dr. Leiss has focused more on risk management than on risk communication, but his website still contains links to articles by him and others on topics of interest to risk communicators.
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Facts on Health and the Environment (GreenFacts Foundation)
This website isn’t about risk communication per se, but it does offer a role model for providing complicated risk information to non-specialists – and for respectfully acknowledging many conflicting views. The Brussels-based GreenFacts Foundation discusses health and environmental controversies via a remarkably user-friendly three-tiered structure that allows the reader to start with the most basic information or with more detailed and technical information – and to switch easily from level to level. It aims at unbiased overviews, peer-reviewed by experts from varying perspectives, on such subjects as climate change, endocrine disruptors, power lines, water disinfectants, and dioxin. (Another “tier” devoted to the outrage and values aspects of each issue would be a welcome addition.)
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Regina Lundgren is a well-known risk communication consultant and trainer, and author (later coauthor) of the book, Risk Communication: A Handbook for Communicating Environmental, Safety, and Health Risks, now in its fourth edition. The “Resources” page of her website is a generous collection of links to other sites and online resources on risk communication, public involvement, and science communication.
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The Center for Risk Communication was founded by Dr. Vincent Covello, a worldwide leader in risk communication research, consulting, and speaking. The site includes:
- Several downloadable articles by Dr. Covello and other Center staff
(http://www.centerforriskcommunication.com/publications.htm); - A list of Dr. Covello’s other articles and books
(http://www.centerforriskcommunication.com/pubadds.htm); - A brief bibliography of other readings recommended by the Center
(http://www.centerforriskcommunication.com/readings.htm); - A list of links to other websites of interest
(http://www.centerforriskcommunication.com/links.htm).
- Several downloadable articles by Dr. Covello and other Center staff
If there are other websites that you think should be listed here,
please let me know by sending me a message.
