Citizens act as a public when they deal with matters of general interest without being subject to coercion. When the public is large, this kind of communication requires certain means of dissemination and influence. Today, newspapers and periodicals, radio and television are the media of the public sphere.

Another German sociologist, Ulrich Beck, ascribes considerable significance to mass media as a source of information for lay publics about both — risks and experts’ disputes concerning risks. By risk he was talking about a society that is able to handle risks to any sphere in life, caused by modernisation.

I agree with Beck, because for most people, the media is always right. Most lay people turn to newspapers, magazines, or the TV to get their knowledge about the latest science and technology developments and for most people, the reality of science is what they read in the press.

Everyday life in  contemporary society is measured through the lens of risk. Risk is big business today and consultants flourish providing advice on all sorts of risk. The media has cottoned onto this and risk stories abound in every newspaper.

Since risks have become all pervasive, modern society depends on expert sources like the media to guide them. However, because these sources too are not infallible, Beck says, the blame for risk is both projected outwards — as part of reflexive modernisation — and taken inwards, as part of individualisation. Both processes are different sides of the same coin of reflexivity.

Sociologists feel that with research funding declining, the assumption is that media interest will influence those who control the purse. Therefore scientists have to sell themselves through the media to ensure the public still supports them and the funds that go with that support, keep flowing in.

Today the whole world is afraid of taking risks. We are constantly worried about our safety against crime and abuse, food and drug issues, advances in technology, accidents; there is risk everywhere and anywhere.

Obviously, these risks did exist earlier and were categorised as superstitions. Every culture had its own superstitions and risk was considered just a natural consequence of everyday life. So who is the cause of this proliferation and preoccupation with risk in our risk society? Beck ascribes considerable significance to the mass media for this hype. He also categorises risks as both factual and value statements. We live in what he termed “risk society”, with the fear of risk hovering all around us, and that it’s an overwhelming fact of “reflexive modernity”.

Finally, it is ultimately how we as human beings linked to cultural boundaries, want to live. Risks are a blend of both facts and desires; it is really up to us how we want to decipher or understand them.