Analysis Back

Mapping Weak Signals

Inspired by: interviews » There is a difference between the reality of an issue and the perception of such an issue. This is essentially, a reflection of media influence and there can be numerous consequences created for political reasons.

version: 5 / updated: 2011-10-21
id: #1790 / version id: #1790
mode: VIEW

Originally submitted by: Ivan Montenegro Perini
List of all contributors by versions (mouse over)
Last changed by: Ivan Montenegro Perini
WI-WE status:

submitted

unpublished

archived

Source of inspiration

Interviews

The source of the Weak Signal is

Bruce Lloyd, "London South Bank University", interwied by "RTC North"

Signal's headline

(max. 9 words)

There is a difference between the reality of an issue and the perception of such an issue. This is essentially, a reflection of media influence and there can be numerous consequences created for political reasons.

Signal's description

(approx. 150 words)

Please describe the Weak Signal (approx. 150 words)

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) was once recognised as being completely independent, but now it is also prone to sensationalise events, and cannot be considered as a reliable source of information. Indeed, traditional media sources of reliable information are often suspect and this usually due to over-sensationalising events. As such society can easily become immune to certain aspects of news, rather like a ‘crying wolf scenario’. For example, the recent SARS scare: Do we really know how serious they were? We know what was reported in the media and then this is perceived in certain ways by society. What will happen if a real epidemic occurs? If you look at the recent Mexican Gulf oil spillage, this is a very traumatic event, but in the past when these problems have occurred they have generally been dealt with limited fuss. Today, 98%, probably 99.9%, of the population have limited knowledge of real events and rely on media coverage, and this determines their perception and interpretation of an event.

Keywords

Perception and Reality.

Signal's potential evolution

It could lead to...

	issue	type of issue/development	potential impact on society	timeframe for the issue to become at least 50% probable
#1		continuation	harmful
#2		continuation	beneficial

Importance

		please specify
	please select	please specify
Level 4: important for the whole world

Filters preventing the signal's monitoring

economic filters (business/market interests)

political filters (party or ideological interests)

social filters (class, status, education level)

Signal's relevance for European Grand Challenges

		where?		please justify:
	particularly relevant	Europe	world	please justify:
Behavioural change
Coexistence and conflicts

Signal's relevance for thematic research areas

		please justify:
	particularly relevant	please justify:
Social Sciences and Humanities

Progress: 52.51% WWI-WE Version: 5
0	mandatory questions pending
19	questions total
9	questions answered
9	questions completed
10	questions pending