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A sequence of ‘factishes’: the media-metaphorical knowledge dynamics structuring the German press coverage of the human genome.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: A sequence of ‘factishes’: the media-metaphorical knowledge dynamics structuring the German press coverage of the human genome.
Authors: Döring, Martin
Source: New Genetics & Society; Dec2005, Vol. 24 Issue 3, p317-336, 20p
Subject Terms: HUMAN genome, HUMAN gene mapping, GENETIC research, GENETICS, GENOMICS
Geographic Terms: GERMANY
Abstract: This article deals with the cultural framing of the near sequencing of the human genome and its impact on the media coverage in Germany. It investigates in particular the way in which the weekly journal Die Zeit and the daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau reported this media event and its aftermath between June 2000 and June 2001. Both newspapers are quality papers that played an essential role in framing the human genome debate—alongside the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung —which became the most prominent genomic forum. The decoding of the human genome prompted a huge controversy concerning the ethics of human engineering, research on stem cells and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. The main aim of this article is to show how this controversy was structured by metaphor. The media coverage of the genome generated DNA-factishes —a neologism designating the ambivalence of something as fact ( fait ) and as a fetish ( fétiche )—that mostly propagated images of a new DNA-scienticism or biological determinism. Mediated by cultural experiences, the human genome became a highly artificial and social construct of a ‘ NatureCulture ’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Biomedical Index
Description
Abstract:This article deals with the cultural framing of the near sequencing of the human genome and its impact on the media coverage in Germany. It investigates in particular the way in which the weekly journal Die Zeit and the daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau reported this media event and its aftermath between June 2000 and June 2001. Both newspapers are quality papers that played an essential role in framing the human genome debate—alongside the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung —which became the most prominent genomic forum. The decoding of the human genome prompted a huge controversy concerning the ethics of human engineering, research on stem cells and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. The main aim of this article is to show how this controversy was structured by metaphor. The media coverage of the genome generated DNA-factishes —a neologism designating the ambivalence of something as fact ( fait ) and as a fetish ( fétiche )—that mostly propagated images of a new DNA-scienticism or biological determinism. Mediated by cultural experiences, the human genome became a highly artificial and social construct of a ‘ NatureCulture ’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:14636778
DOI:10.1080/14636770500349726