By Rachel Semmel
Public Relations, senior

World renowned risk communication scholar Sharon Dunwoody came to Purdue to tell her story in a "slightly different way."

Dunwoody, a Professor and researcher at University of Wisconsin-Madison, spoke to about 40 Purdue staff, students and representatives from the Indiana State Department of Health on April 6 at the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

Dunwoody, who said her goal at the beginning of the speech was to inform but not bore, introduced her two research questions so everyone could understand: Is the media really that powerful? And, what role does the media play in the public's perceptions of risk?

Dunwoody claimed that the mass media's power only goes as far as the audience allows it. When warning about a potential risk, such as smoking or cancer, audiences only view mass media as an information source or a "legitimizer" of the existence of the risk.

However, Dunwoody claims that while audiences like the mass media to alert them of risks, they don't like the media to tell how it will personally affect them. If the risk has a personal effect on individuals, they will get defensive and not accept that information from a mass media source.

That is where the power of mass media ends, says Dunwoody. Individuals prefer interpersonal communication when informing them if they are in danger. They will receive the information better by talking to an individual.

Dunwoody said she hoped her findings would not only help communication scholars, but especially the state health officials in their communication during crisis situations.

Presentation event coordinator Hyunyi Cho, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, said she wanted to bring Dunwoody to Purdue because she could inform a diverse group of people on a subject that applies to all of them.

"Risk communication is a difficult subject matter to study," said Cho. "I thought bringing an internationally recognized expert to Purdue would help better show one of the most serious challenges facing contemporary society -- managing risk."