Risk communication and policymaking: examining participation context, digital media, and scientific evidence

Abstract

Risk communication may shape how risks are defined and addressed by policy. This study examines stakeholders' risk communication practices within participatory approaches to policymaking through a multiple-case study design, covering both top-down and bottom-up pathways. The study pursues three interrelated objectives: to examine the forms of knowledge through which stakeholders communicate risk, including lived experience, situated accounts of perceived risk, and judgments of policy feasibility; to analyze how digital media supports and shapes risk communication; to assess how scientific evidence underpins stakeholders' risk communication. Findings show that stakeholder risk communication varies across contexts, broadening the policy debates by introducing new topics and policy proposals. The study evidences that, beyond facilitating physical and temporal barriers, digital media enabled coordinated actions, such as the replication of submissions intended to amplify specific narratives and simulate consensus. Nonetheless, stakeholders also faced difficulties in sustaining participation. Marginalized groups struggled to maintain visibility and influence, raising questions about inclusivity, legitimacy, and representation in participatory policymaking. Building on Bennett and Segerberg's connective action framework, the article introduces the concept of institutionalized connective action to describe hybrid forms of participation in which decentralized actors engage formal decision-making arenas through legally recognized instruments. Stakeholders consistently mobilized scientific evidence as a persuasive resource to legitimize or discredit policy claims.