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The explosive debate that characterises Genetically Modified (GM) products or the science of biotechnology is becoming less polarised, according to a study by United States researchers.

Lead researcher Sara Evanega and three others concluded also that the ‘Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) debate -point toward an increasingly favourable and less polarised media conversation on ag-biotech.

“Overall, results suggest that both social and traditional media may be leaning towards a more favourable and less polarised conversation on ag-biotech,” says Evanega.

More than 100,000 online and print articles and more than a million social media posts were analysed by researchers to determine the volume and tenor of the GMO conversation from 2018 to 2020.

The study also investigated how the media covers issues about GMOs, and if the former shares the same scientific perception about the latter.

It also helped determine if certain companies influence the tone of the conversation, what the roles of bots and cyborgs (Bots and cyborgs are more than tools to better manage content quality on Wikipedia) are in the conversation, how the volume of coverage has shifted, and what are the attitudes toward emerging ag-biotech tools.

The researchers were able to determine that traditional media tended to be more positive in their coverage than social media in 2018 and 2019, but the gap disappeared in 2020.

Trends toward increasing favourability were also observed in both traditional and social media, more particularly in social media. Positive favourability observed in Africa may be associated with farmers being able to witness field trials and plant GM seeds, as well as the decrease of activity by anti-GMO activists in areas where GM crops have been adopted. 

They also observed a drop in the salience of the GMO debate among the wider population.