Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2012

Balancing the Rhetorical Tension Between Right to Know and Security in Risk Communication: Ambiguity and Avoidance

Susan A. Youngblood Auburn University

Abstract

This study examines tensions between participants’ roles as emergency planners and as points of contact for public access to chemical reports. The two organizations in this study, both Texas Local Emergency Planning Committees, maintained web sites and were concerned about the misuse of chemical reports. Each organization used ambiguity to give members a sense of control over right-to-know access to reports. One largely avoided online mention of such access. The other used strategic ambiguity to encourage the public to access reports locally rather than through a state office and to discourage unwelcome viewers. The study found that the former organization’s use of ambiguity impeded action, but the latter organization’s use of strategic ambiguity was productive.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2012-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651911421123
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Topics
rhetorical criticism
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Morris (2026)
    Introduction to Special Issue: Technical Communication In/Against Security Logics
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Cosgrove (2023)
    Improving Technical and Risk Communication: An Organizational Study of North Ca…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Pflugfelder et al. (2023)
    Expanding the Scope and Scale of Risk in TPC: Water Access and the Colorado Riv…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Reamer (2015)
    “Risk = Probability × Consequences”: Probability, Uncertainty, and the Nuclear …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Youngblood (2012)
    Circularity, Analogy, and Gestalt in the Ancestral Puebloan Cannibalism Debate
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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