Opinion Leaders’ Communication Ethics in Science Communication

Abstract

Under the Dome and Tsui’s Investigation on GMO, the creators of the two documentaries’ are veritable “opinion leaders†in science communication. They set up public issues, popularize scientific knowledge, deepen the public awareness of these scientific issues, and trigger public hot spots. However, there are a lot of people question their communication ethics. This paper applies the Potter box to analyze opinion leaders’ ethical choices in science communication, try to find out the ethic basis of their choices, probe into the power distribution of opinion leaders and other communication subjects in science communication, and further discusses what kind of ethical choices can opinion leaders make to have a better communication effect in science communication.