SPE-174048-MS

Fracking or Hydraulic Fracturing: How Media Shapes Public Perception

and Regulatory Process
Megan Schwartz, and Daniel R. Tormey Ph.D., P.G. Molly Middaugh, ENVIRON

Copyright 2015, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Western Regional Meeting held in Garden Grove, California, USA, 27–30 April 2015.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Bans or moratoria on hydraulic fracturing are in place or being considered worldwide. In large part, these
actions stem from relatively data-free media presentations of risks associated with hydraulic fractions. Our
objective is to analyze the influence of media and public perceptions in shaping policy related to hydraulic
fracturing and to use this evaluation to provide insight on balancing science with public perception in
judging political risks and guiding public policy. By balancing science with public perception, good policy
and a social license to operate result.
We conducted a literature review of the role of media in influencing public opinion on political issues
and then focused the conclusions found in the literature onto the topic of hydraulic fracturing. We
evaluated the influence of media, including movies, television, and traditional new outlets, as well as
internet sources such as blogs, news aggregators, non-governmental organization (NGO) campaigns, and
social media, and then compared these sources to the influence of published scientific literature in shaping
public perception and political and regulatory oversight of hydraulic fracturing. The results of our analysis
show that the large disconnect between scientific data and public opinion makes it difficult for elected
officials and regulatory agencies to develop well-founded policies that regulate hydraulic fracturing in a
manner that is accepted by both the public and industry. Based on these results, our study illustrates that
public officials need to balance public opinion with data-rich scientific studies and analysis, and then
weigh political risk when crafting legislation and public policy.
Introduction
Public policy seeking to regulate new technology or changes to industrial practices must weigh a large
number of factors. The balance between various factors is more difficult when the scientific issues are
complex and controversial. These factors can be broadly grouped into three categories: calculated risk,
perceived risk, and political risk. We define calculated risks as the risks determined through gathering and
analysis of primary data, conducting numerical studies or data analysis, or other forms of scientific and
engineering inquiry. Generally, more data-rich analyses provide more accurate levels of calculated risk.
Perceived risk refers to public perception of the hazards and risk. John Quigley, former Pennsylvania
Secretary of Natural Resources, refers to perceived risk as “the high dread to risk ratio;” that is, that the
public’s dread over an issue may far outweigh its objective risk when the issues are complex or
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controversial (Quigley 2012). Political risk is the result of balancing perceived risk and calculated risk to
determine whether supporting or not supporting legislation will affect future political goals. In addition,
the nature of perceived risk and the resulting political risk is heavily influenced by economics and political
composition of any given constituency. Media of all types are crucial in collecting, framing, and
distributing information and thus, plays a central role in both educating the public on events and in
framing how the public views such events. A literature review on the relationship between public opinion
and policy does not consistently link media coverage and public opinion to policy outcomes, but there is
recognition in the literature that elected officials, the public, and media are interdependent and that
focusing attention on one or two of the three factors can distort empirical findings on the topic (Baum and
Potter 2008). Below is a brief analysis of each of the various media sources (internet, television and film,
traditional news, and celebrity spokespersons) and how they influence public opinion of hydraulic
fracturing. Following these analyses, we evaluate how public opinion has factored into regulations dealing
with hydraulic fracturing to date.

Internet Word-Searches
According to recent surveys, approximately 86 percent of the American public browsed the Internet in
2012, up four percent from 2011 (Cole et al 2013). Based on surveys collected since 2000 and an average
annual growth rate of 2.3%, an estimated 91 percent of the American public is browsing the Internet in
2015. A review of Internet use behavior has found that more than one trillion unique worldwide URLs
have been indexed by Google alone by 2010; some 90 percent of online users use search engines, and
using search engines represents 10 percent of the time that individuals spend on the internet (Bughin
2011). As such, the results of internet word searches are valuable sources of information to understand
what the public is learning when seeking information on a topic by using an internet search engine. The
figure below depicts the number of people searching for information on hydraulic fracturing on Google
using two different key word searches; Fracking and Hydraulic Fracturing (Union of Concerned Scientists
2013). Two important messages can be extrapolated from this figure. First, there is about a 5-year delay
between the increase in shale gas development in the U.S. and public interest in the topic. Increased public
interest can be closely tied to the release and publicity of the documentary film “Gasland,” discussed in
more detail later in this paper. Second, members of the public used both the keyword “hydraulic
fracturing” and “fracking,” although the number searching for “fracking” is substantially greater than
those who searched for “hydraulic fracturing.” In 2013, when this data was collected, the first four pages
of search results returned for the search term “fracking” were blogs, and industry and non-governmental
industry interest pages. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website, generally considered an
objective provider of information, did not appear until the fifth page of search results. In contrast, a google
search for the term “hydraulic fracturing” returned the EPA website on the first page. Today, a search
using the keyword “fracking” will yield the EPA website on the second page of search results. From these
data, we infer that the information that the public receive when using the Internet to learn about hydraulic
fracturing was not necessarily data-driven, peer- reviewed, or the position of a government agency.
SPE-174048-MS 3

Figure 1—Google Keyword Searches for Fracking and Hydraulic Fracturing (Union of Concerned Scientists 2013)

Film, Television, and Celebrity Spokespeople

Public interest in hydraulic fracturing and the perceived risks of hydraulic fracturing, specifically as they
pertain to water resources, is often connected to the 2010 documentary film, Gasland,. This is the most
well-known film about hydraulic fracturing. The film has reached a very broad audience (over 1,000,000
viewers on HBO across 22 countries), and given its “documentary” status, is considered a valid,
well-researched source of information by many of its viewers. The filmmakers interviewed residents in
Pennsylvania and Colorado who believed that their adverse health situations were attributable to
groundwater contamination due to hydraulic fracturing in their local areas. The film is probably best
known for the scene in which a man is able to light his tap water on fire due to high levels of methane
that the film says is caused by hydraulic fractuirng. According to Paul Kelly, communications advisor
Cuadrilla (the first company to explore hydraulic fracturing techniques in the United Kingdom), “Gasland
really changed everything. Before that, shale gas was not seen as routinely controversial” (BRITDOC
Undated). While the film was heavily criticized by industry, which launched a heavy campaign to
“debunk” the claims made in the film, overall most of the media coverage was positive. As part of the
industry effort to respond to Gasland, two films were produced (FrackNation and Truthland) and released
at film festivals, but neither of these films have had the broad reach or influence of the Gasland campaign.
Other films that have attempted to delve into the realm of hydraulic fracturing include Promised Land
(2012), and the television series CSI, whose episode titled “Fracked” in 2010, had 12.9 million viewers
and was the number 8 most viewed show the week that it aired (Seidman 2010).
The Gasland campaign was also very successful at garnering endorsements by NGOs and gaining the
support of charismatic celebrities who became speakers for Gasland’s campaign against hydraulic
fracturing. When controversial issues are complex, or require familiarity with a large body of technical
information, there is a tendency to rely on the opinion of a charismatic leader in lieu of conducting ones
own research. These celebrities are able to hold the attention of large audiences and thereby gather
supporters to their cause. A 2005 study that evaluated the impact of the cross-polination of entertainment
and politics and, accordingly, the impact of political statements made by celebrities on public opinion
found that public opinion particularly that of younger adults is strengthened when a concept is “endorsed”
by celebrities (Jackson and Darrow 2005). Dholakia and Sternthal (1977, as cited in Jackson and Darrow
2005) found that highly credible celebrity sources positively influence attitudes about an issue, even if the
influence does not result in any behavioral changes. Sternthal et al. (1978, as cited in Jackson and Darrow
2005) found that recipients’ predisposition toward an issue influenced the impact of credible sources, with
those favorably disposed more influenced by a moderately credible source (e.g. celebrity) than a highly
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credible one (e.g. scientific literature or government agency). Jackson and Darrow also report that the
physical attractiveness and “likeability” of the source have been assessed and that, in general, more
physically attractive endorsers are more effective at influencing public opinion (Kahle and Homer 1985,
as cited in Jackson and Darrow 2005), with the caveat that the chosen celebrity match the issue. In the
instance of hydraulic fracturing, this means that celebrities more likely to influence the public are those
that live in the areas with high levels of natural gas extraction, or celebrity’s who are already well-known
for speaking out about environmental issues.
The rapidity of natural gas development and the wide audience reached by Gasland and other media
sources led to heightened public concern to such a degree that Time Magazine labeled Hydraulic
Fracturing as the “environmental issue of the year” in 2011, displacing climate change. In response to this
designation John Quigley, former Pennsylvania Secretary of Natural Resources stated, “ That pronounce-
ment comes despite the fact that climate disruption is causing more frequent freakish weather and in 2011
alone broke almost 3,000 U.S. weather records, including 11 separate weather disasters that cost over a
billion dollars each in damage. That’s on top of $14 billion in climate disruption-related damage in the
last decade (Quigley 2012).” In 2011, the scientific literature evaluating the potential impacts of hydraulic
fracturing was still based on modeling results rather than from measured, site-specific data (e.g., Rozell
and Reavon 2011; Entrekin et al 2011). However, Time Magazine aptly found that the perceived risk of
hydraulic fracturing outweighed the known calculated risks of climate change in determining public
opinion. Therefore, while public opinion influenced Time’s designation, this designation also influenced
members of the public who may not have been informed on the topic that hydraulic fracturing is
something that they should be concerned about.

Traditional News Media

Several studies have found that journalists shape news by determining the newsworthiness of stories
(White 1950, Galtung & Ruge 1963, Patterson 1993). This potential for bias increases with the heightened
prominence of more-partisan media outlets (Baum & Groeling, unpublished manuscript). Baum and Potter
(2008) found in their evaluation of media influences on public opinion and foreign policy that despite a
widely held belief in the media’s mission to inform (e.g., Bennett 1997, Patterson 2000), reporters do not
consistently act to remedy the informational inequities [in the foreign policy marketplace]. Rather, they
react in ways that tend to exacerbate the prevailing trend. While this can also be seen in media coverage
of hydraulic fracturing, particularly in the forum of television and film, more often newspapers and
television news may affect public opinion in their attempt to fairly show both sides of the debate on the
technique.
Research on the role of media in shaping public opinion identifies the influence of framing an issue on
a reader’s opinion. How media frames an issue can influence both how people understand the issue and
their attitude toward the issue (Delshod and Raymond 2013). Therefore, while traditional news media
attempt to appear unbiased and objective, this objectivity has led to use of the “fairness bias” in which
equal weight is given to both sides of an issue, whether or not each side is equally supported by fact. This
may mean that data-driven research that comes to a certain conclusion is given equal page length or
air-time as unfounded assumptions that provide an opposite conclusion. This method of reporting thereby
frames the issue, influencing public attitude to conclude that both sides are equally valid. One example
of the fairness bias is an article on the New York Times website which “ground-truths” the claims made
in the film “Gasland” (Soraghan 2011). The reporter compares and contrasts the claims made in the film
with industry responses. In the quote below, the article equates the statements from industry based on the
specific conditions of hydraulic fracturing, with opinions from unnamed “environmentalists,” leaving
readers with the impression that both points have equal validity and equal claims to truth.
SPE-174048-MS 5

“The industry says it is impossible for fracturing chemicals to leak upward through millions of tons of impermeable rock.
But some environmentalists say they could, given the relatively ancient ‘fracture’ rock formations under Pennsylvania.”

The second example is from a Los Angeles Times article on the Inglewood Oil Field Hydraulic
Fracturing study, the first study that provided a data-rich evaluation of environmental effects of two
specific hydraulic fracturing jobs (Tormey et al 2012). While the headline states “Inglewood Oil Field
Hydraulic Fracturing Study finds no harm from the methods,” a statement based on more than two years
of data collection, the article included the following paragraph implicating a relationship between ground
movement and hydraulic fracturing (Vives 2012):

“But people living around the field oppose the idea. Residents say their properties have been damaged by myseterious
land shifts, which has increased their fears about fracking. Some homeowners suspect the movements may be related to
. . .drilling operations. But the actual cause is unclear; the area sits atop the Newport-Inglewood fault.”

Given the strong readership of these traditional news outlets (New York Times readership is 1.87
million [Lee 2013] people per day and Los Angeles Times’ is 1.5 million people per day [LA Times
2014]), “fairness bias” can inadvertently misinform public perceptions of an issue.

Public Influence on Regulatory Policy

Since 2008, a number of regulations have been proposed or enacted regulating the practice of hydraulic
fracturing. Most states with active oil and gas operations that have passed regulations regarding hydraulic
fracturing have focused on chemical disclosure laws (12 states to date). These regulations directly respond
to one of the perceived risks of hydraulic fracturing - the injection of unknown and potentially hazardous
chemicals into the formation that could adversely affect drinking water resources. These regulations do
not mitigate any calculated risks; they are driven by public concern. They do not limit the practice of
hydraulic fracturing or the types and volumes of chemical used in hydraulic fracturing; rather, the
regulations provide information to the public about where and when hydraulic fracturing has occurred, and
the names and volumes of chemicals used. This information is better able to inform the perceived risk
levels.
Public interest and perceived risk have also influenced elected officials to gather more information on
the potential risks. A number of examples in the State of California attest to this. In Los Angeles, public
concern regarding the Inglewood Oil Field led to the development of a special regulatory district, called
a Community Standards District, which provides location- specific ordinances improving the community
compatability of the field. A study on the feasibility and environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing at
the field was an outcome, and the study (Tormey et al 2012) collected and analyzed data collected for a
a year prior to, during, and a year after two specific high-volume hydraulic fracturing events at the field
for a number of resource areas, including groundwater, ground movement, seismicity, noise and vibration,
and air quality. The study found no impacts attributable to hydraulic fracturing, and no new regulatory
measures related to hydraulic fracturing have been required at the field. Public concern in California also
led to the passage of Senate Bill 4 (SB-4) to regulate hydraulic fracturing in the State of California. The
legislation required the State of California to develop an independent study on the impacts of hydraulic
fracturing in the state (conducted by the California Center for Science and Technology), as well as an
Environmental Impact Report evaluating potential impacts of implementation of SB-4.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the expansion of both media coverage and public interest in hydraulic fracturing, taken
together with the broad reach of traditional and non-traditional media sources, has been the primary
determinant on political risk and hence public policy. Scientific study and application of the results to the
issue is just coming in to the balance to affect political risk. Ideally, consideration of both the science-
6 SPE-174048-MS

based calculated risk and the perceived risk are balanced in the determination of political risk and the
resulting public policy. However, as demonstrated in this study of hydraulic fracturing, initial determi-
nations of political risk were based primarily on perceived risk by the public. Scientific research and data
formerly held by regulatory agencies or in the literature are just coming to the fore in assessing political
risk and forming public policy; we recommend that such information be distributed to a wider audience
in order to balance the media-driven perceived risk level.

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