Abstract

Current research on the risks associated with mobile phone suggests that many European citizens, at least in the developed countries, have negative perceptions of mobile phone base stations technologies and perceive different health risks associated with the proximity of mobile phone base stations. Less research has been conducted in the East European countries regarding risk perceptions on electromagnetic fields. In the current research study we conducted a content analysis of news regarding mobile phone technology in Romania – mobile phone masts and mobile phone radiations, using two of the most important news portals (www.hotnews.ro and www.ziare.com). A systematic search was conducted based on a closed list of keywords (see Elvers et al., 2009) and time frame was January 2009 to December 2013. The results show little concern of media with the topic of electromagnetic radiations and mobile phone base sitting. Most articles are found in the popular media and have rather emotional discourse, using the words ”cancer” and “radiations” and we found few articles that debated over the contradictory effects of the current studies on the mobile phone technology and health risks.