Popularised discourse and/on bioethics: An introduction

In the last few decades a variety of bioethically-relevant issues have been at the centre of public debate, attracting ample coverage from the media in a context where unprecedentedly fast and pervasive scientific and technological progress has led to new questions on the actual application of advances to real life cases, e.g. in biotechnologies, genetics, medicine, with an impact on human identities, relations and practices, and therefore effect on human rights and fundamental freedoms. This Introduction focuses on the discursive representation of such issues in popularising texts. In particular, attention is centred on the linguistic and discursive strategies that are employed in ‘translating’ and framing specialised bioethical notions, terms and debates within journalistic, online, promotional, corporate and legal texts, and media coverage.