Microplastics are increasingly populating the environment and human and nonhuman bodies. Their presence has invoked concerns about potential environmental and health effects, resulting in increasing research and media reporting. Here, we explore how the German print media reported on microplastics between 2004 and 2018. We find three distinct phases of reporting in which microplastics are introduced, stabilized, and destabilized as a “risk object.” We show that different attributions of risk go hand in hand with divergent assessments of who is responsible for risk management and argue that media cycles of affirming and contesting risk might undermine public trust in scientific findings.

微塑料越来越多地出现在环境、人体和非人体中。它们的存在引起了人们对潜在环境和健康影响的担忧，导致越来越多的研究和媒体报道。在这里，我们探讨了 2004 年至 2018 年德国印刷媒体如何报道微塑料。我们发现了三个不同的报道阶段，其中微塑料作为“风险对象”被引入、稳定和不稳定。我们表明，风险的不同归因与对谁负责风险管理的不同评估密切相关，并认为肯定和质疑风险的媒体周期可能会破坏公众对科学发现的信任。