The social amplification of risk provides a useful framework in which to understand the influence of media reporting of risk on public perceptions. It is clear that both the content and extent of media reports are liable to play an important role in shaping people's perceptions of risk and their subsequent behaviour. In this study, the number and content of reports about a variety of hazards were analyzed from a UK sample comprising news programs from two television channels and ten national and local newspapers. The hazard reports were analyzed for a two to three week period of April and May, 1996, that was timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. This period also coincided with the aftermath of a crucial announcement regarding a potential link between BSE and the new variant form of human CJD that was made by the UK Minister of Health on March 20th. The BSE hazard dominated both media formats at the expense of reports on other hazards. In the case of the television media, the greater time restrictions seemed to limit reports to drawing public attention to the hazards, rather than giving detailed qualitative or quantitative information about them. Retrospective analysis indicates that there were similarities in the extent of coverage between BSE in 1996 and Chernobyl in 1986. The media findings will be linked to results from risk perception questionnaires that were collected at the same time, and discussed within the context of social amplification of risk.