Risk media is what makes risk visible and subject to assessment. These can be both electronic and print, and carry out surveillance, knowledge distribution, and risk analysis through media such as "magnetic access cards, market surveys, surveillance cameras, computer terminals, social surveys, bureaucratic forms, and actuarial formats" (Ericson & Haggerty, 1997, p. 106). They organize social relations by 1) creating categories and 2) by showing "show should relate to whom, on what basis, and for what purposes" (p. 106). These allow for instantaneous remote control: production, distribution, and management from anywhere. The standardization of this media helps legitimize the information produced by risk professionals; people believe in these forms. This information can further be used as a lens for the purpose of group sorting (107). This remote control has drawbacks though, in that no one is in control in the brick and mortar sense of guarding the information; essentially, "no one is in control" (p. 107).
References:
Ericson, R. V., & Haggerty, K.D. (1997). The Risk Society. In R.V. Ericson & K.D. Haggerty (Eds.) Policing the risk society (pp. 81-130). U of Toronto: Toronto.