Abstract

This study examines specific professional patterns among health journalists, and assesses whether these differ from those among generalists in the case of vaccines. 131 articles were analysed from national newspapers in Spain, of which 52% (n=68) were written by specialised health journalists. Content analysis was undertaken to examine the differences in terms of journalistic genre, frames, tone, sources and length of the article. Results revealed key journalistic patterns and confirmed that health journalists perform significantly differently than other authors in terms of journalistic genre, tone, sources and length of the article. Health journalists wrote more features and less opinion articles, from a more neutral perspective, using a wider number of scientific sources, especially those from professional associations and scientific journals. These findings provide insights into the process of health journalism, and identify potential aspects to further develop the profession for the broad dissemination of health news to the public.


Click to link the PDF version


References

AIMC (2017). Estudio general de los medios en España 2017. Madrid: Asociación para la investigación de medios de comunicación.

Amend, Elyse; Secko, David M. (2012). “In the face of critique: A metasynthesis of the experiences of journalists covering health and science”. Science communication, v. 34, n. 2, pp. 241-282. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547011409952

Barrera-Páez, Lucía (2016). “El periodismo especializado en salud: una reseña histórica”. Revista española de comunicacion en salud, v. 7, Sup. 1, pp. 15-22. https://doi.org/10.20318/recs.2016.3118

Bristol, Nellie; Donnelly, John (2011). Taking the temperature: The future of global health journalism. USA: The Kaiser Family Foundation. https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/report/taking-the-temperature-the-future-of-global-health-journalism

Brumfiel, Geoff (2009). “Science journalism: Supplanting the old media?”. Nature, v. 458, n. 7236, pp. 274-277. https://doi.org/10.1038/458274a

Cacciatore, Michael A.; Anderson, Ashley A.; Choi, Doo-Hun; Brossard, Dominique; Scheufele, Dietram A.; Liang, Xuan;

Ladwig, Peter J.; Xenos, Michael; Dudo, Anthony (2012). “Coverage of emerging technologies: A comparison between print and online media”. New media & society, v. 14, n. 6, pp. 1039-1059. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444812439061

Carrillo-Santisteve, Paloma; Lopalco, Pier L. (2012). “Measles still spreads in Europe: who is responsible for the failure to vaccinate?”. Clinical microbiology and infection, v. 18, pp. 50-56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-0691.2012.03982.x

Casciotti, Dana M.; Smith, Katherine C.; Klassen, Ann-Carroll (2014a). “Topics associated with conflict in print news coverage of the HPV vaccine during 2005 to 2009”. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, v. 10, n. 12, pp. 3466-3474. https://doi.org/10.4161/21645515.2014.979622

Casciotti, Dana M.; Smith, Katherine C.; Tsui, Amy; Klassen, Ann C. (2014b). “Discussions of adolescent sexuality in news media coverage of the HPV vaccine”. Journal of adolescence, v. 37, n. 2, pp. 133-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.11.004

Catalán-Matamoros, Daniel (2017). “El gran avance del ámbito científico y académico de la comunicación en salud”. Revista española de comunicación en salud, v. 8, n. 2, pp. 114-117. https://doi.org/10.20318/recs.2017.3995

Catalán-Matamoros, Daniel; Peñafiel-Saiz, Carmen (2017). “The use of traditional media for public communication about medicines: A systematic review of characteristics and outcomes”. Health communication, 17 December. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2017.1405485

Catalán-Matamoros, Daniel; Peñafiel-Saiz, Carmen (2018). “How is communication of vaccines in traditional media : A systematic review”. Perspectives in public health, v. 139, n. 1, pp. 34-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757913918780142

Cebrián, Cristina (2016). “La falta de especialización lastra el periodismo sanitario”. Redacción médica, 26 septiembre. https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/sanidad-hoy/la-falta-de-especializacion-lastra-el-periodismo-sanitario-9975

Chan, Margaret (2011). WHO director-general calls for change. Geneva: World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2011/eb_20110117/en

Clarke, Christopher E. (2008). “A question of balance: The autism-vaccine controversy in the British and American elite press”. Science communication, v. 30, n. 1, pp. 77-107. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547008320262

Davis, Aeron (2002). Public relations democracy: Public relations, politics, and the mass media in Britain. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN: 978 0 719060694

Dentzer, Susan (2009). “Communicating medical news — Pitfalls of health care journalism”. New England journal of medicine, v. 360, n. 1, pp. 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp0805753

Deprez, Annelore; Van-Leuven, Sarah (2018). “About pseudo quarrels and trustworthiness: A multi-method study of health journalism, sourcing practices and Twitter”. Journalism studies, v. 19, n. 9, pp. 1257-1274. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1266910

Dubé, Eve; Laberge, Caroline; Guay, Maryse; Bramadat, Paul; Roy, Réal; Bettinger, Julie A. (2013). “Vaccine hesitancy: An overview”. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, v. 9, n. 8, pp. 1763-1773. https://doi.org/10.4161/hv.24657

Fedler, Fred; Counts, Tim; Carey, Arlen; Santana, Maria C. (1998). “Faculty’s degrees, experience and research vary with specialty”. Journalism & mass communication educator, v. 53, n. 1, S. pp. 4-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769589805300102

Garrison, Bruce (2010). Professional feature writing, 5th ed. New York: Routledge. ISBN: 978 0 415998970

Guenther, Lars; Bischoff, Jenny; Löwe, Anna; Marzinkowski, Hanna; Voigt, Marcus (2017). “Scientific evidence and science journalism: Analysing the representation of (un)certainty in German print and online media”. Journalism studies, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1353432

Hilton, Shona; Hunt, Kate; Langan, Mairi; Bedford, Helen; Petticrew, Mark (2010). “Newsprint media representations of the introduction of the HPV vaccination programme for cervical cancer prevention in the UK (2005-2008)”. Social science & medicine, v. 70, n. 6, pp. 942-950. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.11.027

Hinnant, Amanda; Len-Ríos, María E.; Oh, Hyun-Jee (2012). “Are health journalists’ practices tied to their perceptions of audience? An attribution and expectancy-value approach”. Health communication, v. 27, n. 3, pp. 234-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2011.578331

Holtzman, Neil A.; Bernhardt, Barbara A.; Mountcastle-Shah, Eliza; Rodgers, Joann E.; Tambor, Ellen; Geller, Gail (2005). “The quality of media reports on discoveries related to human genetic diseases”. Public health genomics, v. 8, n. 3, pp. 133-144. https://doi.org/10.1159/000086756

Johnston, Jane; Forde, Susan (2017). “Churnalism: Revised and revisited”. Digital journalism, v. 5, n. 8, pp. 943-946. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1355026

Kennedy, Allison; LaVail, Katehrine; Nowak, Glen; Basket, Michelle; Landry, Sarah (2011). “Confidence about vaccines in the United States: Understanding parents’ perceptions”. Health affairs, v. 30, n. 6, pp. 1151-1159. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0396

Kennedy, Donald; Overholser, Geneva (2010). Science and the media. Cambridge, MA: American Academy of Arts and Sciences. ISBN: 0 87724 087 6 https://www.amacad.org/publication/science-and-media

Krakow, Melinda; Rogers, Brian (2016). “Collateral damage and critical turning points: Public health implications of HPV vaccine news coverage for boys and men in 2011”. Health communication, v. 31, n. 9, pp. 1081-1088. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2015.1038773

Len-Ríos, María E.; Hinnant, Amanda; Park, Sun A.; Cameron, Glen T.; Frisby, Cynthia M.; Lee, Youngha (2009). “Health news agenda building: Journalists’ perceptions of the role of public relations”. Journalism & mass communication quarterly, v. 86, n. 2, pp. 315-331. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900908600204

MacDonald, Paul L.; Gardner, Robert C. (2000). “Type I error rate comparisons of post hoc procedures for I j chi-square tables”. Educational and psychological measurement, v. 60, n. 5, pp. 735-754. https://doi.org/10.1177/00131640021970871

Meyer, Samantha B.; Lu, Stephanie K.; Hoffman-Goetz, Laurie; Smale, Bryan; MacDougall, Heather; Pearce, Alex R. (2016). “A content analysis of newspaper coverage of the seasonal flu vaccine in Ontario, Canada, October 2001 to March 2011”. Journal of health communication, v. 21, n. 10, pp. 1088-1097. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2016.1222038

Miles, Matthew B.; Huberman, A. Michael (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage. ISBN: 0 8039 5540 5

Molyneux, Logan; Holton, Avery (2015). “Branding (health) journalism: Perceptions, practices, and emerging norms”. Digital journalism, v. 3, n. 2, pp. 225-242. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.906927

Pérez, Samara; Fedoruk, Claire; Shapiro, Gilla K.; Rosberger, Zeev (2016). “Giving boys a shot: The HPV vaccine’s portrayal in Canadian newspapers”. Health communication, v. 31, n. 12, pp. 1527-1538. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2015.1089466

Quintero-Johnson, Jessie; Sionean, Catlainn; Scott, Allison M. (2011). “Exploring the presentation of news information about the HPV vaccine: A content analysis of a representative sample of U.S. newspaper articles”. Health communication, v. 26, n. 6, pp. 491-501. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2011.556080

Rappuoli, Rino; Mandl, Christian W.; Black, Steven; De-Gregorio, Ennio (2011). “Vaccines for the twenty-first century society”. Nature reviews immunology, v. 11, n. 12, pp. 865-872. https://doi.org/10.1038/nri3085

Riobó, Pilar (2016). “Citas y referencias bibliográficas en publicaciones de salud”. Revista española de comunicación en salud, v. 7, Sup1, pp. 133-138. https://doi.org/10.20318/recs.2016.3132

Schneider, Barbara (2012). “Sourcing homelessness: How journalists use sources to frame homelessness”. Journalism: theory, practice & criticism, v. 13, n. 1, pp. 71-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884911421573

Semetko, Holli A.; Valkenburg, Patti M. (2000). “Framing European politics: A content analysis of press and television news”. Journal of communication, v. 50, n. 2, pp. 93-109. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02843.x

Tiffen, Rodney; Jones, Paul K.; Rowe, David; Aalberg, Toril; Coen, Sharon; Curran, James; Hayashi, Kaori; Iyengar, Shanto; Mazzoleni, Gianpietro; Papathanassopoulos, Stylianos; Rojas, Hernando; Soroka, Stuart (2014). “Sources in the news: A comparative study”. Journalism studies, v. 15, n. 4, pp. 374-391. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2013.831239

Tsuda, Kenji; Yamamoto, Kana; Leppold, Claire; Tanimoto, Tetsuya; Kusumi, Eiji; Komatsu, Tsunehiko; Kami, Masahiro (2016). “Trends of media coverage on human papillomavirus vaccination in Japanese newspapers”. Clinical infectious diseases, v. 63, n. 12, pp. 1634-1638. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciw647

Viswanath, Kasisomayajula; Blake, Kelly D.; Meissner, Helen I.; Gottlieb-Saiontz, Nicole; Mull, Corey; Freeman, Carol S.; Hesse, Bradford; Croyle, Robert T. (2008). “Occupational practices and the making of health news: A national survey of U.S. health and medical science journalists”. Journal of health communication, v. 13, n. 8, pp. 759-777. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730802487430

Voss, Melinda (2002). “Checking the pulse: Midwestern reporters’ opinions on their ability to report health care news”. American journal of public health, v. 92, n. 7, pp. 1158-1160. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447207

WHO (2017). Substantial decline in global measles deaths, but disease still kills 90000 per year. Geneva: World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/news-room/detail/26-10-2017-substantial-decline-in-global-measles-deaths-but-disease-still-kills-90-000-per-year

Yanovitzky, Itzhak; Blitz, Cynthia L. (2000). “Effect of media coverage and physician advice on utilization of breast cancer screening by women 40 years and older”. Journal of health communication, v. 5, n. 2, pp. 117-134. https://doi.org/10.1080/108107300406857

Back to Top

Document information

Published on 04/03/19
Accepted on 04/03/19
Submitted on 04/03/19

Volume 28, Issue 2, 2019
DOI: 10.3145/epi.2019.mar.01
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA license

Document Score

0

Times cited: 1
Views 2
Recommendations 0

Share this document

claim authorship

Are you one of the authors of this document?