Media and mistrust of vaccines: a content analysis of press headlines

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2019-1357

Keywords:

vaccines, media, public health, newspaper, mistrust, headline

Abstract

Introduction: Mistrust of vaccines is a serious health challenge. The media can encourage use of effective healthcare services. Objective: Examine media coverage of vaccines and identify key features, frames and the tone towards vaccines. Methodology: A content analysis of 131 headlines and lead paragraphs about vaccines was conducted in the Spanish print media from 2012 to 2017. Results: Headlines were succinct, mean of 8.5 words (range: 1-19, SD: ± 3.5). Positive headlines were more frequent than neutral and negative ones, and while negative headlines remained unchanged (p = .163), positive and neutral ones increased significantly (p < .001, p = .037 respectively). The most frequent words related to a) actors involved in vaccination; b) specific vaccines; c) actions related to vaccination; and d) research. Conclusions: Positive and neutral headlines towards vaccination have increased.  Findings may contribute to the broader task of improving media practices in times of anti-vaccine lobbies.

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Author Biographies

Daniel Catalán-Matamoros, University of Almeria

Professor at the Department of Journalism and Audiovisual Communication (UC3M). Graduated from the Faculty of Communication Sciences and PhD from the University of Malaga. He completed his training in Norway and Sweden to specialize in Communication and Health with a scholarship from the Nordic School of Public Health. He has worked in institutional relations and communication departments at WHO, European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and Ministry of Health. He is the organizer of the International Congress on Health Communication, and vice president of the Spanish Association for Health Communication. Among its quality indexes, the citations in Google Scholar stand out: 814, Index h: 14, Index i10: 16.

Carmen Peñafiel-Saiz , University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

She is a journalist and professor at the Department of Journalism at the University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV / EHU). Doctor in Information Sciences (1992), accredited professor by ANECA (2012). She is the Director of the PhD Program in Social Communication at the UPV / EHU. Coordinator of the Degree in Journalism and member of the Academic Committee of the Official Master of Research in Social Communication. She has participated in 23 research projects, being the main researcher in 11, one of the projects has been European corresponding to the VI Framework Program of the European Union, in which she was a partner in charge of the UPV / EHU. She is also a member of the GRER Scientific Committee (Groupe d'Études sur la Radiodifusion) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Association for Communication Research (AE-IC).

She was the founder of the IREN- International Radio Research Network Research Group, in which 10 EU countries participated. Its quality indexes include 428 citations in Google Scholar, with an index h: 11, index i10: 18.

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Published

2019-04-24

How to Cite

Catalán-Matamoros, Daniel, and Carmen Peñafiel-Saiz. 2019. “Media and mistrust of vaccines: a content analysis of press headlines”. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, no. 74 (April):786-802. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2019-1357.

Issue

No. 74 (2019)

Section

Miscellaneous
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