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Who Guides Vaccination in the Portuguese Press? An Analysis of Information Sources

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  • Andrea Langbecker

    (Institute of Collective Health, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40.110-040, Brazil
    Research Group for Communication, Health and Education, Department of Public Health, São Paulo State University, Botucatu 18.618-686, Brazil)

  • Daniel Catalan-Matamoros

    (Department of Communication and Media Studies, Madrid University Carlos III, 28903 Madrid, Spain
    Health Research Centre, University of Almeria, 04120 Almeria, Spain)

Abstract

Sources of information are a key part of the news process as it guides certain topics, influencing the media agenda. The goal of this study is to examine the most frequent voices on vaccines in the Portuguese press. A total of 300 news items were analysed via content analysis using as sources two newspapers from 2012 to 2017. Of all the articles, 97.7% included a source ( n = 670). The most frequent were “governmental organisations”, “professional associations” and the “media”. Less frequent sources were “university scientists”, “governmental scientific bodies”, “consumer groups”, “doctors”, “scientific companies”, “NGOs” and “scientific journals”. Most articles used only non-scientific sources ( n = 156). A total of 94 articles used both categories and 43 used exclusively scientific sources. Our findings support the assertion that media can be an instrument to disseminate information on vaccines. Nevertheless, despite being present in most articles, the number of sources per article was low, therefore not presenting a diversity of opinions and there was a lack of scientific voices, thus suggesting lower quality of the information being offered to the audience.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Langbecker & Daniel Catalan-Matamoros, 2021. "Who Guides Vaccination in the Portuguese Press? An Analysis of Information Sources," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-10, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:2189-:d:504402
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daniel Catalan-Matamoros & Carlos Elías, 2020. "Vaccine Hesitancy in the Age of Coronavirus and Fake News: Analysis of Journalistic Sources in the Spanish Quality Press," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-15, November.
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