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Background Chronic Lyme disease (LD) is a matter of debate worldwide and has emerged as a social problem. We aim to analyze the media content and describe the transformation process of a collective pain into a social problem in France. Methods Using social science methodology, a corpus of articles from 20 newspapers and videos from seven major TV stations from 1987 to 2017 were analyzed for discourse content. The speaking times and the frequency of interventions between doctors supporting the official guidelines and those against them were compared using the Mann–Whitney test and the Chi-square test, respectively. Results In France, the media discourse is carried through testimonials from patient organizations and a professor of infectiology who acted as a whistleblower (WB). We showed that the emergence of the LD alert in the media corresponds to the process described by social sciences as ‘naming, blaming, claiming’. Since his first article in 2014, the WB has featured in 24% (22/89) of newspaper articles compared with 20% (18/89) for doctors defending the official guidelines (P = 0.52). Since his first appearance on a TV newscast in 2014, the WB has appeared in 45% (22/49) of news reports on LD with 24% of the speaking time compared with 22% (11/49) for doctors defending the official guidelines (P = 0.018). Conclusions Media coverage of LD has been unbalanced since 2014 and promotes associations as well as the WB, who seems to be better identified than any of the different doctors defending the official guidelines.

Because they are resources for debate on public affairs, current events may receive conflicting media coverage. In the UK, reports on the fire in the Euro Tunnel in November 1996 generated debate that the French press chose to ignore. These differences raise questions on the way in which public problems emerge from accounts of events, and on the anchorage of these same accounts in a specific context. The analysis also highlights the decisive role of the situation following the event, in the way it is turned into a story.

Aujourd'hui, la consommation d'antibiotiques en santé humaine en France est 30 % supérieure à celle de ses voisins européens. Entre 30 % et 50 % des antibiothérapies sont prescrites inutilement (Carlet, 2015).

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