Journalists’ vision of the evolution of the (metaphorical) ecosystem of communication on health and biomedicine

Abstract

This article analyses specialist journalists' perception of transformations in public communication on health and biomedicine in Spain over the last two decades. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were carried out. The analysis uses the metaphorical concept of "ecosystem". According to the interviewees, the main "environmental" changes are technological (stressing the expansion and diversity of online information and the impact of social media). They perceive a multiplication and diversification among "information source-species". Among these, the visibility of specialist sources (researchers and healthcare professionals) and civil associations (patients and consumers) has increased, but "opportunistic species", such as promoters of fake news and pseudo-medicine, have also emerged. Health journalists rate their profession satisfactorily, while recognising that their working "environment" has deteriorated and perceiving a threat in the dependence on clickbait and social media positioning.

Tratamiento informativo de la prensa española sobre el COVID-19 antes del estado de alarma

“…Su Presidenta, Elena Lázaro (2020), hacía referencia, muy acertadamente, a la necesidad de "un dominio de la técnica, de los tiempos, pero, sobre todo, de lo analógico". Revuelta (2018) por su parte, habla de evolución y revolución en lo que denomina ese nuevo ecosistema que generan las TIC en el periodismo sanitario. Esta autora recoge, incluso, que este nuevo entorno mediático donde puede llegar a tener el mismo peso la voz experta de aquella que no lo es (De Semir, 2015), preocupa también a los profesionales de los medios de comunicación desde hace ya años.…”