La Jornada – Evidence, declining specialization in health journalism

This epidemic has been evidenced by the “decreasing specialization in health journalism” and the importance of health issues has also been verified, as they also have an economic, political and social impact.

Analysis of the Guide to the Current Situation of Health Journalism in Latin America, in which journalists from 19 countries in the region were interviewed, regarding SARS-CoV-2, showed that 76 percent of reporters consider that “there is a lack of specific expertise or training to cover health issues in CURRENT CONTEXT “43 percent of journalists from Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean assessed it necessary to ‘increase opportunities for specialization in the workplace’.”

It was also revealed the need to “confront anti-science content across the region and analyze its dissemination strategies.” Media and journalists can create tapes to demystify anti-science content and learn from their strategies to better communicate with audiences, through social networking with web content companies to create Misinformation Alerts.

The analysis prepared by the Gabo Foundation and Roche Latin America also recommends “the strengthening and integration of health journalism networks at the regional level”, and in this sense proposes the creation of “an observatory of health journalism in Latin America, especially local media, to promote knowledge exchange”.

He also sees it important to “involve more journalists in covering health issues, especially men,” as he warns that the vast majority are women. She details that 75 percent of those covering health issues in Latin America are contacts and only 25 percent are men, specifically in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, the percentage leans more toward journalists. They are 81 percent women and 19 percent men.

The study also indicates that 79 percent of professionals consulted in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean considered their salaries to be lower and coverage more demanding.

The survey was conducted by interviewing 418 health journalists, science publishers and public correspondents from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and Colombia, among others.