Journalists and health care professionals: what can we do about it?

Abstract

How can we bring together journalistic and strategic communication approaches in order to produce changes in newspaper coverage of health? Based on a long-term research project, and on a master teaching program, developed in Portugal, this paper aims to give an account of the research design we have created in order to study this equation. We share with other researchers the belief that the focus in health communication should not be in finding ways of changing individual behaviour, but on promoting adjustments in professional cultures. In order to reach this goal, one needs to integrate journalism studies and strategic communication concepts, together with the knowledge of health professionals and journalists. This endeavour is not an easy one, though, and depending on its specific national context, is shaped differently. Regarding the Portuguese experience, at the research level, a thorough study of newspaper coverage on health issues is required, to better understand the process of news making and sources selection. A detailed analysis of sources’ discourse in the construction of news is also essential, because the existence of a recurrent source does not necessarily mean a trade off between the journalist’s point of view and the source’s viewpoint. At the same time, it is of the upmost importance to better understand journalists’ perceptions and expectations on health issues and health professionals’ strategies for dealing with newspapers, their efforts as media stakeholders and their expectations. This information can, therefore, be used to promote a better dialogue and understanding between these two professions. It seems apparent that educational efforts are needed at both ends. Journalists need to better interpret the subtleties of medical science, and editors should be persuaded to give health issues the salience they deserve. But we do believe that the key to accomplish a useful coverage of health lies with health care professionals, that is, with working with them to promote a better use of their communication channels, by acquiring skills in journalistic practices and enlarging and diversifying their media representatives.