Visibility of healthcare workers in the Covid-19 crisis: a study of sources and topics in television news broadcasts

Resumen:
This study is an analysis on the Spanish media coverage of the Covid-19 crisis and the role of information on health and healthcare professionals within it. We studied the treatment given to healthcare sources and topics in news broadcasts released by Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) between December 31, 2019, and June 8, 2020. To this end, we conducted a quantitative content analysis on 452 news items from 21 news broadcasts. The results showed that debates on political issues were the main topics and politicians were the main sources, in the broadcasts analyzed, ahead of health issues and healthcare professionals. Our study thus confirms the lack of visibility of healthcare professionals in the television news coverage of the Covid-19 crisis in Spain.