Year: 2025
Type: editorial
Abstract: Analysis of a corpus of 816 articles collected in 2021 from four French media during the first eight months of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign reveals a discursive configuration that was very favourable to vaccination. In a particularly tense context, marked by considerable reticence about vaccines, the media discourse gave priority to the 'legitimate' players (public authorities and health players). The discursive configuration observed was poor in terms of information and diverse in terms of the rhetoric used. The corpus is largely dominated by news reports; articles offering in-depth analysis, investigation, popularisation of scientific knowledge or debates on ideas are in the minority. At the same time, the discourse is imbued with rhetoric that is overwhelmingly favourable to vaccination, and that highlights rational and, occasionally, moralistic arguments. The media were thus synchronised with the communication agenda of the public authorities and the health world, whose priority was to encourage support for vaccines by defusing reluctance.
Source: Cliopsy
Author: Louis-Marie Bossard
Language: French
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4409429080