Specialization and journalistic rigor, antidotes against the stigmas associated with the disease

Abstract

In this article, the author reflects on some tensions and bad practices
in the processes of construction of the news on topics related to the
health and illness by the written press, based on an analysis of the
coverage given by the digital versions of the main Spanish daily newspapers to
the massacre of Newtown, United States, where in December 2012 a young man
entered a school and killed 20 children and 6 adults. The author states in the article
some of the manifest errors in the journalistic coverage of the event, in the
that the press linked the massacre to an alleged mental illness, or
disorder of the murderer feeding certain social stigmas. In his reflection, the
The author points out two tensions in journalistic practice that are evident in the
cases such as the one under study: instantaneousness versus journalistic and generalist rigour
versus specialized. In this sense, he proposes that specialization in
and health and the recovery of good journalistic practices,
the rigorous contrast of sources and the consultation of experts, are the most important ones.
two main antidotes to ensure a coverage that avoids
to fall into prejudices and stigmatizing social representations.