Women scientists in Italian media in times of coronavirus: Between low recognition and success as experts

During the months of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Italian media helped provide an unprecedented degree of exposure for women scientists. The essay highlights the results of a quantitative and qualitative study on the portrayal and self-portrayal of Italian women scientists based on the digital editions of eight daily national newspapers and ten talk shows on the main national television channels from February to May 2020. The aim of the study is to show if and how those women scientists were valued as ‘experts’ or, alternatively, discredited professionally. The picture that emerges is ambivalent: on the one hand, most journalists of both sexes minimize the role of women scientists, and on the other hand, their ability to appear as authoritative in science as their male colleagues makes us optimistic about the role they can hypothetically play in convincing the new generation of Italian women to study STEM subjects.