La comunicación social en la promoción de la salud

Background

Currently found in Venezuela a growing presence of journalism in print media, health information though this growth has not necessarily been accompanied by higher quality in management and development issues as newspaper products. This work aims to analyze the characteristics of the health information published in the two major newspapers in Venezuela for a decade.

Methods

Investigated the characteristics of journalism in health that has developed in Venezuela in the sections of two newspapers of wide circulation along a decade. We analyzed 522 reports: 246 of El Universal and 276 of El Nacional during the years 1996 to 2006.

Results

Preliminary results that show the trivialization of the information and superficiality in handling the issues. Proposed challenges facing the information gaps and options for converting communication for health in an opportunity for development and social change.

Conclusion

The results of the investigation could explain why many authors perceive press information on health as trivial: more ephemeral or bounded information as the news or information notes, as well as the limited use of living sources, seem to condemn readers to poor information in the absence of plurality, balance and depth.