The COVID-19 pandemic in Portuguese journalism

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of journalism in the public sphere and it inspired journalists to guide preventive health behaviours, even though Portuguese journalism’s behaviour did not always follow the severity of the pandemic. In this study we will present an overview of Portuguese journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic through a twofold analysis: the content analysis of the news published in the national daily press during the 15 emergency states the country was under (from March 18th 2020 to April 29th 2021; n = 2933), and the application of a questionnaire survey to 200 Portuguese journalists who were working in newsrooms during the first state of emergency. Journalists’ perceptions about their work reflect a true concern with the promotion of health literacy, and their assumption of a public service mission was crucial in people’s adherence to confinement. Portuguese journalism’s behaviour can be characterised by a series of advances and retreats. The beginning of the pandemic promoted an intense media coverage, well before the first COVID-19 casualties in Portugal. During the second phase there was a decrease in media coverage, and by January 2021, the media coverage followed the seriousness of the pandemic, translated by COVID-19’s figures. In spite of the centrality of COVID-19 that could translate into a monothematic journalism, the Portuguese media covered several social domains and a diversity of news themes. This diversity is extensive to news sources. Expert sources conquered the public media space, they helped promote health literacy and gave context to the stories. This study is part of a wider research project that aims to analyse the Portuguese media coverage of COVID-19, the vaccination process and the reduction of restrictive measures related to the virus.