“La Piedra Rosetta” Content Analysis of Health-Specific Stories on Genetic Testing From Spanish-Language News Outlets

Abstract

Genetic testing (GT) for health purposes has grown exponentially in the past decade, with the ability to prescribe precision medicine regiments as well as preventative and preparatory actions. White and English-speaking populations have largely benefited from GT, leaving other groups, like Latinx populations, behind. Explanations for this disparity have cited a lack of awareness and knowledge of GT for health purposes but have generally only been studied in clinical settings. Mass and news media have virtually ignored this disparity. English-language news coverage of GT for health purposes has linked coverage to views of genetic determinism. Spanish-language news coverage of GT for health purposes has cited no published data, thus the current study is the first to characterize health-focused articles on GT from two U.S. Spanish-language news outlets, Telemundo and Univision. From March 2008 to August 2020, we identified only 49 published stories on health-focused stories on GT. Stories focused mostly on cancer and fertility types of GT and often did not attribute an author to the story. Spanish-language coverage is limited and may be contributing to the lack of knowledge of GT for health purposes. We offer potential future research opportunities in genomics from a mass media perspective.