Abstract
Between 2015 and 2016, Zika became an epidemic of global concern and the focus of intense media coverage. Using a hybrid model of frame and social representations theory, we examine how the Zika outbreak was reported in two major newspapers in Brazil: O Globo and Folha de São Paulo. The analysis of 186 articles published between December 2015 and May 2016 reveals a dominant ‘war’ frame supported by two sub-frames: one focused on eradicating the vector (mosquito) and another on controlling microcephaly, placing the burden of prevention on women. Scientific uncertainties about the virus and its relationship to microcephaly coupled with political uncertainties in Brazil increased the power of the war frame. This frame gave prominence and legitimacy to certain representations of disease management during the crisis, masking social and gender inequalities. We show how the cartography of the disease overlaps with that of poverty and regional inequality in Brazil to argue that addressing socio-economic aspects is essential, but normally neglected, in media communications during disease outbreaks like Zika.
Highlights
The Zika virus ( 'Zika') was first identified in rhesus monkeys in Uganda in 1947 (Dick et al, 1952)
A dominant frame of a ‘war on Zika’ emerged in the Brazilian media during the first six months following the declaration by the Brazilian government of a national public health emergency on Zika
We call it a ‘war frame’, which is supported by two powerful sub-frames; a second frame, more marginal in comparison to the former, is made of themes which did not fit within the dominant frame and includes alternative, socio-economic accounts of the causes of the Zika outbreak
Summary
The Zika virus ( 'Zika') was first identified in rhesus monkeys in Uganda in 1947 (Dick et al, 1952). Zika is a flavivirus transmitted to humans by different mosquitos from the genus Aedes and causes a mild fever, along with skin rash, headache, conjunctivitis and myalgia (Faria et al, 2016). Zika was first reported in Brazil in April 2015 where the history of the disease is linked to that of dengue as they are both transmitted by A. aegypti. Dengue is a longstanding urban disease which increases in prevalence yearly around the rainy season and Zika has the potential to follow the same epidemiological patterns (Vogel, 2016). One of the distinguishing features of Zika vis-à-vis the other two diseases is that the virus supposedly causes a serious birth defect in new-borns known as microcephaly (Petersen et al, 2016)
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