Targeting cancer: the role of Brazilian media

Abstract

This study provides an overview of the subject of cancer in the electronic and printed Brazilian media. We analyzed 195 stories from 54 different newspapers in the North, Northeast, Southeast, Central-West, and South of Brazil from 2003 to 2005. Several key aspects were observed during the analysis: whether the stories were produced by Brazilian journalists or originally by international news agencies; which malignant tumors received the most coverage; the main focus of the stories, whether prevention, diagnosis, treatment, epidemiology, and/or cure; the use of linguistic devices such as analogies to explain certain processes; serious analysis of topics versus the most frequent mistakes made by journalists; and reference to international and domestic newspapers in the published studies.