Representation of cancer incidence and mortality in the Spanish press

Abstract

Canceristheleadingcauseofdeathworlwideandthesecondleadingcauseofmorbidity and mortality in Spain. In emergencies and health crises, the media provide information that can condition public perception and help specialized broadcasters to communicate strategically, to ensure disease prevention and containment. The main objective of this article is to observe whether the Spanish written press, in its selection of news about cancer, reflects a preponderance of those types of cancer with higher incidence and mortality rates. We used content analysis and latent topic assignment (LDA)to study 1,371 cancer news items publishedbetween April2022 and March2023 in the three conventionalnewspapers withthe highest weekly online reach, ElPaís, El Mundo andLa Vanguardia. Some cancers are over-representedin the media, suchas leukemia and brain cancer, while other cancers withhigher incidence andmortality rates, suchas colorectaland prostate cancer, are under-represented. Skin canceris mentionedin only4%ofthe publications and isunder-represented, consideringthatitisalsoacancerwithepidemiologicalstatus. Theresultsare in line with previous Ibero-American studies andconfirm the only study on media coverage ofskin cancer in Spain. With the exception of breast and lung cancer, there is no general correspondence between the incidence and mortality of the main cancers and their media coverage, which may have implications for the prevention and control of these diseases.