Tratamiento periodístico de las "celulas madre" desde la perspectiva del "framing" : El País y ABC (1996-2006)

Abstract

Some experts consider that mass media are the citizen’s senses in those phenomena that they cannot experiment in person and, as the sociologist Dorothy Nelkin says, to the most of people, the Science that they know is which is conveyed by mass media. Therefore, the responsibility of journalists who work on Science is especially important, over all, in a more technical society, where scientific knowledge advances in a vertiginous rhythm and it is necessary to connect what C. P. Snow called the “Two Cultures”, one scientific and the another based on humanities. This multidisciplinary vision of reality with all its perspectives: scientific, political, economical, philosophical, legal and ethical or moral is essential when reporting on Bioethics, where multiple factors converge. It is difficult to overcome the challenges and questions formulated from the new scientific advances, especially those that take part in the first stages of the development of human life. For this reason in such a controversial topic as it is research on stem cell in the last decade, the role of mass media and the responsibility of the journalists in charge of covering this topic is vital, if we take into account that what the average citizen knows about it, a priori , is what the media tells to him. Besides, our interest in the communication of this issue emerges from its repercussions on human health knowledge and awareness, because people who suffer from Diabetes, Parkison or Alzheimer might expect these advances to bring about the definitive solution to their sufferings. And the parents desperate by the disease of their son or daughter will pay special attention to the news which create hope of recovery. Therefore, the journalist’s prudence and professionalism are transcendental to discern if his sources are biased or not and if they are creating or not false expectations. In the field of stem cell research, the most controversial issues have been embryonic stem cells, the direct intervention in the first stages of life. This has undeniable ethical repercussions because it involves the instrumental use of human beings from the very beginning of their existence. Thus, the ethical dilemma is really complicated: on the one hand, we have the possible instrumental use of a human being, and on the other, the possible check to the advancement of Science and the possibilities of treatment. Therefore it is important that, a meticulous, professional, impartial, and intellectually honest work by reporters, and over all, a work not conducted by the bias of their sources, present to the readers solid scientific and ethical arguments; something which is really complicated if we add the fact that this is a complex issue and journalists are working on current affairs. Looking for the truth, with this research, we aim to assemble a small piece in the complicated puzzle that these researches constitutes, to analyze, in a limited possibilities, the understanding of which has been the communication of research on stem cells in Spanish press with an approximation of which has happened in the political and scientific arena in the decade 1996-2006. The study has been divided in six chapters. In the first chapter, we present the bases of the public controversy of the topic connected to the theoretical framework of Science Journalism with special attention to the journalist-source relationship and with an approximation to the use of language in Biomedicine. In the second chapter, we revise the theory of Agenda-setting with special attention to the findings which connect this theory with science communication in general and communication of stem cell research in particular. This theory has been used recently as a method in Public Understanding of Science studies. We also include the last theoretical evolutions as agenda building, with the findings on science agenda with special attention to the existing legal contexts and to the discovering on stem cell in the last recent years. In the third chapter, we explain the main previous studies on this field. Taking into account these previous findings and the theoretical bases exposed, we formulate the aims and hypothesis of this work. The fifth chapter is dedicated to explain the methodology used: we start with a summary of the Framing theory, which is used in the study, and we finish with a detailed definition of the instruments used in the content analysis. In the sixth chapter, we expose the most significant results trying to interpret them as much as possible, and we extract the main conclusions of the research. At the end we have an appendix with a diagram of the embryo development, a glossary of scientific terms to clarify possible questions, a table with the arguments used by sources in the news with ethical frame that we have study specially in depth and a list of voices pro and con embryonic stem cell research that we have find in the articles. Finally, the bibliography with a section for journalistic sources and web sites consulted, and an index of tables and graphs included.