Journal. Media, Volume 5, Issue 3 (September 2024) – 36 articles

TikTok has more than 1.5 billion users globally. Health and wellness content on the application increased by more than 600% in 2021. This systematic review seeks to summarize which fields within medicine have embraced researching health communication on the TikTok platform and the most common measures reported within this literature. Research questions include what categories of health topics on TikTok are investigated in the literature, trends in topics by year, and types of outcomes reported. Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and Ovid MEDLINE databases were searched in March 2024. Eligible studies met four criteria: (1) investigated human health topics on TikTok; (2) conducted in the United States; (3) published in English; and (4) published in a peer-reviewed journal. Of the 101 included studies, 50.5% (N = 51) discussed non-surgical specialties, 9.9% (N = 10) discussed topics within surgery, and 11.9% (N = 12) discussed COVID-19. The number of papers referencing non-surgical topics spiked in 2023, and no increase was seen in the number of COVID-19 papers over time. Most papers reported a number of interactions, and papers about mental health were least likely to report accuracy. Our findings highlight several health topics with a wide breadth of research dedicated to them, such as dermatology and COVID-19, and highlight areas for future research, such as the intersection of cancer and TikTok. Findings may be influential in the fields of medicine and healthcare research by informing health policy and targeted prevention efforts. This review reveals the need for future policies that focus on the role and expectations of the healthcare worker in health communication on social media. Implications for clinical practice include the need for providers to consider an individual’s perception of health and illness, given the wide variety of information available on social media applications such as TikTok. This review was pre-registered on PROSPERO (CRD42024529182). Full article

Conceived as institutions funded by the public purse and intended to exist devoid of political influence, the mandate of public service media (PSM) entities is to disseminate reliable news content and high-quality audiovisual productions to all demographic segments, inclusive of marginalized communities and audiences that are typically under-served. Over the previous ten years, the rise in prominence of global platforms in national media systems has precipitated many changes in the media sector, including unique challenges for PSM institutions guided by specific public service values. Using a holistic conceptual framework for assessing the implementation of these values, this article analyzes the impact of platformization on Europe’s PSM and discusses how the Union’s policy approaches affect related challenges to PSM. The analysis indicates that while the European Union (EU) has accorded a high priority to PSM within its media policy framework, the role that Brussels plays in protecting the independence and efficacy of PSM has been circumscribed, given that the onus of regulating PSM entities rests with national governments. This has engendered contrasting experiences wherein certain PSM outlets enjoy political independence and command significant public trust while others function as state-controlled propaganda vehicles, advancing the objectives and interests of governing bodies. The EU has addressed global platform power in recent attempts to safeguard its digital future, including the Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA), and the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). However, these acts do not adequately address PSM’s two central and often interconnected problems: funding challenges and political pressures. Full article

Struggles for social inclusion necessitate efforts to enhance democratic communication. Communication practices and institutions are deeply intertwined with movements advocating for and against social justice, particularly in contemporary contexts of developing inclusion. We designed and evaluated the “Telling the Truth: How to Inform While Promoting an Inclusive Society” program. This program aimed to enhance knowledge and increase positive attitudes toward inclusion among 61 journalism students through quantitative and qualitative methods. The results indicate that participants demonstrated higher positive attitudes in the post-test, showing increased support for a more inclusive socio-economic vision and a greater inclination toward activism. Overall, these findings underscore the significance of journalism training in advancing a socially inclusive context. Full article

In this paper, we study the Greek wiretappings scandal, which was revealed in 2022 and attracted significant attention from the press and citizens. Specifically, we propose a methodology for collecting data and analyzing patterns of online public discussions on Twitter. We apply our methodology to the Greek wiretappings use case and present findings related to the evolution of the discussion over time, its polarization, and the role of the Media. The methodology can be of wider use and replicated to other topics. Finally, we publicly provide an open dataset and online resources with the results. Full article

This study explores the role of populist leaders as gatekeepers on social media, seeking to understand how André Ventura, president of Chega!, uses news to legitimize his political discourse. The methodology involved collecting 90 tweets containing legacy media news features, posted by Ventura on the social media platform X. These tweets cover key political events such as the resignation of Portugal’s Prime Minister, the dissolution of the Portuguese Parliament, and European elections. Quantitative analysis using Voyant Tools identified key terms related to Ventura’s ideological stance, while Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) examined how these terms support his political narrative. The findings reveal a strategic use of news to promote themes like nationalism, immigration control, corruption and social dichotomy between “us” and “them”. Ventura’s tweets leverage news headlines to enhance his persuasive appeal, acting as heuristic shortcuts to reinforce his political messages. This study highlights the relevance of understanding social media’s role in promoting populism and suggests avenues for future research, including comparative analyses of other populist leaders and the impact of these narratives on voter behavior and perceptions. Full article

In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the integration of technology and the employment of technological experts within newsrooms. However, there remains a paucity of scholarly research examining the evolution and maturation of these practices. This article addresses this gap by analyzing data from ten semi-structured qualitative interviews with developers embedded in the editorial departments of Norwegian news outlets. The findings reveal that developers have become fully integrated and indispensable actors within newsrooms. They contribute comprehensively to the journalistic news production process, engaging in routine tasks such as news visualization as well as participating in extensive investigative projects. Furthermore, developers navigate their work and practices within the framework of journalistic logic, culture, and the principles of objectivity, thereby reinforcing the democratic function of journalism in society. Interestingly, the integration of developers has also induced spill-over effects among non-technical staff. While developers are the primary bearers of technical expertise, there is an increasing expectation for reporters to acquire technical competencies. Full article

This study focuses on analyzing face attacks in the conflict discourse of cross-linguistic online chats on the instant message application WeChat among a group of international students at a prestigious university in China. Drawing on the previous impoliteness theory of Leech and Culpeper, this article selectively combines these two theories and proposes that in face-attack studies, especially with respect to online discourses, impolite multimodal discourse should be considered and subsumed in the theoretical framework. It is found that a wide array of face attacks in conflict discourse manifest themselves both in verbal discourse as well as in multimodal counterparts. The present study might shed light on online impoliteness research that is beyond monolingual and single-mode contexts. Full article

The landscape of journalism is rapidly evolving, with bundled subscription offerings from the New York Times, Apple and Schibsted becoming increasingly important. These offerings allow consumers to access a wide variety of content in multiple formats, representing a significant shift in how news and information are consumed. However, the impact of these offerings on publishers’ revenues remains underexplored in journalism and media research. The results suggest that bundled offers generate higher revenues for publishers than individual offers. This supports the introduction of internal “all-access” bundles within the European journalism sector, as well as external collaborations between unaffiliated publishers. However, the relatively small differences in revenues suggest that there is limited strong evidence to support the adoption of a centralized, cross-publisher “Spotify for News” model. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have been increasingly developed and applied in the audiovisual sector. Over-the-top (OTT) services, directly distributed to viewers via the Internet, are associated with a shift towards automation through algorithmic mediation in audiovisual content led by digital platforms. However, scientific knowledge regarding algorithmic recommender systems and automation in OTT services is not yet systemized; researchers, practitioners, and the public thus lack full awareness about the still largely opaque phenomena. To address this gap, we conduct a systematic literature review in the communication domain (2010–2022) and answer four key research questions: What research objectives have been pursued? What concepts have been developed and/or applied? What methodologies have been privileged? Which OTT platforms have received the most research attention? Challenges and opportunities are highlighted, and an agenda for future research is advanced. Full article

The rapid proliferation of social media platforms has fundamentally transformed communication dynamics globally. This study investigates the impact of communication skills on social media usage, emphasizing the moderating role of cultural restraint within the context of Jordan. Employing a quantitative research design, data were collected from 415 young adult social media users through an online survey and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) via SmartPLS 4 software. The findings suggest that individuals with strong communication skills are more effective at using social media, supporting the ideas of Self-Efficacy Theory and Social Capital Theory, which propose that better communication abilities lead to more proficient social media usage. However, this positive relationship is moderated by cultural restraint, with higher levels of cultural restraint weakening the impact of communication skills on social media engagement. These results highlight the necessity of culturally sensitive approaches when promoting social media engagement, as cultural norms and values significantly influence digital behaviors. This study contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence from a non-Western context and underscores the complex interplay between individual abilities and cultural factors in shaping social media usage. Future research should explore additional moderating variables and consider longitudinal and cross-cultural studies to further elucidate these dynamics. Full article

(1) Background: News deserts are communities without a local news outlet, or communities where residents face significantly reduced access to the news of the local public sphere. The demise of a local news outlet can have negative effects on community engagement and on the discussion of solutions to community problems. In Portugal, for example, 25% of municipalities do not have their own media outlets. When there are no journalists reporting on reality, studies show that much of the local information in these territories is obtained through social media, such as Facebook pages and groups, which can be a source of disinformation and manipulation that communities become vulnerable to. (2) Methods: Through focus groups in the municipality of Manteigas, we researched perspectives and behaviours, as well as the factors that influence people’s choices in the consumption of information. (3) Results: We found that citizens used a wide range of informational sources, with a strong dependence on social media and institutional channels to access local information. (4) Conclusions: Proximity relationships are the basis of fact-checking processes, and citizens showed less concern about disinformation and more trust in the information they accessed through official institutions’ pages and through word-of-mouth in their communities. Full article

Sports journalism has become one of the news products with the most significant social reach in the press, radio, television and digital media. Despite the significant presence of women in journalism, they continue to face gender-based stereotypes. In Spain, not very many women can effectively access the labour field of sports journalism, and those who do find themselves in a space dominated by men, which results in a perpetuation of the existing imbalances in society. The main objective of this study is to analyse the evolution of the roles developed by women journalists in the article-production aspect of the Spanish sports press between 2010 and 2022. We use quantitative content analysis, studying the articles published in Marca and Mundo Deportivo during the second week of June in 2010, 2014, and 2018, and the third week of November 2022; in each of these years, the men’s FIFA World Cup was played. The results of this study show that: (a) women journalists have an almost invisible role in the production of articles, and (b) rather than progress, women are facing “pseudo-progress”, a more appropriate term for the appearance of a change that is not actually occurring. Full article

This study adds to the existing literature on the history of the Ghanaian press from pre-colonial times to 1992, focusing on language: its choice and ideological, socio-cultural, and political ramifications. While the history of the press has received massive scholarly attention, the same cannot be said of language and its use in historical accounts. Thus, from a historical research perspective, employing an analytical and interpretive study of secondary data sources, and underpinned by cultural theories such as linguistic imperialism and hegemony, this study analyses how language was featured in the press during the research period and the implications thereof. This analysis shows that various institutions and individuals exploited language to foster narrow socio-cultural, ideological, and political agendas in the Gold Coast, later Ghana. This study also revealed that language use and its ideological forces during the pre- and immediate post-independence periods contributed immensely to Ghanaian media’s current state and Ghanaians’ general language attitudes. This study’s significance lies in the realisation that language, as a cultural artifact, and its choice, use, and consumption could have far-reaching consequences for the self-realisation, actualisation, and general progress of a society. Thus, African societies should be mindful of the ideological implications of language choices not just in the press but also in other societal contexts. This study, therefore, invites further studies on language and its use in the media, especially from 1992, for a more comprehensive appreciation of the issues raised in this study. Full article

In an era dominated by the digital revolution, the distribution of information has undergone a profound transformation. The duality of “quality journalism” and “viral journalism” has become an important theme in the modern media landscape. This paper explores the scope of information dissemination, dissecting the fundamentals, challenges, characteristics, and trends associated with both “quality” and “viral” journalism. Utilizing the Greek political scene as a case study, this paper aims to examine the tensions and trade-offs inherent in journalistic practices within the context of contemporary information dissemination. Analyzing closely media coverage surrounding events such as the election of Stefanos Kasselakis, the new President of the SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance party, we seek to elucidate the delicate balance between viral and quality journalism. By shedding light on these dynamics, our study aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how journalism navigates the tension between virality and quality within the Greek political sphere in a “post-politics” era. Full article

This study examines the role of laughter in media strategies. The aim is to distinguish between laughter shared ‘with’ the audience and laughter directed ‘at’ the audience. The research briefly traces the historical evolution of laughter from a repressed and morally criticised expression to a symbol of wealth and empowerment, a transformation facilitated by media diffusion. The subsequent analysis, based on the Portuguese context, seems to indicate a current tendency towards a more empathetic, lighter, and more visibly expressive form of laughter that transcends boundaries such as age, education, and social status, thus fostering a deeper connection with the audience. This study underlines the profound impact of laughter on audience engagement and highlights the central role of communal laughter—laughing ‘with’ the audience—in contemporary media communication. In conclusion, the findings suggest that a more empathetic and less critical approach to audience behaviour through laughter has the potential to attract larger audiences. Indirectly, this emerging trend may be indicative of a growing reluctance among members of contemporary society to tolerate ideas or perspectives contrary to their own. Full article

This study examines the relationships between strategic communication, personalized media content, AI, and consumer service efficiency in social marketing companies in Saudi Arabia. The study used a cluster sampling technique with a quantitative research design. The study targeted 498 responses via distributing the survey links on social media platforms. Using the SEM analysis in Smart PLS 4, this research tested the research hypotheses. The findings showed that strategic communication significantly improves personalized media content and consumer service efficiency, confirming its importance in business customer interactions and outcomes. Customized media content does not significantly improve consumer service efficiency, suggesting other mediating factors may be involved. AI mediates this relationship, bridging strategic inputs and service outcomes. AI boosts strategic communication and personalized content, improving consumer service efficiency. The results showed that AI fully mediates strategic communication and personalized media content into improved service efficiency, demonstrating its transformative potential in business communications and operations. The study shows that AI supports and improves digital marketing communication strategies. It is statistical evidence and confidence intervals that exclude zero, AI-enabled the application of personalized content and strategic directives to improve service efficiency in the mediation analysis. Full article

This research explores the profound impact of digital media on the lives of Chinese immigrants in Ikebukuro Chinatown. It illustrates how the Internet and digital platforms have transformed their economic, social, and identity landscapes. Employing qualitative methods such as surveys and interviews, this study underscores the pivotal role of social media in creating expansive networks. These networks facilitate ethnic entrepreneurship and enhance cultural visibility, contributing to the deterritorialization of traditional community confines. This empowerment enables the Chinese diaspora in Ikebukuro to cultivate a rich, interconnected social tapestry that extends beyond geographic limitations. The findings underscore the central role of digital media mediatization processes in redefining immigrant experiences. Additionally, they promote deeper, more dynamic integration within the host society’s multicultural environment. This transformative shift emphasizes the emergence of a more fluid, networked form of community and identity among immigrants. It challenges conventional enclave models and offers new perspectives on diaspora engagement in the digital age. Full article

I seek to analyze the narrative construction of the reporter’s book A Vida Nunca Mais Será a Mesma (Life Will Never Be the Same Again, 2021), which tells stories of sexual violence against women and also features the first-person account of the author herself, Adriana Negreiros. I try to understand (a) how journalistic fundamentals such as precision and objectivity are articulated/tensioned with lacunar and fragmentary traces of testimony; and (b) how adopting a feminist/gendered perspective on journalistic narrative can bring to light traumatic female experiences that, throughout history, have been placed in the background. To do this, I examine the book and an interview conducted with the author in 2023, concluding that a feminist approach to journalism and testimony can open up affective spaces for women’s stories to be told. Full article

The Rohingya crisis has been a significant issue for national and international news media, capturing their attention for an extended period and documenting various phases of the crisis. Previous research exploring the tones and portrayal of the Rohingyas in the news lacks comparative and temporal analysis of news sentiments. In this study, we aim to fill this gap by analyzing 8074 news stories on Rohingya issues published in 10 news media outlets from 10 countries between 2009 and 2023. Our computational sentiment analysis reveals that Rohingya-related news sentiments are predominantly negative and fluctuate over the years across different countries, showing little identifiable patterns. An ANOVA suggests significant variation in news sentiments among countries, with some countries exhibiting more similar sentiments than others, thus creating distinguishable groups. Some of our findings contradict previous scholarships, warranting further research and novel frameworks. Additionally, we encourage scrutiny of academic insights to address potential biases against news media’s journalistic integrity. Full article

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has demonstrated its ability to undertake writing tasks, including automated journalism. Prior studies suggest no differences between human and AI authors regarding perceived message credibility. However, research on people’s perceptions of AI authorship on complex topics is lacking. In a between-groups experiment (N = 734), we examined the effect of labeled authorship on credibility perceptions of a GPT-written science journalism article. The results of an equivalence test showed that labeling a text as AI-written vs. human-written reduced perceived message credibility (d = 0.36). Moreover, AI authorship decreased perceived source credibility (d = 0.24), anthropomorphism (d = 0.67), and intelligence (d = 0.41). The findings are discussed against the backdrop of a growing availability of AI-generated content and a greater awareness of AI authorship. Full article

This study investigates news audiences’ platform preferences, usage patterns, and factors affecting their mobile news consumption through news apps. Four explanatory factors, news app users’ demographics, news media usage, perceptions, and motivations, are proposed to predict adoption intention. By surveying 698 mobile news app users in the US, this study’s findings indicate that user perceptions of news apps (i.e., perceived ease of use, compatibility, relative content advantage, and observability) and instrumental motivations of news consumption (i.e., information-seeking and opinion needs) best predict news consumers’ willingness to continue using mobile news apps. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed to offer new insights into mobile news audience behavior and inform current digital publishers on cross-media strategies in the highly competitive mobile news market. Full article

According to Michel Foucault’s power/knowledge theory, knowledge is not produced in a vacuum; the construction of any knowledge system implicitly contains power relations. The “knowledge strategies” for Indigenous studies on intercultural communication should evolve and improve in response to shifts in the global power structure. With the development of globalization and the evolution of communication technologies, this study interprets the current global power structure as a “dual structure” in which the international society and the world society coexist and develop together. This structure leads to a complex trend of simultaneous “centralization” and “decentralization”, as well as “homogenization” and “hybridization” in the global cultural order. For scholars from non-Western countries, Indigenous studies on intercultural communication need to interpret the new global power structure, expanding their research perspectives and topics to a global dimension. This approach links Indigenous conceptual resources and methodologies with an open and diverse global cultural order. This study proposes “knowledge strategies” for Indigenous studies on intercultural communication in non-Western countries and introduces a third level of significance for intercultural communication beyond daily interaction and cultural interaction: community building. Regarding the research purpose, this study aims to provide a new perspective for the study of intercultural communication theory, promoting an equal dialogue between Western and non-Western knowledge systems of intercultural communication, and enhancing the inclusiveness and humanistic awareness of this discipline. Full article

Innovation, creativity, and interdisciplinary collaboration in journalism are generally viewed as necessary goods, given the profound challenges of the profession, but institutionalised repertoires and routines tend to keep radical transformation at bay. Change in journalism therefore tends to rely on intermediaries, operating both within and outside of the profession, to facilitate innovation. This article explores the shared concerns of one such community of intermediaries working at the boundary between journalism and the arts. Through a series of in-depth interviews, this study documents key issues, how they solve problems, and how this shapes the practice of artistic journalism. These intermediaries create, facilitate, and promote an interdisciplinary practice of rigorously researched journalism and impact-focused storytelling using art-inspired methods. The key issues found in this study include the effort going into vocabulary alignment, managing expectations on what counts as professionalism, dealing with ‘uncertainty’ as a structural feature of the work, and dealing with occupational value clashes, such as regarding autonomy and rigour. The findings suggest these practitioners and intermediaries between journalism and the arts feel they shape the contours of an emergent practice. Full article

It is believed that the way in which media speak about emerging technologies can influence the public perception of their benefits and risks. Risk statements highlight the possible negative effects, real or imaginary, that a particular event could have on audiences. Just as journalism varies over space and time, what is considered a risk is deeply rooted in specific social, economic, and technological contexts. This variability implies that journalistic practices are neither universal nor static; instead, they change and adapt according to circumstance. Moreover, technological advances have allowed the press to better understand their audiences and adhere to their demands. In this context, the discursive construction of the risk of artificial intelligence was studied in the press of four European countries: Belgium, Spain, France, and Portugal. In total, 290 texts published in January 2024 were examined. Mentions of “artificial intelligence” were found in the following newspapers: Le Soir, El País, Le Figaro, and Público. Fourteen risk categories and seven groups of voices responsible for their enunciation were identified, with significant variations between the studied newspapers. It was concluded that national contexts make it possible to differentiate the way in which the press communicates the risks associated with artificial intelligence. Although these results do not directly reflect public awareness of the risks in each of these countries, they open a line of research on the possible influences of the progressive monitoring and knowledge of audiences in the construction of the media agenda. Full article

This study (N = 199) examined the impact of a 360° news coverage of the Iraqi war on cognitive and emotional empathy, and the mechanisms through which an audience’s empathic responses are enhanced, as well as the role of empathy in impacting perceptions of news credibility. We build on earlier studies on immersive journalism to provide a nuanced investigation on different dimensions of empathy and their impact on perceptions of news credibility. The findings demonstrated that, when compared to online news, 360° news led to greater spatial presence, cognitive and positive emotional empathy, as well as higher levels of perceived news credibility. Spatial presence mediated the relationship between news modality and empathy, while the impact of 360° news on empathy was contingent upon individual differences in dispositional empathy. The results are discussed in the context of immersive journalism theory and practice. Full article

The phenomenon of disinformation raises serious questions for society, affecting public trust and democratic stability. In this context, an attempt is made to configure a profile of the practices of identification and fight against disinformation, assess the incidence of social networks, and identify citizens’ perceptions of media literacy in Ecuador. The methodology used is quantitative and qualitative, with a descriptive approach, using a survey, interviews with experts, and focus groups. The converging points between experts and citizens are the need to develop media literacy processes that begin in basic education and the institutionalisation of the fight against disinformation, which should be assumed through an articulation between citizens and schools. On the other hand, training to identify fake news is directly related to information verification practices. Likewise, statistical evidence shows that Ecuadorians who verify information perceive themselves as fully informed citizens. Full article

This study presents a systematic review of the scholarly literature on Russia–Ukraine Propaganda on Social Media over the last ten years. This study performs a bibliometric analysis of articles published in the last ten years (2012–2022) and acquired from the Scopus database, followed by a brief content analysis of top articles from leading sources. Furthermore, the study aims to find gaps in the literature and identify the research area that could be developed in this context. VOSviewer application was used for data mining and data visualization from Microsoft Excel. Some interesting facts were found in the bibliometric analysis regarding research and other perspectives. Though the study was related to the propaganda of Russia and Ukraine, the USA is identified as the most attentive country in terms of research and publication on the topic. On the other hand, Russia published many articles regarding its own propaganda on social media. Full article

As global attention to mental health issues increases, its media portrayal becomes increasingly important. This literature review explores the representation of mental health in the media. The study found that the media plays a key role in shaping the public’s views on mental health issues. Positive media reports can help increase public awareness, reduce stigma, and promote help-seeking behaviors and policy improvements. However, negative reports may deepen misunderstandings and prejudices, increase stigma, and hinder people from seeking help. Several topics including violence and threats have become common themes in media reports on mental health issues. In addition, the portrayal of mental health on social media is emphasized, which provides a platform for discussing mental health issues, but also brings challenges to information authenticity and privacy protection. Social media interactions can provide support for mental health issues, but negative comments and cyberbullying may exacerbate the problem. The significance of this literature review is to provide theoretical support for improving media coverage and formulating public strategies, calling on media practitioners to report mental health issues in a responsible manner to promote healthier public attitudes and more effective policy interventions. Full article

The aim of this study is to investigate how amplifiers are used in Twitter (now called “$\mathbb{X}$”) during election campaigns. Specifically, the main purpose is to identify the role and engagement of Twitter amplifiers in the 2019 European elections, the visibility of political parties and leaders, and the way in which automated tools are used to manipulate public opinion by influencing voting decisions. The countries considered in the study are two economic powers of Western Europe, France and Germany, as well as two countries of the European South, which are affected by the economic and financial crisis, Greece and Italy. The countries from Southern Europe were included in the sample as they are often used by mass media as political campaign tools. This paper emphasizes the Twitter platform through which the data collection was implemented using the official API of the social networking tool, focusing on the 2019 European elections. We collected data on 88 party leaders and MEP candidates between 10 May and 30 May 2019, as well as on 44,651 accounts that retweeted them. We concluded using 237,813 election-related tweets and used network theory to analyze and visualize the data. The results demonstrate that all political parties use amplifiers to promote their tweets, and some use the same amplifiers between different countries. Full article

This paper addresses the problem of how Spanish digital media reported income inequality during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this way, the goal was to study the framing of definition, contextual aspects, and depth. For this article, a tool was designed to analyse the content of the items. An analysis of news published by six digital media in Spain from March 2020 to February 2021 was conducted using content analysis. Within a sample of 2727 media stories in which there was a connection between the coronavirus and inequality, a stratified sample was used (n = 958) according to the content production by quarter and by media. The results of this study show that income inequality was the most common type of inequality reported in the media, and they cantered more on the micro level. Also, it appeared to be linked to the social gap and showed poverty as the main consequence. The frame was focused on social issues, international and national contexts, and expert sources. Finally, different levels of depth can be observed in the news items analysed, depending on the frame. Full article