Jornalismo regional na pandemia : a cobertura jornalística do “Passaporte Vacinal” em Mato Grosso nos jornais online FolhaMax e MidiaNews

Abstract

This work analyzes the coverage of Mato Grosso's digital newspapers FolhaMax and MidiaNews regarding the implementation of the Vaccination Passport to contain the advances of Covid-19 in the state. We sought to understand how the matter was handled and which voices were most heard by the media. The work aims to answer two research questions: (i) how newspapers informed the population regarding the vaccination passport in Mato Grosso; and (ii) what type of debate the newspapers FolhaMax and MidiaNews promoted on the topic based on the editorial choices they made throughout their coverage. To answer the research questions, we analyzed the two newspapers from january 2021 to december 2022, a time when the vaccine passport was discussed by politicians and replicated in the media in Mato Grosso. During this period, we collected 181 journalistic content related to the vaccination passport, 104 of which were on FolhaMax and 77 on MidiaNews. To analyze all the material, we used Content Analysis to identify the underlying content in the text, the themes and voices present in the coverage. As a result, we found that the newspapers gave more voices to politicians and little discussed the importance of the measure to contain the spread of the virus in the state.