Popular media portrayals and promotion of vaccine hesitancy still rely heavily on the information-deficit model despite a push for non-information-based strategies from scholars such as increasing trust. In this study, newspaper portrayals of vaccine hesitancy during the COVID- 19 pandemic were examined to determine the prevalence of the information-deficit model. Canadian newspaper articles from The Globe & Mail and the National Post published during a 14-month period between May 2020 and June 2021 were examined. A total of 56 unique articles were identified, and a coding frame was developed through both inductive and deductive methods. Data was collected using a qualitative content analysis. Through thematic analysis, three distinct portrayals of vaccine hesitancy were identified, and the use of the information- deficit model varied depending on the portrayal. Portrayals of vaccine hesitancy in the general population and vaccine hesitancy as “anti-vaxxers” used the most rhetoric based on the information-deficit model, whereas vaccine hesitancy portrayals focusing on specific marginalized subgroups included more non-information-based explanations and suggested solutions. Media portrayals of vaccine hesitancy show signs of shifting to a non-information- based rhetoric, but is still predominantly based on the information-deficit model. This reliance on the information-deficit model, as well as its possible effects on expert-lay relationships, are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/43863 |
| Date | 29 July 2022 |
| Creators | Futaki, Rie |
| Contributors | Knaapen, Loes |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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