$ £ ¥€ social sciences Article Comparative Study of the Information about the COVID-19 Pandemic and COVID-19 Vaccines on the Covers of United Kingdom, France, Spain and United States’ Main Newspapers Santiago Tejedor 1, * , Laura Cervi 1 , Fernanda Tusa 2 and Mónica Gracia Villar 3 1 Department of Journalism and Communications Studies, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain 2 Social Sciences Faculty, Technical University of Machala, Machala 170524, Ecuador 3 Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universidad Europea del Atlántico, 39011 Santander, Spain * Correspondence: santiago.tejedor@uab.cat Abstract: This study compares the information coverage of the vaccine against the information of the COVID-19 pandemic in eight newspapers (two per country) from the United Kingdom, France, Spain and the United States. The newspapers analyzed are The Times and The Guardian (United Kingdom), Le Monde and Le Figaro (France), El País and El Mundo (Spain), and The New York Times and The Washington Post (United States). On a methodological level, the work uses a descriptive approach of hemerographic analysis. As a result, it is observed—in the case of coverage of the pandemic—that the presence of affected persons and health personnel in the front-page information was negligible, with a predominance of news journalistic genres (brief and newsworthy, especially), evidencing a leading Citation: Tejedor, Santiago, Laura role of political figures and the high degree of politicization of the crisis. In addition, the visual frames Cervi, Fernanda Tusa, and Mónica in the analyzed newspapers tended to promote humanization through emotional representation. On Gracia Villar. 2022. Comparative the other hand, the results of the news coverage of the vaccine showed a predominance of news Study of the Information about the journalistic genres, wherein supranational entities and pharmaceutical companies starred in the COVID-19 Pandemic and COVID-19 front pages to a greater extent. The study denotes the importance of media literacy among citizens, Vaccines on the Covers of United especially in the face of this type of informational events of global significance. Kingdom, France, Spain and United States’ Main Newspapers. Social Keywords: coronavirus; COVID-19; front pages; news coverage; information processing; pandemic; Sciences 11: 412. https://doi.org/ vaccine; newspaper; daily information press; media; comparative analysis 10.3390/socsci11090412 Academic Editor: Javier Díaz-Noci Received: 19 July 2022 1. Introduction Accepted: 29 August 2022 Published: 8 September 2022 The global COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the globe with record numbers. In this global health crisis, the media have become—especially during the harshest phases Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral of confinement—key players in informing citizens of the spread of the virus. During the with regard to jurisdictional claims in quarantine, media consumption experienced a deep growth. What is more, the internet published maps and institutional affil- has been decisive in the consumption of messages generated by the media. In this regard, iations. social networks ranked first among the sources most consulted by the audience. According to Twitter, between December 2019 and January 2020, the information about the pandemic and the conversations generated by this topic produced an increase of 23% in daily active Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. users, reaching 164 million quarterly (Comscore 2020). The peak in the consumption of Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. news content coincided with the first measures of social distancing, reaching high levels This article is an open access article with the different communications from government spokespersons around the world. distributed under the terms and This set of data links to the current crisis in journalism, which is also a crisis in the conditions of the Creative Commons credibility of the audience towards the media. A report by the consulting firm Ipsos Global Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// Advisor (PrNoticias 2019) on trust in the media in 27 countries established that citizens creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ were skeptical of the information they receive from the media, especially from digital 4.0/). newspapers. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11090412 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/socsci Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 2 of 16 Starting from the referential role and the trust placed by readers towards the printed media as being more reliable and rigorous, this research analyzes the covers of the main newspapers in the United Kingdom, France, Spain and the United States, gathering news about the vaccine and the informative coverage of COVID-19 in relation to the type of text, type of informative sources, characters, use of color, inclusion and focus of photographs and location on the page, among other parameters. This study conceives the front page of a newspaper as being a fundamental element that synthesizes and hierarchizes the content that a medium considers to be of greatest importance on a daily basis. The cover is, in short, a privileged space for the construction of public identity (Sunkel 2002). In this regard, an attempt has been made to answer the following research questions: • How have the front pages of the main newspapers covered the issue of the vaccine and the COVID-19 pandemic? • What type of journalistic texts have disseminated these contents? • What type of characters and institutions have predominated? • What role has photography played in the information about the vaccine and the pandemic on the front pages? It is worth mentioning that the objective of this research work was to analyze the informative treatment of the subject of the vaccine for COVID-19 against the coverage of the pandemic on the front pages of the main newspapers in the United Kingdom, Spain, France and the United States through a descriptive comparative study. 2. Theoretical Framework In 2020, the articles published in all areas of knowledge had a common denominator: COVID-19. In the case of communication sciences, the studies by Moreno et al. (2020), Orduña-Malea et al. (2020), Aleixandre-Benavent et al. (2020), Odriozola-Chéné et al. (2020), Castillo-Esparcia et al. (2020), Sales et al. (2020) and Ferrer-Sapena et al. (2020) have demonstrated how this health crisis, on a global scale, has been a research opportunity for universities around the world. Furthermore, the issue of the coronavirus has improved the dissemination of science, because the scientific community and society have demanded updated information on the pandemic (Cañeles López et al. 2020). The analysis of the front pages of printed newspapers has been the subject of recurrent study in the last 50 years. From the classic works of Kayser (1974), Arnold (1984), Evans (1978, 1984), Bogart (1985) and El-Mir et al. (1995), to the investigations of López (2001), Davara et al. (2004), Cunha da Silva (2006), Burgueño (2008) or Núñez-Romero (2009), different studies have addressed the analysis of the contents of the covers of the written press. They are joined by the research of Jaraba Molina et al. (2020), who have established comparisons between the selection of the content on the covers of printed editions and the digital editions of the same media or its projection on social networks such as Twitter. At this point, this paper takes as reference the work of Tejedor et al. (2020b), wherein the information on the COVID-19 pandemic was analyzed in 72 front pages of printed newspapers in Spain and Italy, through a comparative study of the newspapers El País, El Mundo Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica, applying a mixed design based on content analysis. The front page of a newspaper is conceived as the main page and projects its informa- tive priorities. At the same time, it transmits an editorial position towards current news. In this sense, as Canga (1994) pointed out, the preparation of the cover is the result of a complex process due to its informative impact and on sales, which will determine the main showcase of the medium and which will inform its readers of the topics that are considered more important. According to Verón and Sabés (2008), there are three series that participate in the process of shaping the front page of a newspaper: the headlines (visual linguistic series), the texts (visual series for linguistics) and the images (visual series not linguistics). The COVID-19 crisis has posed new challenges for journalism. In this regard, the World Health Organization (WHO) has used the term “infodemics” to refer to the overabundance of information that the coronavirus has introduced and to warn citizens of the risks derived Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 3 of 16 from this excess of information—within which are circulated a lot of hoaxes or rumors. For Salaverría et al. (2020), in this context, misinformation has multiplied, with social networks being the main scenario where “decontextualized content and lies of all kinds and conditions have proliferated” (p. 2). In the current scenario, the importance of AMI (informational media literacy)— which refers to the ability of citizens to access, use, evaluate, decide and generate responsible, ethical and quality content—becomes crucial. The AMI points to the decisive role of information and the media in the day-to-day life of any citizen. In this sense, it is an essential ingredient to be able to talk about freedom of expression and information. The works of Pérez-Tornero and Varis (2010); Pérez-Tornero et al. (2018) or Tejedor et al. (2018), among others, emphasize the importance of promoting digital literacy that goes beyond the instrumental or technical stage to cover aspects related to the critical use of the media. 3. Materials and Methods The methodological starting point of this research transfers the mixed design proposed by Tejedor et al. (2020b), wherein the authors analyzed the information on the COVID- 19 pandemic and COVID-19 vaccines on 72 covers of printed newspapers through a comparative study in the most critical year of the pandemic: 2020. In addition, the work of Penarrieta et al. (2014) analyzed the contents of printed elements of a Peruvian newspaper using the mixed method at a descriptive level. To select the news, the constructed week method was used (Riff et al. 2014). This technique is based on condensing a stratified–systematic sample of each of the media. In each of them, a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of each of the months was randomly selected, ensuring that each month of the year was represented by at least one day, and avoiding the overrepresentation of a particular month. Eighteen dates were obtained during the 12 months of 2020. This study excluded the following types of news: infomercial, entertainments section, horoscope, weather, gaming and social life sections. In this research, the front pages of the main newspapers from the United Kingdom, France, Spain and the United States were analyzed from a matrix made up of 15 variables and 64 categories which were extracted mainly inductively. The study focuses on eight reference newspapers in the countries indicated (two per country). The analyzed newspapers are: The Times and The Guardian (United Kingdom), Le Monde and Le Figaro (France), El País and El Mundo (Spain), and The New York Times and The Washington Post (United States). These newspapers were selected according to the data provided by the “2019 News- paper Web Rankings” official document developed by the International Media and News- papers, which is an international directory and search engine focusing on worldwide newspapers, and which includes 7000 newspapers, ranked by web popularity in 200 coun- tries (International Media & Newspapers 2019). The work, of a descriptive nature, uses a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) based on content analysis, complemented with direct observation and hemerographic analysis as the main techniques. The first technique focused on the analysis of the different elements that make up the physical design of the cover from the matrix table designed in the framework of the research. On the other hand, the hemerographic analysis served to describe the content of the elements of each of the covers from analysis sheets for texts, headlines and photographs designed after the bibliographic review of studies close to this object of study. The data processing was carried out through descriptive statistics planning with the SPSS software. The analyzed newspapers, selected according to their importance, scope and trajectory in each country, are shown in Figure 1. The research takes as a unit of analysis the news on the front pages of newspapers, conceived as a fundamental element that synthesizes the content offered by the medium and that offers a hierarchy of information. The cover is a determining factor to attract the attention of readers as the space that exposes the formal characteristics and content of a Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 17 Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 4 of 16 object of study. The data processing was carried out through descriptive statistics plan- medium, ning withbeing a privileged the SPSS place software. Thewhere a public analyzed identity is newspapers, built and selected that is recognized according to their im-by its readers (Sunkel 2002) (see Table 1). portance, scope and trajectory in each country, are shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Figure 1. Analyzed Analyzed newspapers. newspapers. The research takes as a unit of analysis the news on the front pages of newspapers, Table 1. Analysis parameters. conceived as a fundamental element that synthesizes the content offered by the medium and that Cover offers a hierarchy of information. Pieces The cover is a determining factor to attract the Total Number attention of readers as the space thatNews, exposes the formal interview, characteristics chronicle, and content report, editorial, opinion of a Typology being medium, of pieces a privileged place where article, brief news, editorial photo, vignette. recognized a public identity is built and that is by its readers (Sunkel 2002) (see Table Top1).left, top right, entire bottom area, bottom left, bottom Position on the page right, entire top area, entire page. Predominant Table type 1. Analysis of information parameters. Data or interpretation. National nonpolitical entities, national political entities, Cover PiecesentitiesTotal Number geographical entities, foreign political entities, foreign Information Typology of nonpoliticalreport, News, interview, chronicle, entities,editorial, others. opinion article, brief pieces National politicians, news, editorial photo, vignette. international politicians, citizens, Characters in the information health personnel, researcher, scientist, patient, public Position on the Top left, top right, entire bottom area, bottom left, bottom right, entire figures. page Headline type top area, entire page. Informative, expressive or appellative. Predominant Speech act typetype Direct, indirect or partially direct quotation. Data or interpretation. ofVerb information Narrative, interpretation (low), interpretation (high), type Information enti- National nonpolitical perlocutives. entities, national political entities, geographical Photography Number of photographs. ties Photography type entities, foreign political entities, foreign nonpolitical entities, others. Color or black and white. Characters in the National politicians, Photo function international Documentary politicians, citizens, health person- or artistic. information nel, researcher, scientist, Nationalpatient, public figures. and international political figures, health Characterstype Headline in the photographs personnel, Informative, expressive researcher—scientist, affected—patient, or appellative. Speech act type Direct, indirect orcitizens, partiallypublic directfigures, others. quotation. Source: elaborated by the authors based on López (1995); Cabrera (2000); Salaverría and Noci (2003); Parra and Verb type Narrative, interpretation (low), interpretation (high), perlocutives. Alvárez (2004); Boczkowski (2004); Pavlik (2005); Verón and Sabés (2008); Tejedor (2010); Marrone (2018); Cobo Photography (2012). Number of photographs. Photography type Color or black and white. Photo function Documentary or artistic. Characters in the National and international political figures, health personnel, re- photographs searcher—scientist, affected—patient, citizens, public figures, others. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 Source: elaborated by the authors based on López (1995); Cabrera (2000); Salaverría and Díaz Noci 5 of 16 (2003); Parra and Alvárez (2004); Boczkowski (2004); Pavlik (2005); Verón and Sabés (2008); Tejedor (2010); Marrone (2018); Cobo (2012). 4. 4. Results Results In In the case of the case ofnews newscoverage coverageofofCOVID-19, COVID-19, journalistic journalistic genres, genres, strictly strictly informative informative in in nature, have been the most numerous. The informative briefs, nature, have been the most numerous. The informative briefs, which condense the infor- which condense the information in a title or line without photographs or any other complementary mation in a title or line without photographs or any other complementary element, are element, are the most predominant type of piece. For its part, the news occupies the the most predominant type of piece. For its part, the news occupies the second place. This second place. This data data denotes denotesthe thecommitment commitmenttoto informative informativecontent contentand, specifically, and, to brief specifically, information. to brief infor- Vignettes, reports and opinion articles are the other types of genres mation. Vignettes, reports and opinion articles are the other types of genres that are that are most abundant most on the frontonpages abundant of newspapers. the front The editorial pages of newspapers. Thephoto brings editorial together photo bringsa total of 3.94% together cases, a total of an aspect 3.94% thatan cases, affects aspectthe prominence that affects theconferred prominenceon the photographic conferred component in compo- on the photographic the daily coverage nent in the of daily the pandemic. coverage In of this sense, thereInisthis the pandemic. a commitment sense, there tois informative a commitment messages to in- that are very concise and lacking in context, an aspect that invites us formative messages that are very concise and lacking in context, an aspect that invites to reflect on the reason us for this type of content and its relationship with the current user profile to reflect on the reason for this type of content and its relationship with the current user of the media (see Figure profile 2). of the media (see Figure 2). Figure 2. Figure 2. Journalistic Journalistic genres genres in in the the information information about about COVID-19. COVID-19. Another aspect Another aspectofofgreat greatinterest interestisisthe thetype typeofof information information that that appears appears in the in the pieces pieces that that inform about the vaccine. The study has analyzed if these conferred inform about the vaccine. The study has analyzed if these conferred greater importance greater im- portance on on the the data data or if, onor if, contrary, the on the contrary, they made they made an interpretation an interpretation of them, of them, avoiding avoiding that thatreader the the reader had to had toalone face face alone figures, figures, statistics statistics or other or other numerical numerical contents. contents. Insense, In this this sense, countries countries such assuch as the States the United UnitedorStates or theKingdom the United United Kingdom where thewhere impact the of impact COVID-19of COVID-19 has hashigh, been very been have very ahigh, have a predominance predominance of data information of data information compared to compared those basedto on an interpretation of them. In the case of the United States, the difference between one approach and the other is especially relevant to the extent that it exceeds it by more than double. In Spain, the data have greater prominence, but on a smaller universe. France is the only country where a predominance of interpretive news is detected compared to those articles that are limited to offering statistical figures and percentages (see Figure 3). those based on an interpretation of them. In the case of the United States, the difference between one approach and the other is especially relevant to the extent that it exceeds it by more than double. In Spain, the data have greater prominence, but on a smaller uni- verse. France is the only country where a predominance of interpretive news is detected Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 6 of 16 compared to those articles that are limited to offering statistical figures and percentages (see Figure 3). Figure 3. Figure 3. Data Data information information vs. vs. data data interpretation. interpretation. In the case In case of ofcoverage coverageofofthe thepandemic, pandemic, thethe informative informative pieces that that pieces appeared appearedon theon front the pages front pagesof theof newspapers the newspapers corresponded corresponded to content related to content to COVID-19, related to COVID-19, with awithpre- a dominance of data. predominance of data.The TheUnited United Kingdom Kingdom andandSpain Spain areare thethecountries countrieswith withthe thehighest highest presence of presence of news news about COVID-19 COVID-19 on on their their front front pages, pages,while whilethetheUnited UnitedStates Stateshad hadthe the least. It is striking least. striking thatthat the the latter latter country country has hascome cometotooccupy occupythe thefirst firstpositions positionsininthe the number of number of infected infected or, or,atatleast, least,very veryhighhighrates ratesofofcases. cases.InInthis thisway, way,thethestudy studyidentifies identifiesan an initial initial stagestage that,that, at anatinformative an informative level,level, did confer did not not confer a leading a leading rolethe role on onhealth the health crisis. crisis. The study has also analyzed the type of characters that appeared in the cover stories The studythe that addressed hassubject also analyzed the typeThis of the vaccine. of characters that appeared aspect is crucial to identifyin what the cover typestories of char- that addressed the subject of the vaccine. This aspect is crucial acters are linked to the news about the vaccine and, at the same time, to establish whether to identify what type of characters there was aare linked tobetween difference the news about the the vaccine different countries and, at the same analyzed. time, In all the to establish information whether on there was the vaccine, a difference the presence between of figures the the from different publiccountries sphere far analyzed. exceedsIn theallanonymous the infor- mation on figures. In the vaccine, relation the presence to this, of figures it is observed thatfrom the public researchers and sphere far exceeds scientists are thethe anon-of profile ymous figures. characters that hasIn relation had theto this, it prominence. greatest is observed that researchers Then, patients andand affected scientistshaveare the pro- occupied file of characters second place, followedthat hasby had healththepersonnel greatest prominence. and politicians Then,(seepatients Figure and4). affected have occupied In thesecond place, followed informational treatment by ofhealth personnel COVID-19, and politicians national (see Figure political figures have4).been the ones that have occupied a greater presence together with citizens. These data reveal the prominence of the political sphere in crisis management and the importance that citizens, as the main affected by the pandemic, have been absorbing in the news coverage of the crisis. The low presence of health personnel and researchers or scientists indicates that the importance given to this type of profiles, especially the first of them, does not materialize in their presence within the information on COVID-19. In the same way, 9.25% corresponding to those affected and patients come to point out that, despite being the main affected by the pandemic, their informative role has been negligible. International political figures have barely been present, an aspect that results in the coverage of the pandemic from a proximity approach. Even public figures have surpassed political leaders from outside the country. Referring to the coverage of the vaccine, the study identifies a trend in the group of countries to confer a greater presence on their covers to researchers and scientists, on the one hand, and to patients and affected people, on the other. In this sense, except for France Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 7 of 16 where health personnel and patients or affected persons are the type of characters with the greatest exposure on their covers, the rest of the countries coincide in giving scientists and Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW researchers a prominent role. Of these, the United Kingdom has the highest number 7 of 17of appearances of this type of profile. Figure 4. Figure 4. Type Type of of characters characters that that appeared appeared in in the the cover cover stories. stories. In the The informational worldwide treatmentanalysis comparative of COVID-19, of thenational typology political figures have of characters presentbeeninthe the ones that have information occupied about a greater COVID-19 on presence the fronttogether with citizens. pages confirms These data of the importance reveal the national prominencevis-à-vis politicians of the political spherethemselves. the citizens in crisis management and the importance Health personnel, scientists,that citizens, researchers, as the main patients and affected peopleby the dopandemic, not havehave been absorbing a prominent importance in the in news coverage the world of the radiography, crisis. The low presence of health personnel and researchers or scientists which continues to be absorbed by the politicians of each country. In the United Kingdom, indicates that the importance given to this type of profiles, especially the first of them, health personnel have a presence of 2% and in the United States, 7%. Dealing with patients does not materialize in affected, or their presence in Spainwithin theythe information occupy only 3%onofCOVID-19. In the same while the total information, way, 9.25% in the corre- United sponding ittoamounts Kingdom those affected to 9%. and These patients come countries giveto less point out that, despite importance on theirbeingcovers thetomain those affectedaffected. directly by the pandemic, In addition, their informative Spain role has is the country beenpublic where negligible. figures International have had the political greatest figures have presence barely beenabout in information present, an aspect COVID-19. Onthat theresults contrary, in the United coverage of the States pandemic is the country fromgives that a proximity the leastapproach. importance Even public figurespolitical to international have surpassed leaders, whopolitical leaders occupy 3% from of theout- total side the country. of the informative pieces on its front pages. France and Spain are the countries where this type of Referring person to hasthethecoverage greatestofpresence. the vaccine, the study Politicians identifies absorb a trend in a prominent the group ofin preeminence countries the to confer of news coverage a greater presencewhile the pandemic, on their covers health to researchers personnel and scientists, and scientists on theto are relegated aone hand, lesser andoftoimportance. level patients andThis affected aspectpeople, onthe affects the need other.toInreflect this sense, on theexcept role for thatFrance media where health companies personnel confer and patients on the different or affected characters persons in a story, are as as well the thetype of characters processes with of invisibility thecertain of greatest exposure on their covers, the rest of the countries coincide in giving scientists groups. and researchers The locationaofprominent role. Ofonthese, the information the United the vaccine Kingdom is another has theelement important highesttonumber analyze. of this In appearances sense, theofareathisintype theof profile. upper right is the one with the greatest prominence. This part, in theThefieldworldwide comparative of cover graphic design, analysis acquiresof an theoutstanding typology of importance characters presentinsofar in as the it isin- the formation space on the about firstCOVID-19 page where onthe theuser frontdirects pages confirms his gaze and the importance attention first. of national The upper politi- left cianswhich part, vis-à-vis the citizens would themselves. be the second Health personnel, in importance, had a totalscientists, researchers, of 15 cases; surpassed patients only andthe by affected lowerpeople do not left (with have a prominent 16 cases). Added to this importance is that, in the world the 10 cases, radiography, news completelywhich continuesthe occupied to betopabsorbed by the of the page. politicians This of each country. aspect denotes a disparity In the United in the Kingdom, hierarchical healthof criteria personnel have a presence of 2% and in the United States, 7%. Dealing with patients or affected, in Spain they occupy only 3% of the total information, while in the United King- dom it amounts to 9%. These countries give less importance on their covers to those di- rectly affected. In addition, Spain is the country where public figures have had the greatest presence in information about COVID-19. On the contrary, the United States is the country The location of the information on the vaccine is another important element to ana- lyze. In this sense, the area in the upper right is the one with the greatest prominence. This part, in the field of cover graphic design, acquires an outstanding importance insofar as it is the space on the first page where the user directs his gaze and attention first. The upper left part, which would be the second in importance, had a total of 15 cases; surpassed only Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 8 of 16 by the lower left (with 16 cases). Added to this is that, in 10 cases, the news completely occupied the top of the page. This aspect denotes a disparity in the hierarchical criteria of the information that, although they report the same topic, occupy different positions on the front the information that, although page. Therefore, they report it is possible the same to affirm that topic, occupy different the importance given bypositions the mediaon the front page. Therefore, it is possible to affirm that the importance given to the subject of the vaccine has been varying and occupying different areas according to by the media to media its the subject of the vaccine evolution. Only one has been case wasvarying detectedandwherein occupying different areas the information onaccording the vaccine to its media evolution. Only one case was detected wherein the information occupied the entire page, excluding other types of information and concentrating the en- on the vaccine occupied tire the entire information page, focus (seeexcluding Figure 5).other types of information and concentrating the entire information focus (see Figure 5). Figure 5. Location of the information about vaccines. Figure 5. Location of the information about vaccines. In the case of COVID-19 coverage, the area in the upper right part, together with the area In in the the case upperofleft COVID-19 coverage,athe part, concentrate area presence greater in the upper right on of pieces part, thetogether pandemic.with the These area in the upper left part, concentrate a greater presence of pieces on the pandemic. two data, together with 8% of the covers that were entirely dedicated to the subject, indicate These two that data, in 54% together with analyzed, of the cases 8% of the covers that werewas the information entirely dedicated placed at the toptoofthe subject, the covers.indi- The cate that in location in 54% of thepart the lower cases analyzed, (both on thethe left,information on the rightwasor inplaced at theoftop the whole ofarea) that the covers. brings The location together 36%inofthe thelower part (both information. on the Thus, the left, on the between difference right or in thethe twowhole of that area) percentages does brings together not indicate 36% very of the wide information. differences. The Thus, coveragethe difference between of the pandemic was,theintwo percentages general, a news does eventnot Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW indicate very considered wide of great differences. relevance The by the coverage media of the pandemic as a whole, an aspect was, that isinjustified general, 9 of 17a by news event considered of great relevance the global scope of this health crisis (see Figure 6). by the media as a whole, an aspect that is justi- fied by the global scope of this health crisis (see Figure 6). Figure 6. Figure 6. Location Location of of the the information information about about COVID-19. COVID-19. The study has given special importance to the type of information that appeared in the headlines. The degree constitutes a decisive aspect in the information process due to its ability to establish a hierarchy, on the one hand; and for its role of synthesis on the Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 9 of 16 The study has given special importance to the type of information that appeared in the headlines. The degree constitutes a decisive aspect in the information process due to its ability to establish a hierarchy, on the one hand; and for its role of synthesis on the information presented. In the coverage of the topic of vaccines, expressive headlines predominated, followed by informative ones. Expressive headlines stand out for their evocative mission about an event already known to the reader and for lacking grammat- ical structure. Basically, they emphasize words or expressions. On the other hand, the informative news exposes a fact with an objective frame. They are characterized by stating the subject of the information and the main action of the event (generally responding to the ‘what’ and ‘who’ questions). The news headlines opt for grammatical structures that clearly identify the subject and the action carried out. The appellatives present a single case. The comparative study of the subject of the vaccine allows us to point out that the United Kingdom, the United States and Spain are the countries where there is a greater difference between the predominance of expressive and informative headlines. In Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 10 the of 17case of the United States, it concentrated a greater number of expressive headlines (see Figure 7). Figure 7. Figure 7. Analysis Analysis of of vaccine vaccineheadlines. headlines. Regarding the verbs of the headlines about COVID-19, the study denotes a predom- inance of story verbs (affirm, communicate or declare), followed by strong interpretive verbs (threaten, accuse, insult or disqualify), weak interpretive verbs (warn, assure or insist) and perlocutionary verbs, which seek to achieve a reaction by saying something (such as surprise, shock, convince or dissuade). In relation to this, the United States showed a great presence of perlocutionary verbs, aimed at generating a reaction in the public. In the case of Spain, no case of weak interpretive verbs appeared, an aspect that invites reflection insofar as they are verbs close to the type of warning messages typical of a health crisis such as that caused by COVID-19 (see Figure 8). In the case of the topic of the vaccine, there was a predominance of high interpretive verbs (threaten, accuse, insult or disqualify), an aspect which denotes a marked positioning of the media around the announcement of the vaccine. The story verbs (affirm, communi- cate or declare) were in second place and showed a significant number of news stories about the vaccine that tried not to position themselves around the aforementioned advertisement. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 10 of 16 The number of perlocutionary verbs, which are characterized by trying to reach a reaction by saying something (such as surprising, impacting, convincing or dissuading) were very small and only five cases were detected, while weak interpretive verbs (warn, assure or insist) were testimonials (with a single case). For its part, the United States was the country with the Figure highest of 7. Analysis number vaccineof story verbs (see Figure 9). headlines. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 11 of 17 In the case of the topic of the vaccine, there was a predominance of high interpretive verbs (threaten, accuse, insult or disqualify), an aspect which denotes a marked position- ing of the media around the announcement of the vaccine. The story verbs (affirm, com- municate or declare) were in second place and showed a significant number of news sto- ries about the vaccine that tried not to position themselves around the aforementioned advertisement. The number of perlocutionary verbs, which are characterized by trying to reach a reaction by saying something (such as surprising, impacting, convincing or dis- suading) were very small and only five cases were detected, while weak interpretive verbs (warn,8.assure Figure 8. or insist) Analysis were testimonials (with a single case). For its part, the United States Figure Analysisof ofCOVID-19′s COVID-19’sverbs. verbs. was the country with the highest number of story verbs (see Figure 9). Figure 9. Figure 9. Analysis Analysis of ofvaccine’s vaccine’sverbs. verbs. The presence of the photograph on the vaccine is practically testimonial. Photographs appeared in only 12 of the analyzed news items, most of them in color and with a clearly illustrative function, without the will to provide additional information to the piece in which they were inserted. In the case of COVID-19 covers, a total of 537 photographs were Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 11 of 16 The presence of the photograph on the vaccine is practically testimonial. Photographs appeared in only 12 of the analyzed news items, most of them in color and with a clearly illustrative function, without the will to provide additional information to the piece in which they were inserted. In the case of COVID-19 covers, a total of 537 photographs were identified. Of these, only four were in black and white. Except for 29 which were of an artistic nature, the rest were documentary photographs. Spain was the country with the largest number of photographs on its covers. For their part, and together with the journalistic tradition of paper newspapers, France and the United Kingdom were the countries with the least images on the front page. 5. Discussion During this crisis, the influence of framing managed to mobilize public attention since it has caused 78% of citizens to inform themselves more than before. Fifty-two percent Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEWdo it three or more times a day, when before the crisis they only did it 28%, and 12 of 90% 17 report at least once a day about COVID-19 (Cantero de Julián et al. 2020). This increase in the consumption of news shows that, in critical situations of risk to human life, citizens demand fact, key information the COVID-19 (Casero-Ripollés crisis revitalized 2020); however, the traditional media associety does not their news want any coverage type is per- of content but opts for identified information sources and with extensive trajectories. ceived more positively and is linked to credibility and trust (Cantero de Julián et al. 2020). In fact, the COVID-19 crisis revitalized the traditional media as their news In this research, the news headlines predominated, which shows the effort of the media coverage is perceived tomore inform positively andofisthe the public linked to credibility pandemic throughand truststructures simple (Cantero and,de Julián at theetsame al. 2020). time,In this out point research, the volume the large news headlines of data andpredominated, news derived which from shows the news thecoverage effort of ofthethe media pan-to inform demic. In the public second of thewere position pandemic through the names, simple structures characterized by drawingand, the at the same time, reader’s point attention to partially known events. This presence can be justified by alluding to the continuity inIn out the large volume of data and news derived from the news coverage of the pandemic. second time position of the were and, pandemic the names, characterized therefore, by drawing the to the familiarization of reader’s the publicattention to partially with said phe- known events. This presence can be justified by alluding to the continuity nomenon. These are headlines that involved a higher level of detail than expressive ones. in time of the pandemic and, therefore, to the familiarization of the public with said In this regard, Spain was the country with the highest number of expressive headlines (seephenomenon. These are headlines Figure 10). that involved a higher level of detail than expressive ones. In this regard, Spain was the country with the highest number of expressive headlines (see Figure 10). Figure 10. Analysis of COVID-19’s headlines. Figure 10. Analysis of COVID-19′s headlines. In the informational treatment of COVID-19, the headlines with direct or indirect quotes were the most numerous, an aspect that affects the delicate coverage that the pan- demic has introduced and, especially, the importance of locating any statement in the mouth of a specific source. In the case of coverage of vaccine covers, a predominance of headlines with indirect quotes was detected. This aspect denotes a willingness to attribute Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 12 of 16 In the informational treatment of COVID-19, the headlines with direct or indirect quotes were the most numerous, an aspect that affects the delicate coverage that the pandemic has introduced and, especially, the importance of locating any statement in the mouth of a specific source. In the case of coverage of vaccine covers, a predominance of headlines with indirect quotes was detected. This aspect denotes a willingness to attribute the information to a source (person), but in a gentler way than through direct citation headlines. Those of indirect citation, followed by those of partially direct citations, which Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW seek to emphasize some expression (fragment of a phrase or word) of the issuer, were 13 of the 17 most present in the set of newspapers analyzed (see Figure 11). Figure 11. Figure 11. Analysis Analysis of of quotes quotes in in COVID-19′s COVID-19’sheadlines. headlines. The media have played aa decisive The decisiveroleroleininthe themanagement managementand andknowledge knowledgeofofCOVID-COVID- 19 with respect to information, perceptions and decision-making 19 with respect to information, perceptions and decision-making (Lubens 2015); that is, they (Lubens 2015); that is, they have have become become the main the main source source of information of information on riskonperception risk perception(Major (Major and Atwood and Atwood 2004). 2004). However, However, the need thetoneed to simplify simplify realityreality can generate can generate biases biases andand misperceptions misperceptions (Her- (Herranz ranz de la de Casala Casa and Cantero and Cantero de Julián de Julián 2019),2019), which which is whyis why the media the media are are required required to re- to resume sume long-term long-term reportsreports in orderin order to return to return to theto the of path path of contextualized contextualized investigative investigative jour- journalism, nalism, an beyond beyond an informative informative frame. Inframe. In this research, this research, the limited thepresence limited presence of information of information about the about the vaccine was vaccine observed wason observed the frontonpages the front of thepages of thenewspapers. analyzed analyzed newspapers. Most appealed Mosttoap-the pealed to the use of notes over editorials and opinion pieces. The use of notes over editorials and opinion pieces. The country that gave the most publicity on country that gave the most the publicity subject wason thethe subject United was the United Kingdom, Kingdom, which became thewhich becametothe first country first country approve to a vaccine approveCOVID-19. against a vaccine against In the COVID-19. cover images, In the cover images,were its protagonists its protagonists were scientists, scientists, health personnel health and personnel patients. At and patients. a general At athe level, general level, thewere photographs photographs were of thetype, of the testimonial testimonial with an type, with an illustrative illustrative function. function.the Concerning Concerning headlines,the in headlines, the Unitedin the United Kingdom, theKingdom, United Statesthe United and States Spain, and Spain, expressive andexpressive informative andheadlines informative headlines predominated. predominated. With respect to With there- use spect of to the ause citations, of citations, aofpredominance predominance headlines withofindirectheadlines with indirect citations citations was detected, was de- referencing tected, referencing sources sourcesministers such as scientists, such as scientists, of health, ministers of health, health personnel andhealth personnel experts. and Interpretive experts. Interpretive verbs were mostly used in the headlines, verbs were mostly used in the headlines, an aspect that denotes a marked positioning of thean aspect that denotes a marked media positioning around of theannouncement. the vaccine media aroundInthe vaccinethe addition, announcement. newspapers sought In addition, the to sensitize newspapers and sought make readers to sensitize aware and make readers of the importance of gettingaware of the importance vaccinated, demystifyingof getting vac- conspiracy cinated, demystifying conspiracy theories and pseudoscience positions that put the pro- ject of a planetary immunization against the virus at risk. To do this, they showed the protagonists behind these medical findings and reported in a clear and understandable way how the vaccine works and its side effects within the body. The official spokesmen of the Ministries of Health and Sanitation, as well as scientists and laboratory researchers, Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 13 of 16 theories and pseudoscience positions that put the project of a planetary immunization against the virus at risk. To do this, they showed the protagonists behind these medical findings and reported in a clear and understandable way how the vaccine works and its side effects within the body. The official spokesmen of the Ministries of Health and Sanitation, as well as scientists and laboratory researchers, were given wide openness. The results of the study are transversal to the new line of research of COVID-19. Thus, we have different scientific publications such as Xu et al. (2022), Piltch-Loeb et al. (2021), Ghazali et al. (2020) and Asogwa (2021), which have also analyzed the journalistic framing of newspaper front pages from an exploratory study and have applied computational meth- ods for their analysis. In this investigation, with reference to the type of journalistic genre, this denotes the importance given to a topic by a medium and, at the same time, the degree of prominence given to it in the thematic agenda. In 77.63% of cases, information about the vaccine was presented through news, the genre par excellence of informative journalism. Next were the interviews and opinion articles, respectively. Editorial photography and reports were other journalistic genres used, although to a lesser extent. It is equally striking that cartoons, briefs, editorials and chronicles were not used in any of the cases. The study therefore detects a clear prominence of the strictly informative pieces, while the interpretive and opinion texts, which would be of great value for approaching the subject, were not used. In relation to the information coverage of COVID-19, a series of dynamics and inertias shared by countries from different sociogeographical enclaves have been reproduced. The study of the media coverage of this pandemic, based on the analysis of the types of journalistic texts used to disseminate these contents on the covers of paper editions, warns of a particular practice on the part of the world’s newspapers that respond to proposals shared. The predominance of characters and institutions and the analysis of the photograph on the cover opens, at the same time, a line of research of interest in monitoring the information generated by the media around the coronavirus pandemic. In this regard, 48% of the informative pieces corresponded to content related to COVID-19. Although it is a relevant figure, it does not speak of an exclusive presence on the issue of the pandemic. The journalistic genres of an informative nature have been the most used, with the brief informative being the most predominant resource. Relative to the location of the information, the area in the upper right, together with that in the upper left, concentrated the largest number of pieces on the pandemic. This aspect denotes a desire to place the information in the area of greatest visual impact on the cover. Likewise, the comparative analysis of the typology of characters on the covers about COVID-19 confirms the importance of national politicians in front of the citizens themselves. It is even observed that newspapers leave aside their neutral-objective stance, trying to influence, in a direct way, the citizen perception and mobilizing the reader’s action about the vaccine issue, as it is identified in the works of Boytchev (2021), Gehrau et al. (2021), Rzymski et al. (2021) and Saiful Islam et al. (2021). 6. Conclusions The study allows us to conclude that the qualitative analysis of content at the journal- istic level must be the subject of a deep review and reformulation process. It is important to continue researching the situation of the pandemic crisis and its informative approach in the different world media. Therefore, as mentioned in the works by Calvo-Calvo (2014) and Gámez de la Hoz and Padilla (2015), this is a field of study that needs new and renewed research. The study raises, as possible future developments, the relevance of researching the digital and media literacy of readers, owing to the fact that communicative and persuasive commitment of newspapers will depend on the ability of the audience to successfully decode the content offered, as suggested by the studies of various authors in relation to the importance of media literacy (Romero-Rodríguez et al. 2015, 2016). Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 412 14 of 16 In an infodemic context, as the WHO has pointed out, it is striking that the presence of spaces or content focused on the pandemic (characteristics, advice or recommendations in case of contagion) does not occur in its entirety, which should lead to newspapers continuing to monitor the issue of COVID-19 and vaccines, which would help to have a better-informed citizenry (Tejedor et al. 2020a). This aspect, considering the postulates of Hedy, Wald et al. (2007), should lead to reflection on the importance of health communication so that citizens can be informed and make appropriate decisions. In conclusion, there is a need to project the line of research based on communication and health, as argue Jha et al. (2008), with the aim of delving into the communicative aspects that, especially in the current context, contribute to facing the threat of the infodemic that has emerged in the scenario of the new normality in a highly digitized society. One of the limitations of the study was the choice of the nonprobabilistic statistical sample by convenience of the six countries participating in the research. The authors consider in the future to continue working on the agenda of setting research line and to extend the sample of countries by categorizing its analysis at the geographical, linguistic and political levels. As a final consideration, it is urged that studies continue working in the line of cover content analysis, a recurring theme in communication sciences research in the last 50 years (Kayser 1974; Arnold 1984; Evans 1978, 1984; Bogart 1985; El-Mir et al. 1995; López 2001; Davara et al. 2004; Cunha da Silva 2006; Burgueño 2008; Núñez-Romero 2009); it is necessary to deepen the content analyses and symbolic elaborations of the covers in order to make visible the forms of representation in the discourse and the media company ideology that is exposed there (Tusa et al. 2017). Finally, this global health crisis must be considered as an unprecedented space for transversal research in all areas of knowledge, thus demonstrating the transfer value of science and its social contribution. For academia, COVID-19 has meant an opportunity to redefine scientific dissemination in a society that demands more health information every day. Author Contributions: S.T. worked on theoretical framework and the methodological support. L.C. added the methodological proposal. F.T. contributed with results graphs. M.G.V. wrote last conclusions. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This research was funded by Universidad Europea del Atlántico. Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. Data Availability Statement: Not applicable. 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