Retratos de uma doença : estudo das imagens da epidemia de Zika a partir dos perfis de mídia no Twitter

Abstract

This work aims to understand how the images that circulated during the Zika Virus epidemic in the media profiles within the social network Twitter built a narrative of the disease with its own characteristics. To this end, 6 million publications were collected from March 2015 to February 2016. From these data, there was collection of images published by the main media profiles of Brazil presented in the discussions about epidemic, between November 22, 2015 and February 29, 2016. The result was 3,308 images that were quantitatively studied and categorized and analyzed qualitatively from Content Analysis. The applied methodology allowed to obtain the following categories: Cause/vector, Victims, Official Authorities and Cure. The conclusion of the study points to a strengthening of the press 1) of a narrative that attributes the blame of the epidemic to the population, from the reinforcement that the mosquito is the villain to be fought, disregarding other problems such as the lack of basic sanitation in vulnerable regions, 2) the confirmation of pregnant women and newborns as victims, attributing to the woman as a mother the role of caring for the child while ignoring the existence of a paternal male figure , 3) the detachment between the reality of the population and those in positions of power, and 4) the bet on the vaccine, even though there is no expectation of it in the near future