Changing Media Frames after Initiating a Public Policy

Abstract

In November 2008, the Tăriceanu Government proposed a public policy in the field of health care; it was the first in Europe. The State undertook/decided to finance a vaccination campaign against human papilloma virus. This benefit, a universal and categorical one, was offered for free to all female citizens, aged 13. We analyzed the reflection of the public policy in the media using the framing theory and interviews with central media representatives in order to discover the categories, through which the event was signified in order to identify journalistic routines. We monitored a total of 66 publications in national media during 2008, identifying 424 articles directly or indirectly related to the campaign. After monitoring these articles we concluded that the media covered the subject well before the authorities proposed a public policy in this field, and discourse analysis supports the hypothesis that pharmaceutical companies and doctors have promoted vaccination, by the well-known mechanisms of medicalization.