Discussing vaccine and autism in a mainstream newspaper in Italy: A thematic analysis

Over the past few years, there has been a great deal of concern regarding the potential links between childhood vaccinations and the development of ASD, possibly leading to “vaccine hesitancy”, defined as a delay in acceptance/refusal of vaccination despite the availability of vaccination services. Specifically, the degree of belief in the vaccine–autism linkage was found as the major factor associated with a delay/omission of one or more vaccines. According to the study of the press, media play a crucial role in channelling health-related information and significantly influence health behaviours. This study aims to explore the representational field related to the vaccine-autism link in a mainstream Italian newspaper. We analysed articles published on La Repubblica, from January 2009 until January 2017 (N = 168 articles), via T- Lab software. The analysis produced four clusters: a) Trust and sense of belonging (bigger cluster); b) Judgment dimension (parents getting compensated for their children’s sickness, which allegedly stemmed from the vaccine); c) Catastrophic narratives (leading to a sense of fear and danger); d) Organization of the public healthcare system (smaller cluster). The study underlines the need to monitor media coverage on key healthcare topics.