The coverage of non-communicable diseases in Mozambique: the case of the newspaper Notícias (2006-2018)

Abstract

This article analyzes the coverage of Mozambican press, in particular, of the newspaper Notícias, regarding the topic of non-communicable diseases. The study uses a two-step approach; the first approach is embedded into the “contextualized” health communication theory, the second in the agenda-setting theory applied to the coverage of state-controlled press in limited democratic countries, such as Mozambique. This exploratory research adopted, as its methodology, firstly a quantitative analysis of the whole population of the articles on non-communicable diseases (NCD) that appeared in the newspaper Notícias for the period 2006-2018. A survey of the most meaningful articles was subjected to the discourse analysis, complemented by interviewing witnesses that had access to confidential information. The results showed a high politicization of the coverage of NCD. The incorporation of the interviews confirmed such conclusions, emphasizing the importance of a contextualized analysis: the editorial line of Notícias showed a dependency to the engagement of important public figures committed to combating such diseases; nevertheless, it was the only possible way to begin to approach DNT in public press.