Evolution of the obesity epidemic in the Spanish press: A comparative study 2000–05 and 2015–20

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the treatment of obesity as an epidemic in the Spanish press during two different time periods. The first period is from 2000 to 2005 when obesity was declared an epidemic by the World Health Organization, the second period of study is from 2015 to 2020. For this study, a content analysis was made from a framing perspective. In the selected sample it was observed that the predominant frame in the two time periods changed. The frame of attribution of responsibility was the most used in the first period and the frame of conflict in the second. Variations in the use of frames were also observed depending on the newspaper, the year of publication, the subject matter and the subjects involved.