New Doctoral Research Advances MediaLab’s Work on Health Communication and Disinformation

Recently, a doctoral thesis developed with funding from MediaLab’s Health Communication Project was successfully defended, reinforcing MediaLab’s continued commitment to advancing research and scholarly training in the field of health communication.

The dissertation, entitled “The Media Construction of Narratives in Political Crises with Scientific and Health Foundations in the Age of Disinformation: An Analysis Through News Agency Journalism During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” was authored by Dr. Esperanza Herrero and supervised by Professor Carlos Elías, a senior member of MediaLab. The examination panel highlighted the novelty and relevance of the work, particularly praising its innovative focus on news agencies as key actors in shaping media narratives during health-related political crises.

This research forms part of MediaLab’s broader agenda in communication and media analysis. The Health Communication Project, which partially funded the thesis, is one of several initiatives currently being implemented by MediaLab in Spain and is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, underscoring the group’s sustained commitment to producing rigorous and socially relevant research.