Covid19 changed the entire spectrum of health reporting: SPAG Study

Team L&M

According to over 40 health editors and journalists across four continents, health reporting will change permanently, but conversations around digital healthcare technologies are increasingly taking centre stage across key Asian markets, including India, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines among others. These are insights released in a report titled Global Media Trends on Health Topics 2021  by SPAG in collaboration with Baird’s CMC.

While COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the news for two years, the report looked at whether this domination will continue in 2022 and with vaccination coverage increasing worldwide, what the health media landscape will be like in the coming years.

As a part of the global network of communications consultancies Baird’s CMC, SPAG worked with firms across the globe to interview 40+ health journalists and editors across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe to understand health media trends. SPAG along with Alfa Communications, Fundamento, Havas PR and Hyderus conducted these interviews.

A trend that emerged through the report was that at the moment, stories covering health and big themes should be linked to COVID else they do not get the desired reach. The report also highlights how readers, viewers and social media community members increasingly interested in science, epidemiology and R&D.

As per the findings of this report, Singapore and Asia are expected to see a significant spike in conversations around digital healthcare technologies, global public health, infectious diseases and NCDs. However, other parts of the world will focus on COVID-19 variants, vaccines benefits, impact, accessibility and acceptance as well as universal health coverage.