Disappeared or hidden? Analysing the presence of social sciences and humanities in online versions of The Guardian, El País and Público

The traditional cover_issue_14_en_USdivision and hierarchy of the different areas of knowledge in the field of science has also been transferred to the study of science journalism, which has given priority to certain areas, and has shown a superior interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In this context, the objective of this study has been to analyze the presence of social sciences and humanities in online media, based on the idea that, given their characteristics, they are ideal tools for scientific journalism, since they allow the inclusion of new topics.

The results indicate that the presence of social sciences and humanities is less than that of hard sciences and increases one of every three pieces of information analyzed being history and economics as the most present topics. The data also indicate that the news on the social sciences and the humanities is to be used to a greater extent as sources of authority, with a more dispersed presence in different sections. On the contrary, the results of investigations in the areas of science, technology, engineering or mathematics have greater news value, and appear with greater frequency in the specific section of each media. Throughout, the prominence of social sciences and the humanities tends to be diluted in the pages of the media in relation to the rest of the scientific disciplines.

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