When news sounds certain but trust is fragile: lessons from Cyprus online media.
What is it about?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many news outlets encouraged vaccination. This study looks at how online news in Cyprus discussed vaccination and how these media narratives may have interacted with vaccine hesitancy. Using an intertextual approach (how texts reuse and combine other voices and sources) and focusing on polyphony (multiple voices in one narrative), we analysed how vaccination was presented as the route to a “return to normality.” The coverage was largely pro-vaccination, but it often privileged elite voices, especially scientific experts and politicians, more than citizens’ perspectives. This hierarchical voice structure can unintentionally undermine trust, especially among groups already sceptical of institutions. We also show how media used pre-legitimation processes: presenting vaccination as the necessary answer to feared future crises, while depicting unvaccinated people as a threat to society. These narratives aligned with technocratic discourse emphasising expertise while sidelining ordinary people’s positioning. In addition, rhetorical contradictions (for example, mixing scientific authority with religious appeals) may have added confusion rather than clarity.
Why is it important?
Because public health messaging succeeds not only through “more information,” but through credible, inclusive communication. This study shows how pro-vaccine discourse can still create distance and distrust if it repeatedly centres elites and marginalises citizen perspectives