The influence of social media on the agenda-setting of health journalism

The emergence of social media has revolutionized the paradigm of information and the construction of news. Different studies identify the Internet as a source of information highly regarded by journalists. The objective of our research is to determine the importance of social media in the agenda-setting. This objective aims to know if the immediacy of social media determines the agenda-setting on health journalism in Spain, or if it is still delimited by traditional media. We also seek to find out if journalists establish differences in social networks depending on the type of organization. After implementing a survey of 1232 Spanish journalists, we determined that social media are not a primary source of information. Given the time invested in its use, it can be confirmed that the results support that in the current practice of health journalism, social media are considered as a tool present in the daily journalistic exercise, although they are not a sufficiently consolidated source of information to be considered a primary source.