The mainstream media exercises considerable influence on how people understand health issues, thus affecting everyday practices. Public health, Brazilian National Health System (SUS) and, particularly, primary health care receive little coverage in the media. With the aim of bridging this gap, the medical TV series “Unidade Básica” (“Care Center”) was broadcast in 2016. This study investigates strengths and weakness in the dialogue between public health and communication in the mainstream media, based on the program “Unidade Básica”. We conducted a comprehensive qualitative interpretive study in which the lead author was a participating observer. The data were interpreted in the light of key concepts in primary care and public health. The findings show that some concepts were potentializedtexttext during the series creation process, while others were especially challenging from a communication point of view, particularly the concept of comprehensiveness.
Keywords
Primary health care; Health communication; Audiovisual media; The Media; Comprehensive care