Unidentified Sources, Unlegitimated Women Experts
Journalistic Quality and Gender Perspective in Science Journalism on TikTok by News Media in Argentina and Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35362/issn.1850-0013-1181Keywords:
science journalism, TikTok, journalistic quality, gender perspective, women expertsAbstract
This article analyses how the main news media in Argentina and Spain approach science journalism on TikTok and to what extent they incorporate journalistic quality and a gender perspective. Through a content analysis of posts published in November 2025 by eight leading accounts (N=1818), the relative prominence of science on the agenda was identified. Three indicators were applied to the sub-corpus of science videos (N=196): the Journalistic Quality Index (ICP-10), the Gender Perspective Index (IPG-5) and the Combined Index (ICP-G). The results show that science occupies a minor place, although some content, particularly that linked to health, achieves significant circulation in metrics such as shares and saves. The main quality shortfall lies in the use of sources, as well as in their attribution and verifiability, as they do not identify the origin of the information, resort to vague references or fail to provide accessible citations. From a gender perspective, female experts appear infrequently and, when they do, their credentials, specialism or institutional affiliation are not always made explicit. The findings highlight the need to strengthen transparency and the attribution of sources to promote more reliable public access to scientific information and greater public visibility of female scientists as legitimate voices in the digital public sphere.
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