The Role of the Press in the Controversy Over COVID-19 Death Counts in Chile

This study analyzes a controversy with major public and media impact in Chile, namely the dispute over the official death counts during the COVID -19 pandemic. From a Science and Technology Studies (sts) perspective, it seeks to open the black box of official figures in order to understand how death data were constructed, based on negotiations and disputes among actors with unequal power. As a contribution to this perspective, the research aims to make visible the role of the press in the controversy, since in sts scholarship it is usually understood as a stage for other actors or as a source of empirical material rather than as an actor in its own right. In the first stage, we mapped the controversy during the period between 24 April and 17 July 2020, identifying the main actors, the argumentative poles and the forms of closure of this dispute. Complementarily, we examined the coverage of the controversy in four Chilean digital news outlets by means of a content analysis of 66 articles published in that period. The findings distinguish the ways in which specific investigative journalists participated actively in the development and closure of the controversy, as well as the role of the press in making other actors visible. The analysis also shows the diversity of journalistic coverage, which takes a stance by privileging and prioritizing particular sources and actors.