Facilitators of participation in the debate on social policies through the media

Abstract

With their content, news media influence public opinion on matters of social policy. These media are yet another arena of political action for social workers, who are called by the values of the profession to advocate for better social policies for the welfare of society. This research aimed to explore the involvement of social workers in the public debate through the media in Puerto Rico. An exploratory design with mixed sequential method was used; during the qualitative phase, semi-structured deep interviews were conducted with 12 social workers to understand the factors that encourage participation. Discourse analysis highlighted aspects related to socialization and interaction with the media, such as self-perception, motivation, academic degree, expertise, leadership, guild support, media management skills, and availability.