Science under Covid-19’s magnifying glass: Lessons from the first months of the chloroquine debate in the French press

Abstract

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, all hopes are turned towards science. In this article, we put forward a qualitative analysis of how the French national press covered the issue of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine during the first months, with a focus on the descriptions of the scientific world. We show that during epidemic outbreaks the various tensions existing within the scientific world are more likely to be presented to the public. In their coverage of hydroxychloroquine, journalists shed light on a variety of aspects of contemporary medical research, ranging from the way scientists approach a given drug, the stages of research on medical treatments, the types of proofs used and the institutional make-up of biomedical research. But in doing so they also presented a series of tensions and disagreements which devolved into public accusations of scientific misconduct and anti-science behaviours.