Exploring media portrayals of coastal wildlife illnesses and death in Peru through The LISTEN method: An integrative content and network analysis of big qualitative data

Background: Mass media play a critical role in shaping public perceptions and responses to environmental health crises. Coastal avian mortality events in Peru have been widely reported in the mass media, but the framing of these events and their implications for public mental health remain underexplored. This study examines how Peruvian news media frame coastal wildlife mortality events, identifies dominant narratives, and assesses their potential impact on public understanding and emotional responses to ecological emergencies.Methods: We employed the LISTEN method, a structured approach integrating digital text analysis with stakeholder discussions and qualitative content analysis. From an initial dataset of 1,113 Peruvian news articles, we selected 80 articles that explicitly referenced mass wildlife mortality in coastal regions. Our study utilised both computational text analysis (using InfraNodus) and collaborative thematic coding.Findings: News articles primarily framed wildlife mortality events through human-centric lenses, emphasising zoonotic threats to the human population over ecological concerns. Government responses were frequently focused on preventing the spread of infections, limiting broader ecological discussions. However, the public did worry about the animals’ wellbeing, and experts cautioned about the implications of these events for biodiversity loss.Conclusion: Our analysis highlights how media framing can shape public discourse around environmental health crises. By prioritising anthropocentric narratives, news coverage may limit broader ecological understanding and public engagement with complex environmental challenges. Our findings underscore the need for more nuanced, balanced reporting that integrates ecological perspectives with context-rich crisis communication to foster a deeper public understanding of environmental crises.