Critical analysis of online newspapers as a strategy for strengthening social workers’ situated interventions in a context of drought and water despoilment

Social workers addressing hydro-social issues can critically analyse online newspapers to understand the hydro-political situation and thus move towards situated social interventions. In this deductive-quantitative study, we analyse the discourses on drought, taking into account the influence of discursive power on water management. We review 810 news items published over a ten-year period in online newspapers from a part of Chile affected by a severe drought. The texts focus on institutions, climate change as a cause and the economic-productive sphere as the main field of action against drought. The news renders the most affected social subjects invisible and marginalises critical reflections on the conflicts associated with the defence of water. In this context, social workers can help improve the ways in which the community obtains information, promoting critical consciousness and a greater diversity of opinions and experiences.