General practice as seen by French newspapers: crisis, nothing but crisis!

Context. The poor attractiveness of general practice, observed among students and practitioners, may generate inequalities in healthcare access and a drop in the quality of care. Objective. To analyse the image of general practice and general practitioners conveyed by the mainstream press. Methods. Documentary study of the four most widely read French generalist newspapers: Liberation, Le Monde, Le Figaro, Le Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France. A thematic analysis has been performed using the NVivo software. Results. The analysis of 348 articles published during the year 2010 shows that the press has a superficial and rather negative view of general practice, reduced to a double crisis. On the one hand, it reports a general sense of misunderstanding between by society and general practitioners, indicating an identity crisis. On the other hand, it presents a crisis of national regulations related to inadequate medical training, to a constraining and poorly valued exercise, to an alarming demographic situation, and to the numerous conflicts generated by an growing regulatory framework. Conclusion. The scope (diversity) and depth (complexity) of general practice are underestimated and expertise of general practitioners is insufficiently recognized. Solutions to overcome the crisis are poorly relayed by the press.