With chaos erupting over the sale of prescription medicines, Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga undoubtedly became the most talked-about minister in both traditional media and social media. The media monitoring and analysis company “Mediaskopas” decided to check how the number of mentions of ministers changed once the scandal began. During the first three weeks of November, the Health Minister was mentioned in 1,397 reports in the traditional media, accounting for as much as 25.7% of all minister mentions.
By comparison, in October A. Veryga was mentioned in 1,207 reports, accounting for 15.4%. Seeing such popularity for the Health Minister, one may wonder whether he managed to outshine perhaps the most frequently named politician in the media — Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis? Despite the fact that S. Skvernelis was mentioned in 2,051 reports in November, and A. Veryga in 1,397, Mediaskopas rankings show that A. Veryga can enjoy a significantly higher number of mentions within the articles themselves and in headlines than the other ministers, and even than the Prime Minister himself.
