Contrastive analysis of crisis communication in the DACH region and Scandinavia on the example of the Covid-19 pandemic
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Autor:innen
Autor:in (Körperschaft)
Publikationsdatum
2023
Typ der Arbeit
Studiengang
Sammlung
Typ
06 - Präsentation
Herausgeber:innen
Herausgeber:in (Körperschaft)
Betreuer:in
Übergeordnetes Werk
Themenheft
DOI der Originalpublikation
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Reihe / Serie
Reihennummer
Jahrgang / Band
Ausgabe / Nummer
Seiten / Dauer
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Verlag / Herausgebende Institution
Verlagsort / Veranstaltungsort
Pamplona
Auflage
Version
Programmiersprache
Abtretungsempfänger:in
Praxispartner:in/Auftraggeber:in
Zusammenfassung
Problem, research purpose and relevance to media management scholarship
The study at hand discusses the following topics specified in the call #emmaLeeuwarden 2024: It outlines the quality of public and social media content addressing the societal and political challenges of the containment of the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings thus invite reflection on responsible leadership practices in media management by outlining contents, dissemination, and reception. The recent Covid-19 pandemic differed from other health emergencies due to its complexity and rapid evolvement and confronted public institutions worldwide with unprecedented challenges (Rubinelli et al., 2023). The scope and complexity are also reflected in the volume of research into a wide range of facets of communication on the pandemic. Research on the topical field ‘Covid-19 communication’ must be framed in a meaningful context that enables reflection, comparison, and interpretation of results.
The importance of effective crisis communication is confirmed. Communication can help to reduce anxiety and confusion among people and can enhance trust between various publics and health authorities (Varghese et al., 2021). Similarly, communication is essential for evoking awareness at a targeted public (Cooks et al., 2022; Prochaska, 2020). Effective communication can prevent or reduce societally undesirable outcomes of misinformation. In this argumentation, the role of public media and thus of responsible media management in the dissemination of information attains (further) relevance.
Research and analysis method
A concise form of qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2015) is deployed on empirical studies of facets of public communication on Covid-19. In addition, the procedure that includes inductive category development and deductive category application, is conducted regarding communication by various public (health) authorities and societal institutions.
Results: Contextualizing crisis communication on Covid-19 in the DACH region and Scandinavia
The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic are widespread illness, death, economic disruption, and healthcare challenges. The course of the Covid-19 pandemic and the deployed containment policies are described in the global, European, supra-regional, and national context. The course of the pandemic in DACH countries and Scandinavia shows similarities as well as significant differences.
The actors communicating during the pandemic can be charted as governmental institutions, experts, public health boards, media professionals, and other content creators, such as professed experts, and users generating online content. Other societal actors publicly discuss Covid-19 and containment.
The channels of communication are traditional news media, online and social media. The social (socialization, orientation, integration) and political (monitoring, warning, forum, activation) functions of established (news) media has evoked the distribution of information regarded as legitimate by media gatekeepers, and mandated sources prevailed for a certain (initial) period. In times of crises and an unusually strong need for orientation, people turn to readily available and ‘fast’ news sources (Van Aelst et al., 2021). ‘Alternative’ news media for various commercial and/or ideological reasons distribute (mis-) information also from other sources. Social media can (after adaptation) disseminate information of all sources, whereby the (reconfigured) output of traditional media constitutes a large share. In general, the social media content on the Covid-19 pandemic is from a public health perspective regarded as ambivalent. Social media may be used to interact with a large and / or specific audience quickly and easily. However, authorities deploy mainly one-directional communication (Ding & Zhang, 2010). Moreover, misinformation is rampant (Kouzy et al., 2020), social media communication is negatively associated with support for healthy behaviours (Friemel & Geber, 2022) and provide an arena for political instrumentalization (Bolsen & Palm, 2022).
Public authorities, institutions, organizations, associations, and panels mandated with containment of the pandemic inform to reach a variety of timely and situation-based goals by providing content. In contrast, many studies point at the salience of misinformation (Dhawan et al., 2021; Gisondi et al., 2022 ; Kricorian et al., 2022; Kim & Tandoc, 2022; Pierri et al., 2022; Seo & Faris, 2021; Song et al, 2021). Meta-analyses by de Saint Laurent et al. (2022) and Skafle et al. (2022) show that this problem is widespread, but misinformation can vary depending on the country, region, or even local community (Leuker et al., 2022).
The reception of communicated information on COVID-19 containment can vary significantly among individuals and communities. People process and respond to information based on their cognitive, emotional, and sociocultural factors (Barello et al., 2021; Paakkari & Okan, 2020; Seng et al., 2023).
The platform of the emma 2024 conference offers the welcome opportunity of an expert discussion on further elements of a contextualization of communication on Covid-19.
Schlagwörter
Fachgebiet (DDC)
330 - Wirtschaft
370 - Erziehung, Schul- und Bildungswesen
370 - Erziehung, Schul- und Bildungswesen
Veranstaltung
European Media Management Association Conference " Perspectives on Media Trust"
Startdatum der Ausstellung
Enddatum der Ausstellung
Startdatum der Konferenz
07.06.2023
Enddatum der Konferenz
09.06.2023
Datum der letzten Prüfung
ISBN
ISSN
Sprache
Englisch
Während FHNW Zugehörigkeit erstellt
Ja
Zukunftsfelder FHNW
Publikationsstatus
Begutachtung
Peer-Review des Abstracts
Open Access-Status
Lizenz
Zitation
VERHOEVEN, Marcel und Udo BOMNÜTER, 2023. Contrastive analysis of crisis communication in the DACH region and Scandinavia on the example of the Covid-19 pandemic. European Media Management Association Conference “ Perspectives on Media Trust“. Pamplona. 2023. Verfügbar unter: https://irf.fhnw.ch/handle/11654/48309