How was the Covid-19 pandemic communicated in the Nordic countries? A new book, Communicating a Pandemic: Crisis Management and Covid-19 in the Nordic Countries, provides some answers to this question. We have asked a few of the authors of the book why their study is important and who can benefit from reading it.
With a group of editors representing four Nordic countries, Bengt Johansson (University of Gothenburg, Sweden), Øyvind Ihlen (University of Oslo, Norway), Jenny Lindholm (Åbo Akademi University, Finland), and Mark Blach-Ørsten (Roskilde University, Denmark), the new book published by Nordicom, Communicating a Pandemic: Crisis Management and Covid-19 in the Nordic Countries, examines crisis communication in the Nordic countries during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
By encompassing crisis responses from governments, public health authorities, lobbyists, corporations, news media, and citizens, the chapters reveal some similarities in political and governmental responses that highlighted solidarity and the need for exceptional measures, as well as in media coverage, which was mainly informative and relying on experts, rather than being critical. Surveys and interviews reveal how important news media was for citizens to cope with the crisis, but also that citizens mostly trusted both politicians and health authorities during the pandemic.
Below, we highlight a few of the chapters, with some contributors sharing why their study is important and who can benefit from reading it.
Chapter 4 – “Strategic Covid-19 management in communicational practice: At the crossroads to remain open or not in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden”
In this chapter, Joel Rasmussen (Örebro University), Øyvind Ihlen (University of Oslo), and Jens E. Kjeldsen (University of Bergen) examine strategy as shaped and made visible through government communication. In a comparison of the Scandinavian countries and the choice of whether to lock down during a critical period of the pandemic, March–April 2020, the chapter shows that it is significant that the countries’ administrations made different assessments of several things: 1) evidence-based requirements when the risk is uncertain; 2) economic effects of containment measures; 3) secondary effects on public health; 4) the dangerousness of the spread of the virus; and finally, 5) alignment with different national risk management histories.
Below, Joel Rasmussen shares why this chapter is important and who should read it:
Why is this study important?
- The chapter makes a unique contribution to Covid-19 research through its approach that strategy can be understood as action instead of just as a plan. In that sense, it also sheds new light on the Scandinavian countries’ different Covid-19 strategies in the spring of 2020.
Who could benefit from reading this chapter?
- This chapter can be usefully read by students, researchers, journalists, and communication professionals working with issues of community risk and safety, but also by members of the general public who would like to know more about Covid-19 management in Scandinavia.
Chapter 7 – “Communicating Covid-19 on social media: Analysing the use of Twitter and Instagram by Nordic health authorities and prime ministers”
In this chapter, Jenny Lindholm (Åbo Akademi University), Tom Carlson (Åbo Akademi University), Frederike Albrecht (Swedish Defence University), and Helena Hermansson (Swedish Defence University) examine how Nordic health agencies and prime ministers used social media during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. They look at the communication objectives in the messages and how these actors interacted with others in their social media posts.
Below, Jenny Lindholm shares why this chapter is important and who should read it:
Why is this study important?
- Social media is such an integral part of our everyday lives, and it plays a significant role within societies during crisis. Citizens turn to political leaders and authorities to make sense of the situation, and to get guidance and support.
Who could benefit from reading this chapter?
- This would be of interest to anyone interested in crisis communication and communication ecologies on social media.
Chapter 11 – “Vaccine rhetoric, social media, and dissensus: An analysis of civic discourse between Norwegian health authorities and citizens on Facebook and Twitter during crisis”
In this chapter, Jannicke Fiskvik, Andrea Vik Bjarkø, and Tor Olav Grøtan (all from SINTEF Digital) research communication during crisis on social media between health authorities and social media users. Using Norway as a case study, the authors analyse the discourse about Covid-19 vaccines on Facebook and Twitter.
Below, Jannicke Fiskvik shares why this chapter is important and who should read it:
Why is this study important?
- The study is important because it sheds light on social media dynamics during a prolonged crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, considering the increased digitalisation of society in which public debate increasingly take place online, our analysis provides insight into communication strategies and trust during crisis management.
Who could benefit from reading this chapter?
- The chapter will be interesting for emergency preparedness actors dealing with communication, social media researchers, and those in the general public who are interested in social media dynamics during the pandemic.
Chapter 15 – “Efficient authority communication in times of crisis: Examining how vulnerable language minorities experienced Covid-19 communication strategies in Finland, Norway, and Sweden”
In this chapter, Klas Backholm and Camilla Nordberg (both from Åbo Akademi University) conduct a secondary analysis of existing research to determine how vulnerable language minorities in Finland, Norway, and Sweden gathered their information about the crisis and experienced authorities’ information about the Covid-19 pandemic.
Below, Klas Backholm shares why this chapter is important and who should read it:
Why is this study important?
- More information about this topic is important since we know that there is a need to develop better strategies for reaching out with relevant and timely authority information about health-related crises, such as pandemics, to members of vulnerable language minorities. It is also important to have a broader understanding of how such information is used among minorities.
Who could benefit from reading this chapter?
- Authorities, NGOs, journalists, and other communication professionals working with vulnerable language minorities; citizen representatives among or working with vulnerable language minorities; and scholars focusing on the topic could all benefit.
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Picture by Fusion Medical Animation, via Unsplash