Communicating COVID-19: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

✍ Scribed by Monique Lewis (editor), Eliza Govender (editor), Kate Holland (editor)

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 410
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book explores communication during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Featuring the work of leading communication scholars from around the world, it offers insights and analyses into how individuals, organisations, communities, and nations have grappled with understanding and responding to the pandemic that has rocked the world. The book examines the role of journalists and news media in constructing meanings about the pandemic, with chapters focusing on public interest journalism, health workers and imagined audiences in COVID-19 news. It considers public health responses in different countries, with chapters examining community-driven approaches, communication strategies of governments and political leaders, public health advocacy, and pandemic inequalities. The role of digital media and technology is also unravelled, including social media sharing of misinformation and memetic humour, crowdsourcing initiatives, the use of data in modelling, tracking and tracing, and strategies for managing uncertainties created in a pandemic.

✦ Table of Contents

Communicating COVID-19
Foreword
Preface
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Notes on Contributors
1: The Interdisciplinary Communication Dynamics of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Contextualising the COVID-19 Communication Response
Global Scholarship on the Communicative Narrative of COVID-19
Concluding Comments
References
Part I: News Media at the Coalface: Reporting COVID-19
2: The Pandemic and Public Interest Journalism: Crisis, Survival—and Rebirth?
Introduction
Locating Authors
Health Equity and Public Interest Journalism
Health in All Policies and Public Interest Journalism
Reimagining Public Interest Journalism
Conclusion
References
3: Reporting from the Front Line: The Role of Health Workers in UK Television News Reporting of COVID-19
Introduction
Communicating the Global Pandemic
The Research Project
Reporting from Hospitals and ICUs
Health Workers as Expert Sources
NHS Workers as Witnesses
ICU Coverage and Ethical Dilemmas
Conclusion
References
4: Mapping National News Reports on COVID-19 in Australia: Topics, Sources, and Imagined Audiences
Introduction
Biomediatisation and Biocommunicability
The Three Predominant Models of Biocommunicability
The Study
Findings
Topics
Sources in News Stories
Models of Biocommunicability
Discussion
The Waning of the Biomedical Authority Model?
Patient-Consumers Don’t Suit Pandemics: Public Health Citizens Do
Public Sphere as the Dominant Model for Pandemic Reporting
Conclusion
References
Part II: Communicating the Public Health Response
5: Communication Inequality, Structural Inequality, and COVID-19
Introduction
Hegemonic Pandemic Communication
Cognitivism as Whiteness
Absence of Structures
Erasure of Community Democracies
Culturally Centring Pandemic Communication
Addressing and Transforming Structures
Engaging Cultural Constructions
Co-creating Infrastructures for Collective Agency
Conclusion
References
6: Tailoring COVID-19 Communication for Local South African Contexts: Challenges, Contradictions, and Consequences of a Dominant Public Health Response
Introduction
Health Communication: Understanding the Science of Community Engagement
Challenges: Health Communication from a Public Health and Health-Promotion Perspective
Contradictions: The South African Government’s Public Health Response
Consequences: Physical Distancing in the Absence of Community-Informed Responses
The South African Government’s Community-Driven Approach
Community Responses to the COVID-19 Lockdown
Concluding Remarks: Glocalising Health Communication with Community Engagement
References
7: Disentangling Science and Ideology in a Rapidly Evolving Pandemic: Moments in the COVID-19 Maelstrom
Into the Unknown …
Yet Another Pandemic …
Immersion …
Networking
A Bit More Freedom …
Two Months in …
Heading Home …
References
8: Disability and Communication in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Introduction
COVID-19, Disability, and Communication Responses
Disability in COVID-19’s Digital Turn
Self-Representations of COVID-19 and Disability
Conclusion
References
9: Argumentum ad solidaritatem: Rhetorical Leadership Strategies in Scandinavia During COVID-19
Introduction
The Scandinavian Models
Solidarity
Social Division of Administrative Labour
Division of Labour as Solidarity
Conclusion
References
10: Underpinnings of Pandemic Communication in India: The Curious Case of COVID-19
Introduction
History of Pandemics and Epidemics in India
Access to Media and Health Risk Communication Messages
The Curious Case of COVID-19
Othering of the Disease
Narratives on Economics
Combatting Misinformation and Infodemic in Pandemic
Other Extraneous Factors
Conclusion
References
11: Analysis of the Government of Israel’s COVID-19 Health and Risk Communication Efforts: Between a Political-Constitutional Crisis and a Health Crisis
Pandemic Communication Strategies and Public Guidelines in Israel
Centralised Management
Fear-Based Strategy
Conflicting Guidelines
What Can Be Learned from the Communication of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel? Thoughts and Recommendations
The Issue of Trust
How Can Public Trust Be Built?
Risk Communication by Experts
Science-Based Public Guidelines
Cultural Accommodation and Avoidance of Stigmatising At-Risk Populations
Changing the Discourse Within the Health System and the Authorities Themselves
References
Part III: Citizens, Social Media, and Digital Technologies
12: Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories: Tracing Misinformation Trajectories from the Fringes to the Mainstream
Introduction
From Information Vacuum to Infodemic
From Obscure Origins to Front-Page News
Key Observations
The Immediate Impact of Conspiracist Sites Is Limited
Celebrities Can Become Superspreaders
‘Soft’ Newsbeats Are Journalism’s Weak Spot
Organic Networks Are Greater Amplifiers than Inauthentic Activities
Content Takedowns Work—But Only for Some Audiences
The Right Time to Respond to Misinformation and Disinformation Is … When?
References
13: Responding to Fake News: The Use of Facebook for Public Health Communication During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy
Introduction
Pandemic Communication, Social Media, and Fake News
Social Media and Pandemic Communication
A Look at the Digital Communication of the Public Health Sector in Italy
Fake News and Pandemic
Methodology
Data Collection and Coding Process
Categories of Analysis
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
References
14: ‘South Africa Laughs in the Face of Coronavirus’: Presidential Addresses, Face Masks, and Memetic Humour in South Africa
Introduction
The Presidential Addresses
The Rhetoric of Nationhood
The South African Twittersphere
Ridiculing the President
The ‘Mask Challenge’
Corona Humour and the Nation
References
15: Beijing’s Multi-Sector E-health Smart Crowdsourcing During COVID-19: Political, Economic, and Sociocultural Impacts
Introduction
Analytical Approach: Critical, Contextualised Methodology
Timeline of the Crowdsourcing Event
Building Beijing’s Online Medical Consulting Platform for Coronavirus
Reaching Out to Serve Domestic and Overseas Users
Key Players of the Crowdsourcing Event
Key Player 1: Professional Organisation as the Initiator
Key Player 2: Experts as the Intelligent Crowd
Experts Offering Livestream Sessions
Experts Offering Pre-recorded Video Sessions
Junior Physicians Answering Questions Submitted Online
Key Player 3: Technology Service Provider as the Innovation Intermediary
Baidu Health as a Newly Developed Platform
Creating Momentum Beyond the Smart Crowdsourcing Event
Integrating Resources and Aggregating Authoritative Content on One Portal
Multiple Co-building Partners: Integrating Existing Strengths in Solutions
Creating an Open Ecology and an Enabling Platform with Multiple Entry Points
Rhetoric of Smart Crowdsourcing
Altruism and Patriotism
Corporate Social Responsibility and Future-Oriented Strategy
Ethical Concerns, Privacy, and Accountability
Implications for Future Smart Crowdsourcing Endeavours
References
16: Uncertainty and Coping During COVID-19
Introduction
Experience of Uncertainty
Management of Uncertainty
Control What You Can (Control—Behavioural)
Advocate for Who You Can (Agency—Community)
Recognise Your Limitations (Control—Cognitive)
Elevate Who You Are With (Agency—Relational)
Managing Uncertainty in Close Relationships
Assumptions of the TRRL
Applying the TRRL to COVID-19
Conclusion
References
17: Monitoring the R-Citizen in the Time of COVID-19
Introduction
The Technologies of Tracing
Tracking a Pandemic
Taiwan and UK Technologies
Conclusion
References
18: Reflections on Communicating COVID-19: An Interdisciplinary and Ongoing Dialogue
Introduction
Communicating Pandemic Preparedness
Partnerships to Address Communication and Structural Inequalities
Opportunities for Future Research
References
Index