Truls Strand Offerdal

• Offerdal, Truls Strand (2026). Demokrati mot demokrati – konkurrerende forestillinger om demokrati i klimakampen. In Rasmussen, Terje; Heldal, Janicke & Bjørkdahl, Kristian (Ed.), Forestillinger om demokrati. En norsk topografi.. Scandinavian University Press (SCUP). ISSN 9788215075464. p. 217–242. doi: 10.18261/9788215075464-26-09. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Dette kapittelet undersøker konkurrerende bruk av begrepet demokrati. I forbindelse med blokader og forstyrrende former for politisk aktivisme kritiseres gjerne aktivistenes metoder for å stride mot demokratiske prinsipper, eller til og med for å være antidemokratiske. Samtidig påberoper de samme aktivistene seg nettopp demokratiske rettigheter som rettferdiggjøring for sine metoder. Konkret undersøker kapittelet hvordan disse konfliktene rundt demokratibegrepet spiller ut når det kommer til Extinction Rebellions (XR) aksjoner i Norge. Kapittelet tar for seg ulike forestillinger om demokrati, slik disse kommer til uttrykk i interne tekster fra XRs nyhetsbrev samt fra offentlige uttalelser både fra XR og kritikere av organisasjonen i tradisjonelle medier. Kapittelet diskuterer så hvordan begrepet demokrati også må forstås retorisk, som noe som mobiliseres som del av en konflikt rundt vilkårene og rammene for politisk deltakelse.

• Hidle, Charlotte & Offerdal, Truls Strand (2026). Problemet med virkeligheten : Hvordan forske på sakprosa i en post-digital tekstkultur. In Bjordal, Sine Halkjelsvik; Bjørkdahl, Kristian & Hidle, Charlotte (Ed.), Sak. Prosa. Forskning.. Cappelen Damm Forskning. ISSN 9788202921316. p. 249–272. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Central to Johan Tønnesson’s widely used definition of sakprosa is the premise of such texts as direct representation of reality. The connection appears natural, and the definition was at the time a necessary expansion of the original definition of sakprosa as a type of style. In this chapter we argue that changes in both text culture and the technology for producing and circulating text destabilize this connection to reality. With the established research field on sakprosa as a point of departure, we discuss some central changes and challenges sakprosa, as an analytical concept, faces in today’s post-digital media reality. We further explore this through three short cases: a Russian disinformation campaign, long unedited interview podcasts, and commercial institutes publishing public reports. These illustrate the kinds of questions and phenomena the concept of sakprosa struggles to encompass. Finally, we argue that the intricate relation between texts and reality should be regarded as a central research object, rather than being a premise.

• Offerdal, Truls Strand & Ihlen, Øyvind (2025). Norway : Culture as Crisis Resource: Trust and Compliance during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In Sriramesh, Krishnamurthy (Eds.), Global Cases in Crisis Communication: A Socio-Cultural Approach - 1st. Taylor & Francis. ISSN 9781003536291. p. 56–71. doi: 10.4324/9781003536291-4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, governments and public health authorities of the world responded differently, partly conditioned by the socio-cultural context.

• Offerdal, Truls Strand & Ihlen, Øyvind (2025). Negotiating Coordination and Freedom of Speech: Challenges for Strategic Communication. In Dühring, Lisa; Krebber, Felix; Melzer, Anne; Seiffert-Brockmann, Jens & Oliveira, Evandro (Ed.), Kommunikation als Strategie. Springer Gabler. ISSN 9783658483043. p. 77–86. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-48305-0_5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This essay examines the debate on unified versus polyphonic communication in organizations, particularly during crises. While a singular voice is often seen as essential for consistent messaging, allowing multiple voices can enhance participation and critique as well as ensure the freedom of speech of organizational members. Focusing on the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) during the COVID-19 pandemic, the analysis highlights the challenges of balancing coordinated messaging with the freedom of speech among the research staff. The NIPH’s unique position as a public bureaucratic entity underscores the need for effective negotiation strategies regarding this challenge. Key strategies discussed include managing official and unofficial communications and a policy requiring employees to alert the management before voicing criticism of the institute’s public position. This exploration offers insights into navigating communication challenges during periods of uncertainty.

• Tønnesson, Johan Laurits & Offerdal, Truls Strand (2025). Maskiner som tenker og sirkulerer i offentligheten. En undersøkelse av en norsk boksuksess i demokratisk perspektiv. Sakprosa. ISSN 1502-6000. 17(1). doi: 10.5617/sakprosa.11529. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  En antakelse bak de offentlige innkjøpsordningene for sakprosa i Norge er at litterær sakprosa er særlig viktig for å sørge for den åpne og opplyste offentlige samtalen som Grunnlovens § 100 gir Staten ansvar for å legge til rette for. Samtidig vet vi at lesemønstre og strukturer for den offentlige samtalen er under endring. I denne artikkelen undersøker vi en case, Inga Strümkes Maskiner som tenker (2023), med tanke på denne bokas betydning for offentlig debatt og felles kunnskapsutvikling. Casen er valgt fordi denne boka har utmerket seg både i mengden omtale og i salgstall, i tillegg til at den har vært høyt vurdert av kritikerne. Vår undersøkelse bygger på en kvalitativ tilnærming, hvor vi legger til grunn at sakprosa sirkulerer bredt innenfor en økologi av arenaer og deloffentligheter. Følgelig intervjuer vi informanter som har vært involvert, dels i utgivelsen og dels i bruken av boka, innenfor ulike sektorer. Dette kombineres med eksempler fra mediedekning og forfatterens promotering. Til sammen lar dette oss kartlegge hvordan en bok som Maskiner som tenker (Strümke, 2023) er virkningsfull på en lang rekke områder, samtidig som det øker forståelsen av hvordan sakprosaens sirkulasjon i samfunnet kan bygge på et bredt sirkulasjonsbegrep, heller enn på rene lesertall.

• Offerdal, Truls Strand (2024). A limit to how much you can plan – planned and improvised strategic communication during COVID-19. Corporate Communications. An International Journal. ISSN 1356-3289. doi: 10.1108/CCIJ-02-2023-0016. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose This paper investigates the relationship between prior planning and the practical adaptation and improvisation conducted by organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic through a qualitative case study of Norwegian Public Health Institutions. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on a unique set of qualitative data, interviews and field observations, gathered from organizations during an ongoing crisis. Through this access it becomes possible to examine how organizations practically navigated the complex relationship between structured plans and the situational, short term forms of crisis communication. Findings The paper finds that prior plans played a key role as points of reference, and as a prior set of principles that could be drawn on during a crisis. Organizations did however have to adapt and respond to the crisis in ways that could not have been designed in advance. In order to do so employees would deliberate and discuss in search of a fitting response that could help them in reaching their goals. Originality/value The paper builds on prior work that has discussed limitations and challenges to planning and linear approaches in crisis communication and strategic communication, but provides empirical insight into how members of organizations navigate this work in practice. By employing theories from rhetoric it provides a framework for the further study of crisis communication as a practical ongoing activity, and provides some suggested implications for how organizations can prepare increase crisis preparedness.

• Berge, Kjell Lars; Kaasa, Janicke S.; Tønnesson, Johan Laurits & Offerdal, Truls Strand (2024). Den litterære sakprosaen - en begynnende og utforskende avgrensning av et fagfelt. Sakprosa. ISSN 1502-6000. 16(4). doi: https:/journals.uio.no/sakprosa/issue/view/948. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I denne artikkelen presenteres det forfatterne har valgt å kalle en utforskende oversikt over forskningslitteratur om de fenomenene som Johan L. Tønnesson i Hva er sakprosa (2008/2012) omtaler som «litterær sakprosa». Arbeidet med forskningsoversikten har bekreftet at den litterære sakprosaen i oppsiktsvekkende liten grad er studert vitenskapelig. En viktig årsak kan være at sakprosaen betraktet som «litteratur» ikke later til å ha vært prioritert i noen etablerte forskningsmiljøer, slik som litteraturvitenskap eller medievitenskap. En manglende konsensus om hva denne typen tekster skal kalles, kan forklares med denne svake institusjonelle forankringen for sakprosaforskningen. På bakgrunn av denne situasjonen har forfatterne kalt denne forskningsoversikten «begynnende» og «utforskende». «Begynnende» fordi dette arbeidet har vist at det finnes svært få tilgjengelige forskningsoversikter som prioriterer «litterær sakprosa». «Utforskende» fordi forfatterne legger til grunn at oversikten skal etablere en slags state of the art for forskningen på litterær sakprosa. Forfatterne tar utgangspunkt i norsk og delvis nordisk forskning, men inkluderer også to relativt nylig (i 2024) publiserte internasjonale forskningsoversikter med forankring i forskningsmiljøer i henholdsvis Europa og USA.

• Ihlen, Øyvind; Kjeldsen, Jens Elmelund & Offerdal, Truls Strand (2024). Handling protracted crises: Communication challenges, constraints and opportunities. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management. ISSN 0966-0879. 32(3). doi: 10.1111/1468-5973.12589. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Recent research on crisis communication has focused on the challenges of complex and protracted crises. In this essay, it is argued that such crises must be handled communicatively by putting the communication challenges, constraints and opportunities at the centre. To this end, the combination of the notions of the rhetorical situation and kairos is suggested as a keystone that provides a bottom-up, context-sensitive approach needed to cope with the fluid and changing situations of such crisis. Importantly, the life cycle of a protracted crisis can not only be understood in terms of physical factors (e.g., infection rates in a pandemic) but is also formed through the public's perceptions and the communicative choices of crisis communicators calling for action to mitigate or end a crisis. The rhetorical situation and kairos highlight the importance of spatial temporality, the uniqueness of the situations and the constitutive dimension of communication in a crisis. This implies the identification of the opportune moments to present a response and recognising the important ‘spaces’ between typical crisis situations.

• Offerdal, Truls Strand; Ihlen, Øyvind; Just, Sine Nørholm & Rasmussen, Joel (2022). “We Do Not Have Any Further Info to Add, Unfortunately”–Strategic Disengagement on Public Health Facebook Pages. International Journal of Strategic Communication. ISSN 1553-118X. 16(3), p. 499–515. doi: 10.1080/1553118X.2022.2041021. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  During the COVID-19 pandemic, communication with the public has been a central concern for state actors. One important question has been how to best use social media to ensure the sufficient uptake of their advice and recommendations to the public. With regard to such strategic communicative aims, a significant amount of attention has been previously devoted to the engagement, interaction, and dialogic forms of strategic communication on social media. This paper, however, focuses on an aspect that has not been discussed much in the literature: the need an organization might have to disengage due to a lack of resources or when a conversation has stalled. Using the communication that Scandinavian public health authorities carried out through their Facebook pages as cases, this paper employs a thematic analysis of the associated posts and qualitative interviews with employees to argue that these institutions use three disengagement strategies: 1) contradiction, 2) meta-discursive disengagement, and 3) disengagement through sympathy/empathy. Based on this, we consider the strategic potential of disengagement and discuss whether disengagement strategies can be considered legitimate tools for public health organizations’ crisis communication that can allow them to achieve the dual aim of ensuring citizens’ support for and compliance with authorities’ recommendations.

• Ihlen, Øyvind; Just, Sine N.; Kjeldsen, Jens Elmelund; Mølster, Ragnhild; Offerdal, Truls Strand & Rasmussen, Joel [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2022). Transparency beyond information disclosure: strategies of the Scandinavian public health authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Risk Research. ISSN 1366-9877. 25(10), p. 1176–1189. doi: 10.1080/13669877.2022.2077416. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The concept of transparency has been problematized in risk research. This exploratory study contributes to the risk literature by considering an established three-dimensional transparency framework (information substantiality, accountability, and participation) and discussing the opportunities for and challenges to risk communication in relation to the framework. Furthermore, we examine the strategies of Scandinavian health authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic and the different levels of public trust in these authorities. In general, Norwegian authorities received higher levels of trust than their Swedish and Danish counterparts. We argue that this was partly due to differences in transparency management. Our findings support the importance of the three transparency dimensions and indicate that transparency regarding uncertainties positively impacts levels of trust.

• Offerdal, Truls Strand; Just, Sine Nørholm & Ihlen, Øyvind (2021). Public Ethos in the Pandemic Rhetorical Situation: Strategies for Building Trust in Authorities’ Risk Communication. Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (JICRCR). ISSN 2576-0017. 4(2), p. 247–270. doi: 10.30658/jicrcr.4.2.3. Full text in Research Archive

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• Ihlen, Øyvind; Just, Sine Nørholm; Kjeldsen, Jens Elmelund; Mølster, Ragnhild; Offerdal, Truls Strand & Rasmussen, Joel [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2024). Navigating pandemic phases: Public health authority communication during COVID-19 in Norway. Nordicom. ISBN 9789189864030. 238 p. doi: 10.48335/9789189864047. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  During a pandemic, the advice issued by public health authorities undergoes significant scrutiny, potentially affecting public adherence to recommended measures. Trust and trustworthiness become key. This book analyses the rhetorical strategies of the Norwegian public health authorities as the COVID-19 pandemic moved through phases that presented different rhetorical problems and challenges. Many consider the Norwegian response successful, making it a particularly interesting case. Adopting an organisation-focused viewpoint, the analysis examines communication strategies through a dataset collected as the pandemic evolved. This included observations within communication departments of the main public health agencies during March and April 2020. The study offers five key insights: 1) A pandemic rhetorical situation has changing constraints and opportunities that influence the agency of the rhetor and necessitates bottom-up, continuing situational analysis and attention to perceptions; 2) The notion of “the rhetorical situation” conceptualises different phases that “bleed” into each other; 3) Trust and trustworthiness are negotiated through specific rhetorical strategies; 4) Transparency is the most crucial strategy; 5) Authorities used a combination of invitational rhetoric, providing a role for the citizens to willingly contribute to curbing the virus, and imperative form through simple directives that citizens were expected to follow.  The primary audience for this book is scholars and practitioners within crisis communication. The book is written by a team from the “Pandemic Rhetoric” project, financed by the Research Council of Norway, consisting of Øyvind Ihlen (University of Oslo), Sine Nørholm Just (Roskilde University), Jens E. Kjeldsen (University of Bergen), Ragnhild Mølster (University of Bergen), Truls Strand Offerdal (University of Oslo), Joel Rasmussen (Örebro University), and Eli Skogerbø (University of Oslo). 

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• Ihlen, Øyvind; Offerdal, Truls Strand; Kjeldsen, Jens Elmelund; Just, Sine Nørholm & Rasmussen, Joel (2025). Tillit og kommunikasjon i krisetider: Lærdom fra pandemihåndteringen. Kommunikasjonsforeningen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I den nylig utgitte boka “Navigating Pandemic Phases” har vi analysert hvordan norske helsemyndigheter gikk fram under nettopp koronapandemien. De negative langtidseffektene og den juridiske håndteringen diskuteres fortsatt. På tillitsfronten ga likevel et flertall av nordmenn tommelen opp til myndighetene gjennom så å si hele pandemien. Måten myndighetene kommuniserte på bidro til etterlevelse av smitteråd og at spredningen ble kontrollert. I boka ser vi nærmere på hvordan troverdighet ble samskapt, når for eksempel eksperter var uenige med myndighetene.

• Kaasa, Janicke S.; Tønnesson, Johan Laurits & Offerdal, Truls Strand (2024). Maskiner som tenker som deliberativt bidrag. Full text in Research Archive
• Offerdal, Truls Strand (2021). Hva har det ikke vært lov til å snakke om under pandemien? Er det deler av forskningen vi ikke har kunne dele og diskutere fritt, i frykt for å bli oppfattet som konspirasjonsteoretikere? Full text in Research Archive

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