About the project
The research project "Rhetoric about pandemics: Risk communication in a changing media landscape" (PAR) was set up to analyze communication about the risk of a pandemic. With the outbreak of COVID-19, the project gained a frightening topicality.
For the public health authorities, tasked with formulating and coordinating a public response to a pandemic like COVID-19, the rhetorical challenge of responding adequately shape-shifted throughout the pandemic, constituting different conditions for such a response. At the outset, the main question was: How do you get people to pay attention and take precautions when there is “just” a risk of a new pandemic? When a pandemic was declared: How do you get people to comply with recommendations? How do you avoid panic? How do you tackle uncertainty? When the pandemic went through ebbs and flows: How do you maintain vigilance and prevent people from getting tired? When a vaccine arrived: How can people be assured about its benefits and safety? And when the pandemic ended: How do you determine it is over? How do you persuade people to return to normal? In responding to these challenges, the public health authorities had to contend with the risk that people might not comply with their recommendations, for instance, not staying at home when sick, thus exasperating the pandemic.
In the PAR project, we used literature from rhetoric, risk and crisis communication, trust research, and media studies to analyze the communication from Norwegian health authorities, and also made some comparisons with what happened in Sweden and Denmark.
Objectives
The purpose of the project was to contribute to understanding the rhetorical assumptions and challenges that changes in the media landscape and trust create for risk and crisis communication. Through a better understanding of these conditions, it is possible to formulate appropriate messaging strategies and choose the right communication channels.
Duration
01.05.2019-28.06.2024
Financing
SAMRISK, the Norwegian Research Council
Cooperation
The University of Bergen, University of Roskilde, University of Örebro