ABSTRACT
The following is a brief introduction to the themed issue on pandemic communication. In this issue, various pieces are presented. Each piece in this issue explores the notion of how communication relates to the pandemic in different ways.
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most significant medical/health, economic, political, social, and cultural events in history.Footnote1 According to the World Health Organization,Footnote2 as of July 2023 more than 767 million people have been infected with COVID-19, and nearly 7 million people have died from the virus. Throughout the pandemic, and in its aftermath, the significance of communication cannot be understated. As communities went in and out of lockdowns, as vaccines were rolled out, as online tools such as Zoom and Teams became second nature, research on “communication” and “pandemic” soared. A Google Scholar search of “communication” and “COVID-19” found more than 3.7 million results in July 2023. There has been an exponential growth in research exploring the links between communication and the COVID-19 pandemic with numerous books,Footnote1,Footnote3,Footnote4,Footnote5 and journal articles exploring how communication relates (related) to the pandemic.
In 2023, Croucher and Diers-Lawson1 defined pandemic communication as a distinctive subdiscipline of communication that explores how pandemics influence: theorizing and methodological thinking, how communication research is translated for practical purposes, and how communication can help us understand the nature of pandemics. The authors specifically define pandemic communication as:
A unique communication environment that requires: (1) a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural, and multi-platform approach to communication; (2) convergence between political, health, socio-cultural, organizational, and crisis research; (3) theory development that does not abandon previous knowledge but does not merely assume that past theories will predict future events in a pandemic or post-pandemic context; and (4) that the pandemic, placed in its historic context as a global societal-event, requires a focus on communicating change. (p. 5)
MacKay et al.’s pieceFootnote6, “‘There Was a Lot of That [Coercion and Manipulation] Happening and Well, That’s Not Very Trustworthy’: A Qualitative Study on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada,” is a qualitative study using semistructured interviews to explore the public’s willingness to follow health recommendations. Specifically, this study explored the extent to which vaccine-hesitant Canadians trusted and believed in government messaging around COVID-19 vaccines. The results reveal the importance of developing trust among the public to avoid the escalation of misinformation and medical crises, such as vaccine avoidance. Other researchers working on public health communication in the Candian context have also discussed the importance of trust.Footnote7 This research is multi-disciplinary and calls for more effective communication to enact behavioral change.
Kitikamdhorn and Ramasoota’s piece, “COVID-19 Infodemic on Facebook: A Social Network Analysis in Thai Context,”Footnote8 fills multiple research gaps. This study explores the COVID-19 infodemic within the Thai context, which has not been unexplored. Additionally, the mixed-method approach used in this study, combining content, sentiment, and network analysis, shows the extent to which “information pollution” or misinformation about COVID-19 proliferated on Facebook. The results also reveal the importance of cultural influences in Thailand on Facebook related to misinformation, such as herbal medicines, showing the unique influences of culture on communication during the pandemic. As with other research in this themed issue, Kitikamdhorn and Ramasoota propose responses to combat this growing infodemic.
Iyer and Mochish’s article, “Pandemic Politics and the Safety of Journalists: Downward Spiral of Press Freedom in India,”Footnote9 also explores the COVID-19 infodemic. In their piece, Iyer and Mochish, through case-study analyses, examine the consequences of the COVID-19 infodemic on press freedom and journalistic safety in India. Their analysis shows how laws introduced in India to combat the spread of misinformation about the pandemic were instead used to stifle the truth and punish journalists and the media. This research brings together media, journalism, and social advocacy in its critique of political power and its communicative influence during the pandemic.
Egbunike’s mixed-method analysis, “The COVID-19 Storytelling Narratives of Nigerian Social Media Users,”Footnote10 further built on disinformation spread during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through digital ethnography, and a content analysis of social media messages on the COVID-19 pandemic, Egbunike examined the digital storytelling narratives of Nigerian social media users. While multiple themes emerged, some key themes showed digital storytellers trying to debunk disinformation and working to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria. Looking at the narratives through the lens of a journalist, the author argues such digital storytellers and narratives proved credible avenues for not only combating disinformation, but also proved to be credible news sources during the pandemic. This is an example of a growing body of research exploring the influence of communication on behavioral change during health crises in Nigeria.Footnote11,Footnote12
Abeldaño’ Zuñiga’s et al’s studyFootnote13, “Social Media Information and Its Association with the Adoption of COVID-19 Preventive Measures in Four Latin American Countries,” assessed the link between adherence to COV ID-19 preventive measures and access to media information linked to COVID-19 in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. This statistical analysis in four nations found that following information on social media was positively related to social distancing, self-isolation, use of face masks, handwashing, and working from home. The researchers argue that social media can be used effectively for behavioral modification in these Latin American nations. This study is one of many recent studiesFootnote14,Footnote15 in communication expanding our understanding of traditionally “U.S” centric theories into Latin America.
George et al.’s pieceFootnote16 explores what support students sought during the pandemic to cope with the crisis. Through a statistical analysis examining social support and communication privacy management, the research team found: (1) students were aware of resources available and used those resources, (2) students disclosed health-related information to their parents, and (3) students were also willing to seek support from their friends. The researchers discuss how universities/colleges can further institutional social support to assist students in times of crisis, such as pandemics. Providing ways to further enhance support-seeking behaviors and to help universities improve mental and physical health shows the practical nature of this piece.
BasuThakur and De’s pieceFootnote17 explored the various factors employed by the Indian government and media in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through their analysis, the authors argue that government messaging/communication strategies were largely instructional in nature, with a macrolevel focus. The media on the other hand portrayed the government as a critical and powerful social actor who diminished the voices of others working to manage the crisis. Throughout the analysis, the authors describe the tension between governmental and media communication strategies in terms of crisis management.
Finally, Elers, Jayan, and Dutta’sFootnote18 “Foregrounding Digital Realities at the Locked Down Raced Margins: A Culture-Centered Case Study in Aotearoa” examines digital inequalities and the effects of these inequalities among low-income ethnic minorities in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Drawing from 37 in-depth interviews among Afghan refugee women, the researchers describe how digital technologies both helped and hindered the community. Such technologies provided easier means for social connection while at the same time (re)producing communication inequalities and marginality as many people struggled to access information and technologies for a multitude of reasons. This work illustrates the intricate relationship between digital technologies, hesitancy to adopt preventive behaviors, culture, and structure.
These pieces each expand our understanding of communication, the COVID-19 pandemic, and “pandemic communication.” Each piece is methodologically, theoretically, and contextually unique. I hope you enjoy reading these pieces as much as I have enjoyed working with the authors to get them published. As always, I encourage you to reach out to the authors if you have any questions, would like to build on their work, or would like to dialogue with them in a culture of scholarly communication.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Stephen Croucher and Audra Diers-Lawson, Pandemic Communication (New York: Routledge).
2 World Health Organization, WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard, https://covid19.who.int.
3 Monique Lewis, Eliza Govender, and Kate Holland, Communicating COVID-19: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (London: Palgrave Macmillan).
4 Darren Lilleker, Ioana A Coman, Milos Gregor, and /Edoardo Novelli, Political Communication and COVID-19: Governance and Rhetoric in Times of Crisis (New York: Routledge).
5 H Dan O’Hair and Mary J O’Hair, Communicating science in times of crisis: COVID-19 pandemic (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell).
6 Melissa MacKay, Abhinand Thaivalappil, Jennifer E McWhirther, Daniel Gillis, and Andrew Papadopoulos, “‘There was a Lot of That [Coercion and Manipulation] Happening and Well, That’s Not Very Trustworthy’: A Qualitative Study on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada,” Review of Communication 23, no. 3 (2023): 165–182.
7 Maya Lowe, Shawn H. E. Harmon, Ksenia Kholina, Rachel Parker, and Janice E. Graham, “Public Health Communication in Canada During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Canadian Journal of Public Health 113, no. 1 (2022): 34-45. https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-022-00702-z
8 Abhibhu Kitikamdhorn and Pirongrong Ramasoota, “COVID-19 Infodemic on Facebook: A social network analysis in Thai context,” Review of Communication 23, no. 3 (2023): 183–209.
9 Sanviti Iyer and KS Mochish, “Pandemic, Politics and the Safety of Journalists: Downward Spiral of Press Freedom in India,” Review of Communication 23, no. 3 (2023): 210–227.
10 Nwachukwu Egbunike, “The COVID-19 Storytelling Narratives of Nigerian Social Media Users,” Review of Communication 23, no. 3 (2023): 228–246.
11 Vivianne Ihekweazu, et al., “Implementing an Emergency Risk Communication Campaign in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria: Lessons Learned,” BMJ Global Health 7, no. 6 (2022): eoo8846. https://doi.org/10.1136.bmjgh-2022-008846
12 Mohammed Sadiq, Stephen Croucher, and Debalina Dutta, “COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Content Analysis of Nigerian YouTube Videos,” Vaccines 11, no. 6 (2023): 1057. https:/doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11061057
13 Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga, et al., “Social Media Information and Its Association with the Adoption of COVID-19 Preventive Measures in Four Latin American Countries,” Review of Communication 23, no. 3 (2023): 247–262.
14 Stephen Croucher, Thao Nguyen, Doug Ashwell, Anthony Spencer, Tatiana Permyakova, and Oscar Gomez, “COVID-19 Prejudice Towards Afro-Brazilians,” Journal of Intercultural Communication Research 51, no. 4 (2022): 383–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2021.1957702
15 Benjamin R Bates, Adriana Villegas-Botero, Jaime A Costales, Ana L Moncayo, Adriana Tami, Ana Carvajal, and Mario J. Grijalva, “COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Three Latin American Countries: Reasons Given for Not Becoming Vaccinated in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela,” Health Communication 37, no. 12 (2022): 1465–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2022.2035943
16 Ashley George et al., “Institutional and Network Social Support During COVID-19: A Case Study of One University’s Students and Their Support-Seeking Behaviors,” Review of Communication 23, no. 3 (2023): 263–275.
17 Priyam BasuThakur and Sangita De, “Government Communication Strategy and Its Reflection on Media Construction of Pandemic: A Structured Analysis of COVID-19 in India,” Review of Communication 23, no. 3 (2023): 276–292.
18 Phoebe Elers, Pooja Jayan, and Mohan Dutta, “Foregrounding Digital Realities at the Locked Down Raced Margins: A Culture-Centered Case Study in Aotearoa,” Review of Communication 23, no. 3 (2023): 293–307.