Crisis Communication Case Studies on COVID-19

Individual

Individuals in crisis often use the knowledge they have gained from previous experiences to inform their responses. Those with prior experiences with natural disasters will, hopefully, be prepared for future ones, and also share their knowledge with those they encounter. Contributors in this section use the perspectives of individuals in the pandemic to inform their scholarship into seeking information, sharing messages, trying to survive without support systems, and coping with hardship, loss, and even death.

• • Chapter 2—When a Pandemic and an “Infodemic” Collide, Uncertainty Prevails: Misinformation & the COVID-19 Crisis

In this chapter, Anderson discusses the challenges created as information is distributed. A major finding of this case study is that people who regularly use social media were more likely to believe misinformation around COVID-19 health effects and claims. The author uses Uncertainty Management Theory and the Theory of Motivated Information Management to examine how social media users understood misinformation channels and sources.

• • Chapter 3—#AloneTogether: A Qualitative Content Analysis of a Hashtag Campaign Providing Support through the COVID-19 Mental Health Crisis

Freeman and Elton discuss the challenges of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and how people used the #AloneTogether campaign to connect and cope during isolation. Considering how social media has become an increasingly popular channel for disseminating mental health campaigns, given its global reach and cost-effectiveness, this campaign is a great example of the intersection of crisis communication and mental health campaign practices.

• • Chapter 4—“Like Putting Out Fires, While Running on a Treadmill That Was Also on Fire”: Working and Parenting in a Pandemic

In Chapter 4, Johnsen and Elkhalid discuss the challenges of parents who lost all support systems and were suddenly required to teach, entertain, and protect their children with very limited resources and support structures. By using the ideologies expressed in the work-to-home spillover research, the authors provide a case study of the cognitive blurring of boundaries between work and home responsibilities.

• • Chapter 5—Social Media Mourning: Dealing with Grief and Crisis Response Surrounding COVID-19

In this chapter, Moore discusses the challenges of death and grief and how the pandemic heightened those challenges, but also how it created a collective experience beyond family, community, and national boundaries. This case uses the Theory of Social Mourning as a lens to examine the collective experiences of those who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

Organizational

The Crisis Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) framework (Reynolds & Lufty, 2018; Reynolds & Seeger, 2005) has focused on how organizations, specifically the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, should respond to crises and disasters. While the primary purpose of crisis communication and applying this framework is to help organizations overcome crises and disasters, some studies focus exclusively on organizational response, thereby prioritizing—unintentionally— organizational response as the most important response. The cases presented in this section consider this level of response, as well as its shortcomings, constraints, and overlaps with other levels. In this way, the organizational section of this volume mirrors recent research, for example, in healthcare and crisis management which considers how emergency personnel often use dialogue to mediate the actions of others in critical situations—like a pandemic.

Additionally, this section provides a variety of frameworks for understanding the ways in which brand management and audience engagement can differ even when organizations are experiencing the same global crisis.

• • Chapter 6—COVID-19 and Higher Education: Navigating Ambiguity, Constraints, and Misplaced Optimism

Valiavska’s study examines the specific challenges of those working in higher education during the pandemic. The author examines the demonstrable negative impact on the lives and livelihood of members of historically marginalized communities as a result of the pandemic and how that was augmented on college campuses. The author acknowledged how different narratives emerged in different phases of the pandemic. The chapter also provides an approach to more inclusive practices in future health crises.

• • Chapter 7—Brand, Marketing, PR, and COVID-19

In Chapter 7, Schneider examines the ways that specific brands and organizations approached the pandemic. Using the lens of sponsorship, as well as congruence theory, the author presents a case study of digital approaches to marketing, public relations, brand management and other related fields during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

• • Chapter 8—Advertising as a Form of Public Health Education: An Analysis of the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative’s “It’s Up to You” Vaccination Awareness Campaign

Applequist and Abrahamsen examined the “It’s Up to You” COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign, which featured an integrated marketing communications approach, employing multiple platforms and materials. The chapter uses the Critical Advertising Studies Paradigm to examine how different types of advertising are a more appropriate fit for crisis and health campaigns.

• • Chapter 9—Seventeen Weeks: Fan Reactions to the NFL’s COVID-19 Protocols during the 2020 Season

Harrison and colleagues look at the response to COVID-19 by the NFL during the Fall 2020 season in Chapter 9. The authors examine the communications approaches of the NFL by using both Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) and Image Repair Theory.

Community and Regional

Many crises will impact specific groups, communities, or regions, and all individuals within those communities simultaneously. For instance, crises and disasters can influence the interpersonal relationships of all individuals within a community. That said, there can also be many differences in the experiences of individuals within communities, and public officials must be prepared to communicate effectively with various constituencies without frightening their constituents. This can mean different levels of engagement and varied approaches to these groups. Community leaders must educate without provoking harm whenever acts of terrorism, mass violence, natural or other disasters, and public health emergencies occur.

Additionally, community resilience and crisis planning models can focus on the roles, experiences, and identities held by specific groups. For example, during the pandemic, much emphasis was placed on the roles and experiences of first responders, medical professionals, and journalists. Similarly, the studies within this section examined the roles and experiences of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, Indigenous communities and others. In the modern era, communities can span beyond geographic borders, and messages are often tailored toward groups with different media preferences, trust, and levels of engagement.

• • Chapter 10—Coronavirus and Journalism: A Meta-analysis of Early Research on Journalism in the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this chapter, Perreault and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of journalism studies research of the COVID-19 published during the early stages of the pandemic in top-tier communication journals. The authors use Bourdieu’s Field Theory to understand how journalists thought about their work and how research framed the work of journalists in the pandemic. The study also draws attention to the habits of journalists and how they can inform their actions in future crises.

• • Chapter 11—More than Six Feet Apart: A Case Study of Urban and Rural Medical Professionals’ Responses to COVID-19

Chapter 11 looks at rural health practices and communication efforts of different hospitals based on their location. Richards and Bunn use the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Model (CERC) and a Grounded Theory approach to examine how the practices and challenges of these hospitals were communicated on social media.

• • Chapter 12—Is There a Difference? Generational Response to COVID and Media Usage

Reif-Stice and colleagues examine the divides between different generational groups during the pandemic and how they experienced the pandemic differently but also similarly through their media use. Using Uncertainty Management Theory, the authors identify some specific fragmentations and intersections in the media channels generational groups tapped into when seeking information about the COVID-19 pandemic.