Pandemic Communication in Times of Populism: Building Resilient Media and Ensuring Effective Pandemic Communication in Divided Societies
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: Communication and Media
Abstract
Media serve as important sources of information about health, and their role increases during public health crises. The way media select and present information during a crisis can have a significant impact on public attitudes and behaviour; it can encourage social cohesion and compliance with public health measures, or alternatively saw division and distrust. The presence of populist leaders obstructs the capacity of media organisations to engage in effective health crisis communication. It fosters anti-elite sentiments, contributes to divisive media coverage, and thereby encourages polarized attitudes and distrust among citizens, making them more vulnerable to misinformation spreading through socio-digital networks. Given the growing appeal of populism globally, activities aimed at making our societies more resilient in the face of future pandemics urgently need a better understanding of how populism affects health crisis communication.
This project will develop the first comprehensive, comparative study of health crisis communication in the context of populist politics, bringing significant advances in knowledge at the intersection of political communication and public health. Research will examine the impact of populism on four aspects of the pandemic communication circuit during COVID-19: government-led health crisis communication, media policy, media coverage, and public attitudes. The fifth strand will take a transnational perspective and analyse how the interaction between populism and pandemic communication was shaped by China and Russia's pandemic geopolitics. The focus will be on four countries that were led by populist leaders during the pandemic, and which capture different types of populist responses to the pandemic: Brazil, Poland, Serbia, and the USA.
This research will inform recommendations aimed at building more resilient media organisations that are better equipped to withstand the challenges of future pandemics in divided societies. The recommendations will be developed and disseminated in collaboration with key organisations representing media regulators, communication professionals, and public service media.
This project will develop the first comprehensive, comparative study of health crisis communication in the context of populist politics, bringing significant advances in knowledge at the intersection of political communication and public health. Research will examine the impact of populism on four aspects of the pandemic communication circuit during COVID-19: government-led health crisis communication, media policy, media coverage, and public attitudes. The fifth strand will take a transnational perspective and analyse how the interaction between populism and pandemic communication was shaped by China and Russia's pandemic geopolitics. The focus will be on four countries that were led by populist leaders during the pandemic, and which capture different types of populist responses to the pandemic: Brazil, Poland, Serbia, and the USA.
This research will inform recommendations aimed at building more resilient media organisations that are better equipped to withstand the challenges of future pandemics in divided societies. The recommendations will be developed and disseminated in collaboration with key organisations representing media regulators, communication professionals, and public service media.
Publications
Brandao, F.
(2023)
O futuro da tv: 25 anos da TV Câmara
Klimkiewicz, B.
(2022)
Pandemic communication in Poland: A media policy perspective
Rothberg, D.
(2022)
Challenges of journalism research on populism and credibility
| Title | Project video |
| Description | A 7-minute video "Pandemic Communication in Times of Populism" was produced with support from Black Hawk productions, with participation from several team members, sumairizng key results and recommendtaions for stakeholders emerging from the first year of the project. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | The video was used to disseminate key insights to a general audience online as well as as a complementary form of presentation during events and presentations aimed at non-academic stakeholders as well as other researchers. It helped raise awareness of results and attracted further interest and requests for information. |
| URL | https://youtu.be/VQW0sQMGQf0 |
| Description | Response to consultation on the EPRA 2024 work programme |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | The change is still under discussion but we hope that it will lead to improved capacity to respond to health crises and health misinformation among media regulators. |
| Description | Collaboration with the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies |
| Organisation | Government of Brazil |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Professor Danilo Rothberg presented selected findings to the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, as part of a seminar organized in August 2023 in Brasilia to mark the 25th anniversary of the public service network TV Camara (a nation-wide TV channel responsible for broadcasting the activities of the Chamber). The presentation focused on the role of broadcasting and specifically television in the fight against misinformation, with a particular focus on the consumption and credibility of public service television during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its role in fighting health misinformation. The event was attended by around 50 deputies, advisors to deputies, and journalists, and was broadcast on the TV Camara YouTube channel, which reaches over 1.2 million subscribers. The presentation was later published in an edited book published by the Chamber of Deputies in November 2023, which is openly available online. The chapter and the presentation have been recorded separately. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Enabling the contributions as described above, and publicizing our findings through own channels. |
| Impact | Rothberg, Danilo (2023) 'How can television fight misinformation in Health and Politics?', Seminar 25 Years of TV Camara, Chamber of Deputies, Brasília, Brazil, 24 August 2023. Brandao, F., Štetka, V., Mihelj, S., Rothberg, D., and Hallin, D. (2023) 'Como a TV pode combater a desinformação na saúde e na política', in Anselmo, Alessandra, Lemos, Cláudia, and Macário, Lincon (Eds.) O futuro da tv: 25 anos da TV Câmara, Câmara dos Deputados, Edições Câmara, pp. 59-68. Available online, open access: www.bd.camara.leg.br/bd/handle/bdcamara/41498 |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | European Broadcasting Union |
| Organisation | European Broadcasting Union |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | EBU will get access to research results and be involved in the development of recommendations for its members. |
| Collaborator Contribution | EBU has commented on research plans, helped with recruitment of suitable interviewees, and will be involved in the development of recommendations for its members. |
| Impact | Participation in stakeholder meeting, input in research instruments, help with access to interviewees, further meetings and recommendations planned in 2023-24. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Global study of trust in science |
| Organisation | Harvard University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Prof Sabina Mihelj joined this global study as a member of the Advisory Board, and participated in the original design of the study and research instruments, interpretation of data, and editing of publications. The study involved research teams from 67 countries that collected the data and was led by researchers at Harvard and Zurich. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners at Harvard and Zurich led the study and managed data collection, data analysis, and writing of publications, and coordinated participating research teams in 67 countries who collected data. |
| Impact | Pre-print publication 'Trust in scientists and their role in society across 67 countries': https://osf.io/preprints/osf/6ay7s, currently under review. Associated dataset has also been made public: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/jktsy. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Global study of trust in science |
| Organisation | University of Zurich |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Prof Sabina Mihelj joined this global study as a member of the Advisory Board, and participated in the original design of the study and research instruments, interpretation of data, and editing of publications. The study involved research teams from 67 countries that collected the data and was led by researchers at Harvard and Zurich. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners at Harvard and Zurich led the study and managed data collection, data analysis, and writing of publications, and coordinated participating research teams in 67 countries who collected data. |
| Impact | Pre-print publication 'Trust in scientists and their role in society across 67 countries': https://osf.io/preprints/osf/6ay7s, currently under review. Associated dataset has also been made public: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/jktsy. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Meeting with the European Federation of Journalists |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a meeting between PANCOPOP team members and Maja Sever, President of the European Federation of Journalists (one of the project partners), who provided comments on project plans shared with her in advance, thereby laying the basis for more impactful research results that will have a better chance of influencing the work of European journalists. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Meeting with the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a meeting between PANCOPOP team members and Maria Donde, Vice-Chair of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (one of the project partners) and Head of International Content Policy at Ofcom, who provided comments on project plans shared with her in advance, thereby laying the basis for more impactful research results that will have a better chance of influencing the work of European media regulators. As a result we have been invited to present our research at two events, the annual EPRA meeting in October 2023, and the research day organized by the French national regulator ARCOM in November 2023 (each reported separately), as well as asked to comment on the EPRA workplan for 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | PANCOPOP - First Stakeholder and Advisory Board meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was the first formal meeting of all PANCOPOP project partners, stakeholders and Advisory Board members, designed to gather feedback in plans for data collection and research instruments (e.g. interview, survey and policy analysis plans). Advisory Board members and Partner Representatives comprised a diverse panel of media regulators, journalistic organisations, and media NGOs including the European Broadcasting Union and the Brazilian Federation of Scientific and Academic Associations of Communication, as well as several academic colleagues from around the world. Feedback was used to improve research instruments, as well as to identify ways in which partners could support the data gathering project through helping recruit suitable interviewees or providing access to internal reports. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.pancopop.net/news-item-2/ |
| Description | PANCOPOP - Second Stakeholder and Advisory Board meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was the second formal meeting of all PANCOPOP project partners, stakeholders and Advisory Board members, designed to solicit feedback on draft recommendations for practitioners based on insights from the project. Advisory Board members and Partner Representatives comprised a diverse panel of media regulators, journalistic organisations, media NGOs, think thanks and public health authorities, including the European Broadcasting Union and the Brazilian Federation of Scientific and Academic Associations of Communication, the UK regulator Ofcom, WHO's Emergency Communication and Community Engagement unit, Chatham House's Global Health Programme, as well as several academic colleagues from around the world. Feedback will be used to revise the recommendations before publication. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentation at the annual meeting of European media regulators |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation delivered by Co-I Prof Beata Klimkiewicz at the 58th meeting of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities in October 2023 in Bucharest, Romania. The meeting was attended by c. 120 representatives of different media regulatory agencies from across Europe. The presentation, entitled addressed the issue of transparency in media policies, and one part focused on the role of transparency in crisis situations, presenting the lessons from the PANCOPOP project. This part focused on the results of media policy analysis, especially those that pointed to the necessity of state actors to ensure transparency in crisis communication, including health crisis communication. Following the meeting we were asked to provide comments on the draft annual work programme of EPRA for 2024, and have provided a written response that included suggestions for additional topics to be addressed in the programme (crisis and misinformation) informed by ongoing research on the PANCOPOP project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.epra.org/meetings/58th-epra-meeting |
| Description | Presentation at the research day organized by the French media regulator Arcom |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation delivered by Dr Katarzyna Vanevska (PDRA on the PANCOPOP project) at the research day organized by the French media regulatory authority Arcom (Audiovisual and Digital Communication regulatory Authority). The event, organised in November 2023 in Paris, was attended by c. 100 in-person participants and over 3,500 online participants, including Arcom representatives, representatives from other national regulatory media authorities, and researchers from several countries. The presentation focused on the impact of populism on media policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and was part of a panel on the new challenges to content moderation and regulation |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.arcom.fr/sites/default/files/2023-11/2023_Arcom_Research_Day-Detailed%20program.pdf |
| Description | Presentation to the members of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of results and insights from the project, as part of a seminar organized in August 2023 in Brasilia to mark the 25th anniversary of the public service network TV Camara (a nation-wide TV channel responsible for broadcasting the activities of the Chamber). The presentation focused on the role of broadcasting and specifically television in the fight against misinformation, with a particular focus on the consumption and credibility of public service television during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its role in highlighting health misinformation. The event was attended by around 50 deputies, advisors to deputies, and journalists. The presentation was later published in an edited book published by the Chamber of Deputies in November 2023 (see list of outcomes/publications). The full recording of the event is available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8HLlvZVJAM, and a detailed news report covering the events and some of the key findings is available here: https://jornal.unesp.br/2023/10/17/espectadores-de-tv-publica-no-brasil-apresentaram-tendencia-maior-a-acreditar-em-informacoes-falsas-sobre-a-covid-19-no-periodo-da-pandemia/, both in Portoguese. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8HLlvZVJAM |
| Description | Seminar for UK government officials |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of the initial project findings and recommendation to UK policy professionals, as part of the ESRC GSR Actionable Insights Seminar Series. The presentation, delivered on 29 June 2023, was attended by over 100 policy professionals and analysis from different UK Ministerial and Non-Ministerial Departments, agencies and Public Bodies. The presentation summarized the preliminary findings on the impact of populism on government health crisis communication, media policies and public attitudes and trust, as well as outlined several recommendations for media regulators and professionals involved in health communication |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://solace.org.uk/actionable-insights-policy-seminars/ |