Online propaganda as crisis communication during the infodemic: the role of cultural factors

Abstract

Covid epidemic is a disaster that happens once every hundred years. Therefore, many problems that the authorities as well as the professionals do not know how to react during this epidemic including the crisis communication. In the early stages, when there was no consensus on how to communicate on the issue of Covid-19 disease, governments had different options for their communication campaigns. This study explores the impact of cultural factors on the choice of government communication campaigns during the pandemic using content analysis and discourse analysis techniques. The results of the study show that in the beginning cultural factors can lead to different choices in government propaganda campaigns on online platforms. However, over time, these campaigns gradually became similar, although cultural differences persisted.