ABSTRACT
Spain was one of the hardest-hit nations in Europe at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, recording the highest incidence rate, death per capita and occupancy rate in intensive care units of large Western countries (El País 2021). After the declaration of the State of Alarm in March 2020, the rapid spread of the virus triggered government officials’ efforts to provide timely, accurate, specific, sufficient, consistent and understandable information. However, the reactive approach of the Spanish government was widely questioned by health experts, professional organizations, political parties and civil society. Findings confirm that the choice of medium influences the public’s sense-making of the crisis and moderates their acceptance of crisis messages and trust in the authorities. In general, people who got news from mainstream media had a better retention of authority messages and expressed more positive opinions of the government’s crisis response. At the same time, people less able to make correct attributions of governmental information were the most critical of the government’s crisis response. Implications for theory and empirical research, recommendations and new issues for investigation are identified and discussed.
