ABSTRACT
Effective and timely communication and leadership are crucial to the successful management of a pandemic. As such, messaging by national governments can play a critical role in limiting the spread of disease. To assess the UK government’s communication management of the COVID-19 crisis, surveys were carried out at two time points. The first survey was delivered during the initial UK national lockdown (March - April 2020), and the second in February 2021, during the UK’s third lockdown.
The surveys explored the most used channels for information receipt and searching, the most credible sources of information, the types of messages received and remembered, and the effectiveness of the messages. Findings revealed a synchronous use of multiple media and platforms in line with channel complementarity theory and supporting research that suggests there is an increase in media consumption during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Online sources of information were particularly important, reflecting a growing reliance on the internet. Despite the high consumption of information, respondents reported low trust in media, and considered government communication untrustworthy, unreliable, confusing and a cause of social alarm.
The research provides novel insights into where the public receive and search for information, which sources of information are used, which communicators are perceived to be credible, the messages that have been received and remembered, and the overall effectiveness of the UK government’s strategic communication management of the crisis. The research also highlights what the public think could have been done differently. Such findings could be relevant to communicators wanting insights for improvement and more effective future management of communication in similar global health crises.
