Covid-19: Government communication, media discourses, citizen responses

DFG research project, 01.06.2021 - 31.05.2024

Short description

Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Department of Media Studies together with the departments of Computational Communication Science, Databases and Information Systems, and Public Relations and Technology Communication at the Technical University of Ilmenau and the Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin are analyzing how effectively governments and health care institutions in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States have informed their citizens about Covid-19 and encouraged self-protective behavior.

Three key questions are the focus of the subprojects from June 2021 to May 2024:

  1. What explanations and messages about Covid-19 did governments and health care facilities communicate to the public in each country?
  2. How did media report on the pandemic and related risk messages from governments?
  3. How did the public perceive the pandemic and the risk messages?

Image copyrights © TU Ilmenau/Hajo Dietz