scholarly journals Africa and the Covid-19 Information Framing Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 440-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Ogola

Africa faces a double Covid-19 crisis. At once it is a crisis of the pandemic, at another an information framing crisis. This article argues that public health messaging about the pandemic is complicated by a competing mix of framings by a number of actors including the state, the Church, civil society and the public, all fighting for legitimacy. The article explores some of these divergences in the interpretation of the disease and how they have given rise to multiple narratives about the pandemic, particularly online. It concludes that while different perspectives and or interpretations of a crisis is not necessarily wrong, where these detract from the crisis itself and become a contestation of individual and or sector interests, they birth a new crisis. This is the new crisis facing the continent in relation to the pandemic.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272199545
Author(s):  
Areej Khokhar ◽  
Aaron Spaulding ◽  
Zuhair Niazi ◽  
Sikander Ailawadhi ◽  
Rami Manochakian ◽  
...  

Importance: Social media is widely used by various segments of society. Its role as a tool of communication by the Public Health Departments in the U.S. remains unknown. Objective: To determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social media following of the Public Health Departments of the 50 States of the U.S. Design, Setting, and Participants: Data were collected by visiting the Public Health Department web page for each social media platform. State-level demographics were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention was utilized to collect information regarding the Governance of each State’s Public Health Department. Health rankings were collected from “America’s Health Rankings” 2019 Annual report from the United Health Foundation. The U.S. News and World Report Education Rankings were utilized to provide information regarding the public education of each State. Exposure: Data were pulled on 3 separate dates: first on March 5th (baseline and pre-national emergency declaration (NED) for COVID-19), March 18th (week following NED), and March 25th (2 weeks after NED). In addition, a variable identifying the total change across platforms was also created. All data were collected at the State level. Main Outcome: Overall, the social media following of the state Public Health Departments was very low. There was a significant increase in the public interest in following the Public Health Departments during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: With the declaration of National Emergency, there was a 150% increase in overall public following of the State Public Health Departments in the U.S. The increase was most noted in the Midwest and South regions of the U.S. The overall following in the pandemic “hotspots,” such as New York, California, and Florida, was significantly lower. Interesting correlations were noted between various demographic variables, health, and education ranking of the States and the social media following of their Health Departments. Conclusion and Relevance: Social media following of Public Health Departments across all States of the U.S. was very low. Though, the social media following significantly increased during the early course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it still remains low. Significant opportunity exists for Public Health Departments to improve social media use to engage the public better.


1995 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-187
Author(s):  
Ehrhart Neubert

Abstract The author examines the consequences of dictatorship upon the conciousness of law and justice in the postsocialist society of East-Germany. This society and even the Church are characterized by a moralizing thinking of justice- according to the German tradition of paternalistic state: the state grants justice and represents community. Ever after theseGermans regard themselves as inferiors, who want to get adjusted into a disciplined order. This leeds to disappointments and radical criticism of the democratic constitutional state. Law is not able to realize ultimatejustice. For the aceptance ofthe constitutional state it will be necessary to restore civil society and overcome a fundamentalistic criticism of civilisation.


Orthodoxia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
F. A. Gayda

This article deals with the political situation around the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Empire in 1912 (4th convocation). The main actors of the campaign were the government, local administration, liberal opposition and the clergy of the Orthodox Russian Church. After the 1905 revolution, the “official Church” found itself in a difficult situation. In particular, anti-Church criticism intensified sharply and was expressed now quite openly, both in the press and from the rostrum of the Duma. A consequence of these circumstances was that in this Duma campaign, for the first time in the history of Russian parliamentarianism, “administrative resources” were widely used. At the same time, the authorities failed to achieve their political objectives. The Russian clergy became actively involved in the election campaign. The government sought to use the conflict between the liberal majority in the third Duma and the clerical hierarchy. Duma members launched an active criticism of the Orthodox clergy, using Grigory Rasputin as an excuse. Even staunch conservatives spoke negatively about Rasputin. According to the results of the election campaign, the opposition was even more active in using the label “Rasputinians” against the Holy Synod and the Russian episcopate. Forty-seven persons of clerical rank were elected to the House — three fewer than in the previous Duma. As a result, the assembly of the clergy elected to the Duma decided not to form its own group, but to spread out among the factions. An active campaign in Parliament and the press not only created a certain public mood, but also provoked a political split and polarization within the clergy. The clergy themselves were generally inclined to blame the state authorities for the public isolation of the Church. The Duma election of 1912 seriously affected the attitude of the opposition and the public toward the bishopric after the February revolution of 1917.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ante Mandarić ◽  
Goran Matijević

The epidemic of the disease COVID-19, in Požeština in relation to China, where it originated in other parts of Croatia, appeared somewhat later, while Požega-Slavonia County in terms of total share in relation to other counties in Croatia remained relatively well , 16th place, out of a total of 20 counties, ie a smaller number of patients was recorded. In the conditions of public health danger to the health and lives of people with expressed uncertainty, citizens around the world were flooded with numerous information, about the disease, ways of prevention, treatment that at one point threatened to turn into an infodemia, as warned by the WHO. The importance of crisis communication in such conditions is of great importance, and how governments and headquarters communicate messages about the crisis to the public, which is discussed in the first parts of the paper and points out several inconsistencies and illogicalities in the actions of the state headquarters. prohibition and permission to make recommendations contrary to the epidemiologist’s recommendations. But more important than the recommendations of headquarters and governments, today are the recommendations and news transmitted by digital media, and especially the local ones that bring news and recommendations for the area where we live. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to investigate in the central part the significance of the local 034 Portal in the Corona crisis, and its monitoring of the crisis and its impact on the public. Research through several segments, it was found that the portal maintained the level of reporting on regular events and adjusted reporting on the Crown to the conditions and situation in the county, not leading to sensationalism, concern, fear, but was a carrier of preventive activities and a good ally in the fight. against the epidemic, that is, he followed the guidelines for informing the WHO and did not contribute to the creation of an infodemia.


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