This book opens up the black box of government communication during the age of political spin, using archival and official documents, memoirs and biographies, and in-depth interviews with media, political and government witnesses. It argues that substantive and troubling long-term changes in the ways governments manage the media and publicly account for themselves undermine the public consent essential to democracy. Much of the blame for this crisis in public communication has been placed at the feet of politicians and their aides, but they are just part of the picture. A pervasive ‘culture of mediatization’ has developed within governments, leading to intended and unintended consequences that challenge the capacity of central public bureaucracies to implement public values and maintain impartiality. It concludes that public servants, elected officials and citizens have an important role to play in accounting for governments’ custodianship of this most politically-sensitive of public goods – the public communications function.

This edited volume makes a unique and timely contribution by exploring in depth the topic of strategic communication and COVID-19 from a global perspective. It is widely agreed that effective and timely communication and leadership are crucial to the successful management of any pandemic. With the ongoing and possibly long-lasting impact COVID-19 has had on many aspects of communication and multiple sectors of our societies, it is critical to explore the role of strategic communication in change management during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. This book addresses such a need and is thoroughly grounded in rich empirical evidence gained through a global study of COVID-19 communication experiences and strategies. In the second half of 2020, a transnational team of senior researchers conducted research to investigate COVID-19 communications (COM-COVID-19) in different countries, representing Europe, Africa, Latin America, North America, South America, and Asia. The results presented in this book provide a compelling, current picture of the COVID-19 pandemic and strategic communication globally. Chapters individually explore the national and regional experiences and discuss relevant successes and failures of pandemic communication and specific learning from the 2020–2021 crises. By emphasising the discussion on key communication channels, sources of information, facts and concerns as related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the editors call for actions to develop effective strategies within unique national contexts, which can shed light on global expectations on necessary public health responses and communication. This book is written for scholars, educators and professionals in communication, public relations, strategic communication and corporate communication. It is also appropriate to use this book as a supplementary text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on relevant courses.

In situations ranging from border control to policing and welfare, governments are using automated facial recognition technology (FRT) to collect taxes, prevent crime, police cities and control immigration. FRT involves the processing of a person's facial image, usually for identification, categorisation or counting. This ambitious handbook brings together a diverse group of legal, computer, communications, and social and political science scholars to shed light on how FRT has been developed, used by public authorities, and regulated in different jurisdictions across five continents. Informed by their experiences working on FRT across the globe, chapter authors analyse the increasing deployment of FRT in public and private life. The collection argues for the passage of new laws, rules, frameworks, and approaches to prevent harms of FRT in the modern state and advances the debate on scrutiny of power and accountability of public authorities which use FRT. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This book examines how efforts to exert accountability in crises affect public trust in governing institutions. Using Sweden as the case study, this book provides a framework to analyse accountability in crises and looks at how this affects trust in government. Crises test the fabric of governing institutions. Threatening core societal values, they force elected officials and public servants to make consequential decisions under pressure and uncertainty. Public trust in governing institutions is intrinsically linked to the ability to hold decision-makers accountable for the crucial decisions they make. The book presents empirical evidence from examination of the general bases for accountability in public administration, and at the accountability mechanisms of specific administrative systems, before focusing on longer term policy changes. The author finds that within the complex web of bureaucratic and political moves democratic processes have been undermined across time contributing to misplaced and declining trust in governing institutions. Accountability in Crises and Public Trust in Governing Institutions will be of interest to students, scholars and practitioners of public policy, political leadership and governance.

All over Europe and the World communication scientists reflect questions on trust in journalism and media. A large scale of analysis and research gives new perspectives of reasons, impacts and consequences of trust or mistrust in media and journalism. This anthology provides an overview on empirical research to trust in media and journalism, new perspectives, methodological approaches and current results, discussed among communication scientists at European and international scientific conferences.

The world is wrought with risks that may harm people and cost lives. The news is riddled with reports of natural disasters (wildfires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes), industrial disasters (chemical spills, water and air pollution), and health pandemics (e.g., SARS, H1NI, COVID19). Effective risk communication is critical to mitigating harms. The body of research in this handbook reveals the challenges of communicating such messages, affirms the need for dialogue, embraces the role of instruction in proactively communicating risk, acknowledges the function of competing risk messages, investigates the growing influence of new media, and constantly reconsiders the ethical imperative for communicating recommendations for enhanced safety.

This report offers insights into the state of trust in Slovenian public institutions. It analyses data from the 2023 OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions, comparing Slovenia's results with 29 other OECD countries. The study reveals both challenges and opportunities for reinforcing public trust in Slovenia, highlighting areas of strength in day-to-day interactions between people and public institutions whilst identifying concerns regarding decision-making processes on complex policy issues. Slovenia, like many nations, is grappling with the aftermath of natural disasters and global crises and is seeking to strengthen its democratic foundations. This report provides actionable insights for improving public governance, reinforcing democratic values, and building a more trusting relationship between citizens and public institutions. This comprehensive analysis offers a roadmap for policymakers, government officials, and civic leaders in Slovenia to enhance trust and, ultimately, strengthen the country's democratic processes and public governance.

With findings based on rich survey data from 1,500 Americans and 1,500 Finns, this deeply insightful work challenges us to confront the issues and challenges that we need to consider before the next global health crisis emerges.

This professional services edition of Time to Rethink Trust is written specifically for client facing professionals and their teams. Rethink your misconceptions of trust and build more and better trust with clients based on the revolutionary Six Buckets of Trust® methodology. Discover how to fill your six buckets of trust with many practical day-to-day examples and experience the effect this will have on your success. The Time to Rethink Trust – Professional Services Edition is a distillation of more than 15 years of global trust consulting and training experience with professional services firms, corporates, NFPs and governments. The author, Stefan Grafe, developed the Six Buckets of Trust® methodology with psychologist Barbara Groahsgart and the late Professor Wilhelm Salber. Stefan is the CEO and founder of mext, the consultancy that creates client opportunities in brand, experience, culture, sales and leadership based on the key driver of human behaviour, trust. If you order direct at timetorethinktrust.com you’ll also get free and instant access to The Most Trusted Advisor Masterclass and Resource (this is not technically possible through other sites).

The first OECD Report on Public Communication: The Global Context and the Way Forward examines the public communication structures, mandates and practices of centres of governments and ministries of health from 46 countries, based on the 2020 Understanding Public Communication surveys.