This book presents a comparative perspective on different government communication strategies to COVID-19 around the globe. Scholars from twenty parts of the world specialized in political and government communication analyze initiatives and methods of various governments' communicative responses to the pandemic. In their contributions to this volume, they examine a wide range of distinct attitudes and reactions facing the crisis. Today’s omnidirectional contact allowed by social media, with its load of contradictory rumors and fake news, often obliterates the citizens' ability to comprehend reality. The book frames a broad canvas on how government communication may deal with that and manage similar crises — bound to happen as climate changes and war menaces are generating more and more worries about the future of humanity. This makes this volume a must-read for scholars and students of political communication, health policies and communication, crisis marketing and communication. It will also be of utmost interest for practitioners and policy-makers from these fields willing to better understand government communication and its answer to global crises.

Spotlighting case studies of manipulation practices at the onset of the Covid-19 crisis in different countries and socio-political circumstances, the authors expose context-specific discourse and argumentation strategies of 'infodemics’ (misleading information and fake news), public policy mismanagement, deceptive online and offline communication tactics, and conspiracy narratives, which end up disrupting community social cohesion. In addition to targeting manipulation-driven dissent across discourse genres through corpus-based investigations, a major strength of this volume consists in debunking manipulation while foregrounding compelling acts of counter-manipulation. The volume’s breadth of topics, depth of analytical insights and range of methodological frameworks provide unique perspectives by capturing crisis-related manipulations across a worldwide political and cultural spectrum (Austria, Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States), with a focus on the scale and extent of multifaceted repercussions. Reaching beyond the boundaries of pragmatics and discourse analysis, this book should be a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners of rhetoric, argumentation, media studies, social and political sciences.

From coping with Covid-19 through to manging climate change, from Brexit through to the barricading of Congress, from democratic disaffection to populist pressures, from historical injustices to contemporary social inequalities, and from scapegoating through to sacrificial lambs... the common thread linking each of these themes and many more is an emphasis on blame. But how do we know who or what is to blame? How do politicians engage in blame-avoidance strategies? How can blaming backfire or boomerang? Are there situations in which politicians might want to be blamed? What is the relationship between avoiding blame and claiming credit? How do developments in relation to machine learning and algorithmic governance affect blame-based assumptions? By focusing on the politics and governance of blame from a range of disciplines, perspectives, and standpoints this volume engages with all these questions and many more. Distinctive contributions include an emphasis on peacekeeping and public diplomacy, on source-credibility and anthropological explanations, on cultural bias and on expert opinions, on polarisation and (de)politicisation, and on trust and post-truth politics. With contributions from the world's leading scholars and emerging research leaders, this volume not only develops the theoretical, disciplinary, empirical, and normative boundaries of blame-based analyses but it also identifies new research agendas and asks distinctive and original questions about the politics and governance of blame.

The Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning provides an essential, global, and timely overview of current realities, as well as anticipating the trajectory and evolution of campaigning in the coming years. Offering a comprehensive analysis, the handbook is structured into seven thematic sections, including the campaign environment; rhetoric and persuasion; campaign strategies; campaign tactics and platform affordances; news and journalism; citizens and voters; and civil society. The chapters within each section reflect on the latest societal, technological, and cultural developments and their impact on campaigning, on democratic culture within societies, and on the roles that campaigns might play in both facilitating and impeding political engagement. Key trends and innovations are examined alongside case studies and examples from a range of nations and political contexts. Issues around trust and representation are further reflected in a focus on the wider campaigning environment and the rise in importance of grassroots and pressure groups, social movements, and movements that coalesce within digital environments. The Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning is an essential resource for scholars, students, and practitioners in political communication, media and communication, elections and voting behavior, digital media, journalism, social movements, strategic communication, social media, and more broadly to democracy, sociology, and public policy.

Responding to the increasingly blurred boundaries between humans and technology, this innovative Handbook reveals the intricate patterns of interaction between individuals, machines, and organizations. Using cutting-edge data and analysis, expert contributors provide new insight into the rapidly growing digitalization of society.

Media and Society: An Introduction, offers an interdisciplinary approach to media as means of social connection in everyday life and beyond. Integrating theory and concrete analysis in case studies, exercises, and illustrative examples from around the world, Media and Society: An Introduction delivers a go-to reference work for learning about one of the essential social infrastructures of the twenty-first century. Standing on the shoulders of classic communication models, and covering legacies of research about media institutions, media texts, and media users, the chapters include both how-to sections on methods addressing current digital media forms and reflective segments that place TikTok, ChatGPT, and the emerging Internet of Things in the longer history of human communication. As a comprehensive and up-to-date textbook on key conceptual, analytical, and normative issues facing students of media and communication today, this book is a practically applicable resource for teaching and learning about media, in the classroom, in self-study, and in different world regions. As such, it is a key resource for undergraduate students and professors in the fields of media, communication, and cultural studies.

This book analyzes the role of social networks during electoral campaigns around the world, taking into account the non‐technological particularities (political, electoral, social, economic, cultural) of the media configurations of different countries. Political parties all over the world engage in real virtual battles to appear at the cutting edge of technology. Providing in‐depth case studies from across Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, this book emphasizes the need to study how institutions, culture, and politics shape the processes of technology diffusion in each context. It asks: what are the uses of social networks in election campaigns in different countries? and what are the factors that lead to social networks playing an important role in the elections of a given country? International and comparative in focus, this book brings together work on the uses of social networks (Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram, Telegram, and more) in the context of an election campaign by different actors (such as parties, companies, journalists, and voters). This book explores the different methodological and theoretical approaches developed for the study of the uses of social networks in an electoral context. The contributors focus on the identification of the “online ecosystem” of electoral actors in each country, studying their strategies and logic. They also analyze the scaremongering rhetoric about the possible effect of social media on elections as an object of study. While taking seriously the issues of polarization, disinformation, or negative campaigning, this book provides understanding of how these work and how their discourses are constructed. This book will be of great interest to upper‐level students and scholars of Political Science, Media, and Communications Studies.

This book provides a comparative study of people's mask-wearing behaviour in response to government policies between European-Northern America and Asian countries. Examining citizens' attitudes towards their state during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of history, linguistics, politics, economics and sociology, the contributors in this volume explore to what extent people accept the wearing of masks in countries where governments have made it mandatory as compared to countries where people wear masks voluntarily. The book thus looks at mask-wearing from a political dichotomy between authoritarianism and liberalism and posits the extent to which political divisions could have existed in public opinion over the measures taken against COVID-19. Filled with invaluable insights through research in 13 countries, this book will appeal to readers in policy making and influencing public opinion via the Europe-Asia comparative study.

Language has emerged as both a powerful bridge and a formidable barrier in the realm of public health communication. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a significant challenge faced by minority and indigenous communities, particularly in regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. It's a challenge deeply rooted in the historical use of colonial languages—English, French, and Spanish—to disseminate critical health information. For many, this has translated into a linguistic exclusion, depriving them of access to essential resources and a voice in matters of national interest. This issue transcends mere communication; it touches upon the fundamental rights of individuals to participate in their own healthcare decisions and influences their sense of belonging and citizenship. Public Health Communication Challenges to Minority and Indigenous Communities proposes a solution with a transformative potential. This groundbreaking edited volume invites scholars from diverse fields to contribute their research, shedding light on the linguistic dimensions of public health communication during the COVID-19 era. By investigating the impact of language on various aspects of society, from medical information to education, this book seeks to synthesize the wealth of sociolinguistic research into an accessible framework. It's an invitation to explore the role of language in shaping our perceptions of citizenship, belonging, and empowerment.

This book presents papers from the 10th Applied Research Conference in Africa (ARCA), showcasing the latest research on education and inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable communities. The conference is focused on applied research discussion and its dissemination, developing understanding about the role of research and researchers in the development of the continent. Education is a key driver to transform lives, build peace, eradicate poverty and drive sustainable development in Africa. Researchers face large challenges to making a meaningful contribution to the development of Africa. It is a continent where research can at time be not viewed directly related to development. The aim of the Applied Research Conference in Africa is to provide a platform for capacity building and networking among researchers in Africa. The proceedings is focussed on applied research, its discussion and dissemination and will be if interest to researchers, professors, graduate students, policymakers and professionals in industry.