Abstract
During the Covid-19 pandemic, public campaigns were an important part of the Scandinavian health authorities’ strategies to combat the spread of the virus. Denmark, Norway, and Sweden had different strategies to manage the crisis: Denmark had the most political crisis management, Sweden the most informational, and Norway was placed somewhere in between. This chapter examines how public risk and crisis communication during a pandemic was handled in these campaigns in the Scandinavian countries, how they function as a governance technology, and how this was carried out rhetorically. We show how indirect, governmental steering dominated the campaign rhetoric in Scandinavia, through a focus on the culturally decided aspects of purity and danger, and through appeal to a sense of personal responsibility and willingness to avoid taking risks among the citizenry. Furthermore, we find that the campaigns are representative for the crisis management strategy in each country.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Communicating a Pandemic : Crisis Management and Covid-19 in the Nordic Countries |
Editors | Bengt Johansson, Øyvind Ihlen, Jenny Lindholm, Mark Blach-Ørsten |
Number of pages | 47 |
Publisher | Nordicom |
Publication date | 8 Jan 2023 |
Pages | 121-147 |
Chapter | 6 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-91-88855-67-1 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-91-88855-68-8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 8 Jan 2023 |
Keywords
- public campaigns
- governmentality
- risk management
- Covid-19
- rhetoric of solidarity