TY - JOUR
T1 - REGIONAL PRESIDENTS AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION ON COVID-19
AU - Villa, Marina
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - This research focuses on the communication of 18 Italian regional presidents in the first 2 months
of COVID-19 crisis. The regions are autonomous in the management of health services in the territory and their communication to citizens is crucial. We study presidents’ Facebook messages with
content and lexical analysis, to understand how much space was dedicated to the pandemic, what
content the presidents offered and in what formats. We also show how the presidents represented
their relationship with the government or with citizens, and how they reinforced credibility and
trust in crisis leadership. The regional presidents prioritized the informative and the educational/
awareness functions of public communication. They also enhanced the emotional and symbolic
aspects of communication in crisis; and they personalised the relationship with citizens. In some
cases, a disagreement/contrast with the national institutions was useful to redefine the presidents’
positioning in terms of centre-periphery dialectic and to strengthen their leadership on the territory.
AB - This research focuses on the communication of 18 Italian regional presidents in the first 2 months
of COVID-19 crisis. The regions are autonomous in the management of health services in the territory and their communication to citizens is crucial. We study presidents’ Facebook messages with
content and lexical analysis, to understand how much space was dedicated to the pandemic, what
content the presidents offered and in what formats. We also show how the presidents represented
their relationship with the government or with citizens, and how they reinforced credibility and
trust in crisis leadership. The regional presidents prioritized the informative and the educational/
awareness functions of public communication. They also enhanced the emotional and symbolic
aspects of communication in crisis; and they personalised the relationship with citizens. In some
cases, a disagreement/contrast with the national institutions was useful to redefine the presidents’
positioning in terms of centre-periphery dialectic and to strengthen their leadership on the territory.
KW - Regional presidents
KW - covid-19
KW - Facebook
KW - comunicazione di crisi
KW - Presidenti di regione
KW - Covid-19
KW - crisis communication
KW - Regional presidents
KW - covid-19
KW - Facebook
KW - comunicazione di crisi
KW - Presidenti di regione
KW - Covid-19
KW - crisis communication
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/306525
UR - https://comunicazionisociali.vitaepensiero.it/scheda-fascicolo_contenitore_digital/gaia-amadori-manuel-chavez-matteo-tarantino/comunicazioni-sociali-2024-1-90-days-of-uncertaintyconflict-communication-and-sensemaking-during-the-initial-phasesof-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-italy-001200_2024_0001-396282.html
U2 - 10.26350/001200_000199
DO - 10.26350/001200_000199
M3 - Article
SN - 0392-8667
SP - 37
EP - 57
JO - Comunicazioni Sociali
JF - Comunicazioni Sociali
ER -