Crisis Communication In The Time Of Covid-19: The Significance of Grassroot Initiative in Democratic Countries (Case of Brazil, Indonesia, and the United States)
Keywords:
COVID-19, crisis communication, democracy, grassroot initiative, pandemic, open government data intermediaryAbstract
All countries are adapting to the dynamics and changes posed by the global pandemic of COVID-19. The government is expected to act immediately and effectively in response to the crisis, particularly through public communication to their respective citizens. In this regard, crisis communication is vital to minimize the loss and damage caused by the pandemic in various aspects of life. Being able to communicate in the right and effective way during a crisis can determine the overall outcome of the situation. This paper explores on how crisis communication has conducted in the time of COVID-19 by comparing three respective democratic governments: Brazil, Indonesia, and the United States. Through qualitative method, this paper argues that in a democratic society where openness and freedom of speech is guaranteed, the process to disseminate information through crisis communication could be a daunting task. The study indicated at least four main factors that could hinder the effectiveness of crisis communication: 1) a large population and politically divide in the society; 2) the lack of coordination between levels of governments; 3) the governments’ lack of capability to communicate with the public; and 4) an incompetent crisis communication strategy. The study also found some of the grassroot initiative which is seen significance to fill the information gaps left by the government.
References
Akhli, R. A., & Samhudi, G. R. (2020). Kepentingan Politik Donald Trum dan Xi Jinping dalam Meningkatkan Relasi Konfliktual antara AS-Tiongkok di Masa Pandemi COVID-19. Jurnal Penelitian Politik, 17(2), 235–253. https://doi.org/10.14203/jpp.v17i2.887
Altakarli, N. S. (2020). China’s Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak : A Model for Epidemic Preparedness and Management. Dubai Medical Journal, 3(2), 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1159/000508448
Annaka, S. (2021). The Truth and Myth of the Advantages of Authoritarian Countries to COVID-19. APSA Preprints, 1–22.
Baleta, A. (2007). Forced isolation of tuberculosis patients in South Africa. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 7(12), 771. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1473-3099(07)70281-5
BBC. (2020, April 21). Coronavirus lockdown protest: What’s behind the US demonstrations? BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52359100
BBC. (2020, March 19). Coronavirus protest in Brazil sees millions bang pots from balconies. Retrieved from BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51955679
BBC. (2021, March 31). Brazil: Political Crisis and COVID surge rock Bolsonaro. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56581131
Bland, B. (2020, March 17). Indonesia: COVID-19 crisis reveals cracks in Jokowi’s ad hoc politics. The Interpreter. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/indonesia-COVID-19-crisis-reveals-cracksjokowi-s-ad-hoc-politics
Brum, E. (2021, January 29). Study finds that Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro carried out an ‘institutional strategy to spread the coronavirus.’ El Pais. https://english.elpais.com/americas/2021-01-29/study-finds-that-brazils-jair-bolsonarocarriedout-an-institutional-strategy-to-spread-the-coronavirus.html
Catalytic Communities. (2020, July 7). COVID-19 in Favelas Unified Dashboard Launched. Retrieved from Catcomm.org: https://catcomm.org/covid-dashboard-release-01/
Cepaluni, G., Dorsch, M., & and Branyiczki, R. (2020, April 27). Political Regimes and Deaths in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic. APSA Preprints. doi:doi.org/10.33774/apsa-2020-5lhhc
Cheng, Y. & Lee, C. J. (2019). Online crisis communication in a post-truth Chinese society: Evidence from interdisciplinary literature. Public Relations Review, 45(4), 101826. Doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.101826
Coletta, R. Della, Uribe, G., & Carvalho, D. (2021, March 11). Sob influência de filho e aliados, Bolsonaro adapta discurso para evitar perda de apoio de empresários. Folha deS.Paulo. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2021/03/sob-influencia-de-filho-bolsonaro-adapt a-discurso-na-covid-para-evitar-perda-de-apoio-de-empresarios.shtml
Dempere, J. (2021). A recipe to control the first wave of COVID-19: More or less democracy? Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-08-2020-0206
Detik. (2020, September 2). Timeline Setengah Tahun COVID-19 di Indonesia. Detik.Com. https://news.detik.com/berita/d-5156199/timeline-setengah-tahun-COVID-19-di-indonesi a?single=1
Eberl, J., Huber, R. A., & Greussing, E. (2021). From Populism to the ’ Plandemic ’: Why populists believe in COVID-19 conspiracies. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 31(1), 272-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2021.1924730
Eugene Kiely; Lori Robertson; Rem Rieder; D’Angelo Gore. (2020). Timeline of Trump’s COVID-19 Comments. Factcheck.Org. https://www.factcheck.org/2020/10/timeline-of-trumps-COVID-19-comments/
Evanega, S., Lynas, M., Adams, J., & and Smolenyak, K. (2020). Quantifying sources and themes in the COVID-19 ‘infodemic’. COVID-10 ‘infodemic’ study. Retrieved from https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2020/09/Evanega-etal-Coronavirus-misinformationFINAL.pdf
Farzan, A. N., & Berger, M. (2020, November 11). Bolsonaro says Brazillians must not be ‘sissies’ about coronavirus, as ‘all of us are going to die one day’. Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/11/11/bolsonaro-coronavirus-brazil-quotes/
Feufel, M. A., Antes, G., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). [Competence in dealing with uncertainty: lessons to learn from the influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009]. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz, 53(12), 1283–1289. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00103-010-1165-1
Friedman, U. (2020, March 28). The Coronavirus-Denial Movement Now Has a Leader. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/03/bolsonaro-coronavirus-denial-brazil-trump/608926/
Gallup. (2021). Presidential Approval Ratings -- Donald Trump. Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx
Hakim, R. N. (2020, September 2). Kilas Balik 6 Bulan COVID-19: Pernyataan Kontroversial Pejabat soal Virus Corona. Kompas.Com. https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/09/02/09285111/k i l a s - b a l i k - 6 - b u l a n - C O V I D - 1 9 - pernyataan-kontroversial-pejabat-soal-virus?page=all
Hakim, R. N. (2021, March 16). Beda dengan Menhub, Satgas COVID-19 Sebut Kebijakan Terkait Mudik Lebaran Masih Dibahas Pemerintah. Kompas.Com. https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/03/16/22593471/beda-dengan-menhub-satgas-COVID-19-sebut-kebijakan-terkait-mudik-lebaran
Halim, D. (2020, October 20). Survei Litbang Kompas Setahun JokowiMa’ruf: 52,5 Persen Tak Puas, 45,2 Persen Puas. Retrieved from Kompas.com: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/10/20/13525311/survei-litbang-kompas-setahun-jokowi-maruf-525-persen-tak-puas-452-persen?page=all
Hatcher, W. (2020). A Failure of Political Communication Not a Failure of Bureaucracy: The Danger of Presidential Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The American Review of Public Administration, 50(6-7), 614-620.
Her, M. (2020). How Is COVID-19 Affecting South Korea? What Is Our Current Strategy?. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 14(5), 684–686. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.69
Jong, W. (2021). Evaluating Crisis Communication: A 30-item Checklist for Assessing Performance during COVID-19 and Other Pandemics. Journal of Health Communication. doi:10.1080/1080730.2021.1871791
Kavanagh, M. M., & Singh, R. (2020). Democracy, capacity, and coercion in pandemic response: COVID-19 in comparative political perspective. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 45(6), 997–1012. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-8641530
KawalCOVID19. (2020). Tentang Kami. Retrieved from https://kawalcovid19.id/: https://kawalcovid19.id/tentang-kami
Knoll, J.H. (1979). The Importance and use of comparative studies in adult education in the framework of academic courses of study. 1979 Conference Proceedings (pp. 6-16). United Kingdom: Leeds University.
Kuguyo, O., Kengne, A. P., & Dandara, C. (2020). Singapore COVID-19 Pandemic Response as a Successful Model Framework for Low-Resource Health Care Settings in Africa? OMICS A Journal of Integrative Biology, 24(8), 470–478. https://doi.org/10.1089/omi.2020.0077
Kusuma, H. (2020, October 2). Perputaran Uang Selama Pilkada Diprediksi Tembus Rp 26 T. Retrieved from detikfinance: https://finance.detik.com/berita-ekonomi-bisnis/d-5197908/perputaran-uang-selama-pilkada-diprediksi-tembus-rp-26-t
Lasco, G. (2020). Medical populism and the COVID-19 pandemic. Global Public Health, 15(10), 1417–1429). https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.1807581
Lee, Y. N. (2020, March 11). Global coronavirus outbreak has ‘exploded’ and the aftermath could last a year, Singapore’s foreign minister says. Retrieved from CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/11/coronavirus-economic-impact-could-last-a year-singapore-foreign-minister.html
Magalhaes, G., Roseira, C., & Strover, S. (2013). Open Government Data Intermediaries: A Terminology Framework. ICEGOV ‘13: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (pp. 330-333). Seoul: Association for Computing Machinery.
Maharani, A. (2020, September 25). Masalah Terbesar Pandemi adalah Gap Informasi. Retrieved from Klik Dokter: https://www.klikdokter.com/info-sehat/read/3644429/masalah-terbesar-pandemi-adalah-gap-informasi
Meng, A., & DiSalvo, C. (2018). Grassroots resource mobilization through counter-data action. Big Data & Society, 5(2), 1-12.
Navarro, J. A., & Markel, H. (2016). About. In Influenza Encyclopedia. the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine and Michigan Publishing. https://www.influenzaarchive.org/about.html
Nugent, C. (2021, March 12). Brazil’s Bolsonaro Denied COVID-19 Was a Problem. Now He’s Embracing Vaccines. Here’s What Changed. Time. https://time.com/5946401/brazil-COVID-19-vaccines-bolsonaro/
Pramiyanti, A., Mayangsari, I. D., Nuraeni, R., & Firdaus, Y. D. (2020). Public perception on transparency and trust in government information released during the COVID-19 pandemic. Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research, 8(3), 351–376. https://doi.org/10.15206/ajpor.2020.8.3.351
Reuterss. (2020, July 8). Timeline: Key moments in Bolsonaro’s handling of COVID-19 crisis. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirusbrazil-timeline-idAFKBN2482 UP
Riley, R. (2020). A Review of the Impacts of the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic. University of Birmingham. https://blog.bham.ac.uk/cityredi/a-review-of-the-impacts-of-the-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic/
Rosenwald, M. S. (2021, February 22). History’s deadliest pandemics, from ancient Rome to modern America. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/local/retropolis/coronavirus-deadliestpandemics
Rowland, R. C. (2019). The populist and nationalist roots of Trump’s rhetoric. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 22(3), 343–388. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.22.3.0343
Scrock, A., & Shaffer, G. (2017). Data ideologies of an interested public: A study of grassroots open government data intermediaries. Big Data & Society, 4(1), 1-10.
Sebhatu, A., Wennberg, K., Arora-Jonsson, S., & Lindberg, S. I. (2020). Explaining the homogeneous diffusion of COVID-19 nonpharmaceutical interventions across heterogeneous countries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(35), 21201–21208. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2010625117
Sevastopulo, D., & Shubber, K. (2020, April 20). Trump cheers as anti-lockdown protests spread. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/c8f6f413-39c4-47ce-b1ff-0e02969cb612
Siegrist, M., & Cvetkovich, G. (2000). Perception of hazards: The role of social trust and knowledge. Risk Analysis, 20(5), 713–720. https://doi.org/10.1111/0272-4332.205064
Siegrist, M., & Zingg, A. (2014). The role of public trust during pandemics: Implications for crisis communication. European Psychologist, 19(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000169
Smith, D. (2020, April 4). “I’m not going to do it”: Trump rejects his own administration’s advice on masks. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/03/im-not-going-to-do-it-trump-refutes-his-own-administrations-advice-on-masks
Stern., A M, & Cetron, M, & Markel, H. (2010). The 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic in the United States: Lesson Learned and Challenges Exposed. Public Health Rep, 125 (Suppl 3): 6-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549101250S303
The New York Times. (2017, August 9). 2016 Presidential Election Results. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/president
Twitter Inc. (2021, January 8). Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump. Retrieved from blog.twitter.com: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html
Valerisha, A., & Putra, M. A. (2020). Pandemi Global COVID-19 dan Problematika Negara-Bangsa: Transparansi Data Sebagai Vaksin Socio-Digital? Jurnal Ilmiah Hubungan Internasional, 131-137. https://doi.org/10.26593/jihi.v0i0.3871.131-137
Vidon, T. S. (2020, April 26). Conspiracy theories and fake news: Fighting the COVID-19 ‘infodemic’. Retrieved from France 24: https://www.france24.com/en/20200426-conspiracy-theories-and-fake-news-fighting-the-COVID-19-infodemic
VOI. (2021, January 22). Minister Of Health Budi Gunadi: I Give Up Using Data From The Ministry Of Health. VOI. https://voi.id/en/berita/28332/menkesbudi-gunadi-saya-kapok-pakai-data-kemenkes
WHO. (2020). WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. June 3rd. Retrieved from WHO (COVID-19): https://covid19.who.int/
Wicaksono, R. M. T. A. D. (2020). Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Indonesian Government in Response to COVID-19. LIPI. http://www.politik.lipi.go.id/kolom/kolom-2/politik-nasional/1410-examining-the-policie s-and-priorities-of-the-indonesian-government-in-response-to-COVID-19
Yamey, G., & Gonsalves, G. (2020). Donald Trump: a political determinant of COVID-19. The BMJ. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1643
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. This license allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon the work, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the same terms.
2. Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g., posting it to an institutional repository or including it in a book), provided there is an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal website) prior to and during the submission process, as this can lead to productive exchanges and increase citations of the published work (See The Effect of Open Access ).
