Risk and crisis communication

Historically, traditional news media have monitored and reported on approaching risks and threats, informing people about how they can protect themselves and get help. Nowadays, digital and social media and apps are also central channels for communication and information gathering. Digitalization affects the way news media work and their role as information brokers before, during, and after a crisis, as well as how they relate to responsible decision-makers and the public.

Not least, different types of media contribute to defining the image of risks, crises, and disasters, as well as of responsible authorities and politicians. They thus influence how risk and crisis management measures are interpreted and perceived by the public, as well as citizens' trust in these and the legitimacy and scope of action of responsible decision-makers.

For four decades, JMG has conducted research into how authorities, media, and citizens have acted and communicated in connection with societal risks and crises. Issues that have received particular attention in our research concern the use of media by the public and authorities in connection with societal crises and risks, trust in authorities and media, and journalistic working methods. The research is characterized by close dialogue with responsible authorities and editorial environments.

Central themes

• News evaluation, news reporting, and editorial practices during different types of social crises.
• Government agencies' strategic risk and crisis communication.
• Public reactions to risks and crises, communicative practices, information channels, and media use in connection with crises.
• The importance of communication and the media for society's transition between everyday life and crisis situations, and between different crisis situations.
• Media coverage and its importance for trust, responsibility, and recovery, as well as how society learns from crises and crisis management.
• How the emergence of digital media and apps is changing the conditions for society's crisis communication, and how new media technology is used by authorities/organizations, media, and the public in connection with risks and crises.