Spreading (Dis)Trust: Covid-19 Misinformation and Government Intervention in Italy

The commentary focuses on the spread of Covid-19 misinformation in Italy, highlighting the dynamics that have impacted on its pandemic communication. Italy has recently been affected by a progressive erosion of trust in public institutions and a general state of information crisis regarding matters of health and science. In this context, the politicization of health issues and a growing use of social media to confront the Coronavirus “infodemic” have led the Italian Ministry of Health to play a strategic role in using its official Facebook page to mitigate the spread of misinformation and to offer updates to online publics. Despite this prompt intervention, which increased the visibility and reliability of public health communication, coordinated efforts involving different institutions, media and digital platform companies still seem necessary to reduce the impact of misinformation, as using a multichannel strategy helps avoid increasing social and technological disparities at a time of crisis

The overlooked public: examining citizens’ perceptions of and perceived role in hosting mega-events

This research aims to answer questions about how citizens perceive the hosting of mega-events, how they view their role in interacting with foreign visitors (e.g., person-to-person diplomacy), and to what extent they communicate in support of, or against, their country’s mega-event efforts. By focusing inward and examining citizen perceptions and communicative actions, this research expands the work that has been done around nation branding and the impact of hosting mega-events, which usually foregrounds the response of foreign publics. Internal/citizen publics are largely overlooked and bear great importance from a communication, public relations, and public diplomacy standpoint. A convenience sample of 426 Italian citizens completed the online survey. Results indicate that citizens who placed high importance on their interactions with foreigners reported significantly higher scores on attitudes toward Italy hosting the World Exposition (Expo), positive megaphoning behaviors about Italy hosting the Expo and perceived themselves as ambassadors during the mega-event. The findings highlight that the important role citizens can play as ambassadors, both of their country and on behalf of the mega-event. Their megaphoning behavior and perception of the importance of interacting with foreign visitors have the potential to magnify the positive impact of hosting mega-events both internally and abroad. Introduction A variety of scholars in public relations and public diplomacy have considered the role of mega-events and the impacts they have for hosting and participating countries (e.g., Kim et al. 2014; Muller 2015; Wang 2013). Mega-events can be defined as, “ambulatory occasions of a fixed duration that attract a large number of visitors, have a large mediated reach, come with large costs, and have large impacts on the built environment and the population” (Muller 2015, p. 634). Much of the related public relations and public diplomacy research focus primarily on the ways in which hosting mega-events (i.e., World Expos, World Cups, the Olympics) builds, improves, or expands the perception foreign and external publics have of the hosting country (Grix and Houlihan 2014; Wang 2013). Some explore the ways foreign countries present themselves to host countries (e.g., the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, Wang 2013). However, despite Muller’s (2015) definition citing large impacts on the population of the host country, little scholarship examines citizens’ perceptions of mega-events or their perceived roles related to them

Le ibridazioni della comunicazione pubblica. Percorsi di ricerca e pratiche comunicative tra digitalizzazione e crisi pandemica

The article investigates the transformations that have involved public communication, conceived both as a discipline and as an organizational function, following the processes of digitization and social media adoption, as well as the impact of the pandemic. In particular, it highlights the hybridizations of institutional communication, connecting the main research streams with the critical analysis of emerging communicative practices between administrations, citizens and the media in digital environments. The article focuses on three specific areas in which hybridity is extremely visible, outlining trajectories of innovation in the Italian public sector: the areas of public communication, the professional communicative roles, and communication formats. Research tracks and practical implications for communicators are discussed

When public health communication intertwines with social media logic. A Focus on the Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

During recent years, public health organizations have faced the challenges of digitization, adopting new communication practices. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on this process, accelerating the digitization of healthcare communication. In this context, utilizing a theoretical framework that intertwines health communication and social media studies, this article investigates how local health authorities located in Lombardy (North of Italy) managed COVID-19 pandemic on their Facebook pages during the first phase of the emergency. The findings highlight the growing number of COVID-19 posts in the pages and a significant response from social media users in terms of interactions and engagement, reiterating the strategic role of these organizations in healthcare communication. Furthermore, they reveal a gradual adaptation of health communication to the dynamics of social media, especially in terms of popularity, programmability, and connectivity. The emergence of a platform-based approach to healthcare communication is also discussed

Re-Connecting Voices. The (New) Strategic Role of Public Sector Communication After the Covid-19 Crisis

This article aims to investigate the evolution of public sector communication before and after the Covid-19 crisis that has strongly impacted governmental institutions, public policy, contemporary society, and media ecologies. After a review of the main characteristics of public sector communication, the article proposes an interpretative and dynamic model to better understand the new challenges for public institutions. The model introduces ethics as the new, primary driver for public sector communication to surround all decisions, pointing out the need for transparent, authentic participation and dialogue to build trust. Focusing on two dimensions (trust/distrust, openness/closedness), the authors investigate the main trajectories of change for public sector communication, conceiving the three pillars of open government (transparency, participation and collaboration) as strategic values for improving the quality and efficacy of communication. In this time of uncertainty, the new trajectories of communication should fully embrace an ethical approach in order to become resilient, able to respond to citizens' needs and expectations, and to maintain responsible relationships with media, varied strategic publics, and a rapidly changing global community

RE-CONNECTING VOICES. The (New) Strategic Role of Public Sector Communication After the Covid-19 crisis

This article aims to investigate the evolution of public sector communication before and after the Covid-19 crisis that has strongly impacted governmental institutions, public policy, contemporary society, and media ecologies. After a review of the main characteristics of public sector communication, the article proposes an interpretative and dynamic model to better understand the new challenges for public institutions. The model introduces ethics as the new, primary driver for public sector communication to surround all decisions, pointing out the need for transparent, authentic participation and dialogue to build trust. Focusing on two dimensions (trust/distrust, openness/closedness), the authors investigate the main trajectories of change for public sector communication, conceiving the three pillars of open government (transparency, participation and collaboration) as strategic values for improving the quality and efficacy of communication. In this time of uncertainty, the new trajectories of communication should fully embrace an ethical approach in order to become resilient, able to respond to citizens\u2019 needs and expectations, and to maintain responsible relationships with media, varied strategic publics, and a rapidly changing global community

La comunicazione pubblica della salute tra infodemia e fake news: il ruolo della pagina Facebook del Ministero della Salute nella sfida social al Covid-19

The year 2020 will be remembered as the year of Covid-19 pandemic, but also as the year of the infodemic, a condition of overabundance of information, some accurate and some not, that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance. The state of uncertainty determined by an unknown virus has fueled citizens’ need for reassurance, and therefore for knowledge and information. Italy has faced the health and information epidemic in a context of general mistrust in institutions and dealing with a cacophony of discordant voices. In this problematic context, the Italian Ministry of Health has taken steps to assume a key role from a communicative point of view to respond to the growing requests of citizens and the media, and stem the myriad of inaccurate information circulating online. Given the relevance of social media for the circulation of false news and the popularity of Facebook in Italy, the Ministry's Facebook page has played a central role in communicative practices for managing the infodemic. Using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, in this article we analyze all the posts (N = 459) published on the official Facebook page of the Italian Ministry of Health during the emergency phase, from 30 January to May 3, 2020, the day of the end of the country's lockdown and start of the so-called phase 2. Results show that during the pandemic the Ministry's Facebook page has turned into a thematic page almost completely dedicated to dealing with the emergency, with 93,5% of the messages focused on Covid-19. The fight against fake news has also been highly relevant, with 12,3% of the messages on the topic. Infographics have been the most used type of visual (58%) to counteract fake news. We identified two types of infographic aimed 1) at countering misinformation by tackling and debunking specific fake news, and 2) at raising awareness of the public problem and of the importance of using reliable sources of information. Messages containing infographics reached a significantly higher engagement than other types of messages, showing up as the most effective format to reach the public on Facebook during the pandemic. Starting from the empirical evidence of this study, implications for improving public health communication strategies and practices in forthcoming emergencies are critically discusse

Ripensare il cyberbullismo tra social media e messaggi d'odio. Pratiche, ibridazioni e trattorie di ricerca

L’articolo risponde alle recenti preoccupazioni per la crescita dei messaggi d’odio nel dibattito pubblico online, che coinvolge attori differenti tra cui gli stessi rappresentanti politici. Concentrandosi in particolare sui giovani, si propo-ne di esaminare il fenomeno del cyberbullismo all’interno di un framework più ampio, in grado di collegare i comportamenti bullizzanti alla crescita di inciviltà nel discorso pubblico. La ricognizione teorica su incivility e cyberbullismo mo-stra aree di sovrapposizione a conferma del fatto che non si tratta di fenomeni individuali ma che riguardano l’intera società. L’articolo identifica traiettorie di ricerca e interventi utili a contrastarne la diffusione pervasiva.The article addresses issues in response to the concern about the growth of hate messages in online public debate which involves different actors including politicians. Focusing in particular on young people, it aims at examining cyberbullying within a broader framework, linking the bullying behavior to the growth of incivility in public discourse, especially on social media. The theoretical overview of incivility and cyberbullying shows areas of overlap, confirming the fact that these are not individual phenomena, but they affect the whole society. The article identifies trajectories of research, as well as useful interventions to counteract their pervasive spread

A critical analysis of the digitization of healthcare communication in the EU: a comparison of Italy, Finland, Norway, and Spain

This article provides a critical analysis of the digitization of healthcare communication in Italy, Finland, Norway, and Spain. Particularly, we focus on organizational communication and interactions among institutions, providers, and patients. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on data collected between January and May 2019 from (a) documents and policies and (b) interviews in each country with health-related key experts. Results indicate that Finland and Norway are closer than Italy and Spain to the EU discourse concerning the digitization of healthcare communication. Despite what we see as two roads of innovation, all four countries share problems such as the transition toward patient-centered care and the standardization of e-services at different levels. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated these practices since March 2020, this article suggests that European digitization of healthcare is undergoing rapid change that warrants broader analysis