Volume 70 (2022): Issue 3 (August 2022)

Audiences exist in highly personalised, high-choice media environments built on a hybrid of established traditional brands and informal digital networks. Officials trying to reach the public must navigate such spaces, but public reluctance to consume news coverage is a challenge for health and government officials when trying to communicate with and inform the public during a national health crisis like Covid-19. Based on a representative survey (N=2,031) from the 2021 Reuters Digital News Report, this article focuses on Irish audiences’ information sources during the pandemic; in particular, how government and political sources were used and perceived. The article is a secondary analysis of the data set and focuses on three questions from the survey related to (i) sources of information about Covid-19, (ii) concern about sources of false or misleading information about Covid-19, and (iii) sources of local information about politics and local updates on Covid-19. The article finds that official sources were relatively effective in being heard, and that health agencies like the Health Service Executive and the National Public Health Emergency Team were more salient than politicians, suggesting the pandemic was perhaps apolitical in the eyes of the public, which is often a key strategy for effective crisis communication. Politicians and government actors also succeeded in not being perceived as the main source of concern in terms of false or misleading information, as audiences were more worried about activists. The article also reiterates the importance of health officials reaching out beyond traditional news distribution channels to engage groups who may not access news through traditional channels.

This paper explores the nature of newspaper coverage of ‘cocooning’ as a public health measure at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in Ireland in 2020. The study, which focuses on coverage in The Irish Times, shows that the number of human-interest-framed articles on cocooning was approximately four times greater than the number of informative ones. This suggests that the proportion of human-interest and emotive stories diluted the volume of informative articles. The findings also point to an absence of significant official voices in the coverage of cocooning, such as key ministerial figures, which may have contributed to knowledge gaps. There was also a discernible gender bias, not just in experts quoted but also in the journalists who wrote news and feature articles. The study offers important lessons for government communication strategies in how important public information is provided to target groups.

Climate change is acknowledged as a pressing – even existential – problem for societies around the world. Despite the growing body of scientific evidence concerning the extent and impacts of climate change, meaningful policy responses have not been forthcoming. Actors and organisations intent on preventing or diluting policies around climate action have adapted their discursive strategies, moving from outright denial of the reality of climate change to focus on discourses of distraction and delay. Taking the case of parliamentary debates and media coverage of the 2021 Climate Action Bill, this research examines the extent to which these discourses are prevalent in Ireland. We find that discourses of delay were present, both in Dáil debates and in the media. We discuss the influence of these discourses on later interventions which affected the implementation of provisions of the Bill and may delay transformative climate action.

This article seeks to add to the growing body of research into government-led nation branding initiatives by examining a specific case study as the driver of a new nation brand strategy for Ireland. Drawing on interviews with senior government officials, policy advisors and brand marketing executives, the author examines the ‘Global Ireland 2025’ initiative and Ireland’s campaign to win a UN Security Council seat. The findings indicate that some important building blocks of a new nation brand initiative have been put in place, most notably around government policy, leadership and resources. But in the absence of meaningful citizen and stakeholder engagement, the author questions the authenticity of the new nation brand strategy. This article argues that without meaningful collaboration, Global Ireland 2025 risks losing the opportunity to be more than just another promotional exercise.