From Scaremongering to Messages of Hope: How State Authorities in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe Framed the COVID-19 Crisis on Facebook

Abstract

As Africa’s internet penetration rates increase, and a significant portion of the continent’s population turns to social media as a source of news, platforms like Facebook are increasingly becoming crucial for political, public health, and risk communication. Thus, it is useful to gain insights into how state authorities are using these platforms to communicate with citizens especially in times of crisis. This study sought to examine how state authorities in Ethiopia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe framed public crisis communication on Facebook during the COVID-19 lockdowns in the respective countries. Qualitative content analysis of Facebook posts by the state authorities in the four countries over a six-week period before and after the COVID-19 lockdowns yielded several frames or strategies employed by authorities in the case countries. These included; education, caution, cooperation, government measures, hope, nationalism, and scaremongering. Other frames included impact, militarisation, politicisation, and religion. The analysis establishes, as in several other countries, Facebook as a current and strategic choice in state-spearheaded crisis communication. Whereas the main frames were globally and regionally driven, other frames encapsulated national contexts drawing on national histories, patriotism, hopes and fears that sometimes seemed contradictory and capricious.

Citation

Dralega, C.A., Amia, P., Kidanu, G.B., Santigie, K.B., Mpala, D.K. and Osei, W.K. (2022), "From Scaremongering to Messages of Hope: How State Authorities in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe Framed the COVID-19 Crisis on Facebook", Dralega, C.A. and Napakol, A. (Ed.) COVID-19 and the Media in Sub-Saharan Africa: Media Viability, Framing and Health Communication, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 127-143. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-271-620221009