Perspectives on Crisis Communication During the Pandemic in Nordic Countries

On 5 March, 2021 from 4-6pm (CET) the ECREA Crisis Communication Section will host the second in our Crisis2021 series focusing on a panel discussion of distinguished scholars from across Scandinavia exploring the comparisons and comparative outcomes from Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

The Nordic countries are in many ways similar in terms of political and media system. Nevertheless, they have chosen different strategies in managing the corona virus pandemic. Denmark, Norway and Finland followed many other countries in “shutting down” the society, combined with widespread testing and tracing infection contacts. Sweden chose a somewhat different strategy in rejecting lockdown and focus in “flattening the curve” and in comparison to other countries had the restrictive measures a light touch and relied on citizens voluntary adapting regulations about social distancing and other measures. Crisis communication was also organized differently, not at least in that politicians played a more prominent role in communicating the crisis in Denmark, Finland and Norway. A year after the pandemic started we see very different outcomes, not at least in that Sweden has a much higher death toll compared to the other Nordic countries. The panel will discuss similarities and differences in crisis communication in terms of the crisis management perspective, media frames, and citizens’ response.

Here is more detailed information about the session and speakers and to register to attend the event.