Pandemics and PSAs: Rapidly Changing Information in a New Media Landscape

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus a shift in the communication of health-related information. Traditionally, public service announcements (PSAs) consisted of video or radio messages, posters, or billboards created by government agencies and health organizations to provide information abou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health communication 2020-12, Vol.35 (14), p.1711-1714
Main Authors: Manganello, Jennifer, Bleakley, Amy, Schumacher, Patrick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Audiences
Billboards
Communication
Conspiracy
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
Credibility
Digital media
Dissemination
False information
Government agencies
Health care industry
Health Communication - methods
Health Communication - standards
Health education
Health information
Humans
Internet
Mass Media
Misinformation
Pandemics
Public service announcements
Radio
SARS-CoV-2
Social Media
Social networks
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus a shift in the communication of health-related information. Traditionally, public service announcements (PSAs) consisted of video or radio messages, posters, or billboards created by government agencies and health organizations to provide information about health topics. However, the widespread use of the internet and the growth of social media has changed PSA creation and dissemination in many ways. Increasingly, a variety of actors, including non-official sources and lay persons, have been using social media to disseminate PSAs or PSA-like content. Audiences are larger and more engaged with content, and users have the novel ability to interact with PSAs through shares, likes, or comments. While social media for health communication has many advantages, there are also a number of disadvantages including misinformation, conspiracy theories, bots, and trolls. Credibility of different sources has also become a topic of debate. An ongoing challenge during the pandemic has been reaching audiences in a crowded online environment, establishing authority as a trusted source, and countering misinformation. In this paper, we discuss how the media landscape is changing PSAs and the implications of these changes in the context of pandemics.
ISSN:1041-0236
1532-7027
DOI:10.1080/10410236.2020.1839192