Communications in the Coronavirus Crisis: Lessons for the Second Wave

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic is a communications crisis in addition to being a public health emergency. In this report, based on the results of ten online panel surveys of UK respondents fielded from mid-April to mid-August 2020, we find that: (i) most people are relatively informed but large minority do not feel news media or the government have explained what they can do in response to the pandemic (ii) information inequality is growing as the crisis continues, and (iii) the ‘infodemically vulnerable’ are a small but significant and growing part of the UK public.

Keywords: news, knowledge, inequalities, UK, coronavirus, COVID-19