Comparative Analysis of Government Health Communication During Crises: Insights from Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Kingdom

Abstract

The year 2020 will always be remembered as ‘the whole world shut down’ year that pushed governments to adopt stringent emergency response measures. A crucial aspect of managing such crises is effective public communication by governments and relevant stakeholders. This study explores government communication during health crises, using COVID-19 as a case study. Specifically, it examines how government officials in Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the United Kingdom utilized the X platform to engage with the public during the pandemic. Drawing on Su et al. (2022), this research also aims to provide insights into strategies that health officials can use to enhance communication with government officials and media professionals.

Through content analysis of a substantial dataset from three representative healthcare X accounts, covering the first five months of 2020, the study identifies four key message types—reassuring, informational, encouraging, and communicative—as the most recurrent across these accounts. Variations in the frequency of these message types were observed among the accounts, along with both commonalities and differences in post characteristics across the three countries. This research contributes to understanding how different governments leveraged social media to manage public communication during a global health crisis suggesting some practicing implications for governments, health organizations, and practitioners.