Trust and distrust in Sweden´s Covid-19 management: The pandemic rhetoric project extended (PAR-EX)

It is well known that trust is important in risk communication, but how it is shaped communicatively in today´s digital, multifaceted media society is relatively unexplored.

Sweden´s management of and risk communication regarding the Covid-19 pandemic raise these issues to the highest degree.

The project therefore aims to analyze the communicative mechanisms involved in the emergence of trust and distrust in relation to Sweden´s management of the pandemic. The project is an extension of the Scandinavian project Pandemic Rhetoric (PAR), hence the name PAR-EX.

The new project takes its departure in the studies of Swedish authorities´ communication strategies that are in focus in the Swedish part of PAR.

The unique contribution of PAR-EX is that it then explores how these communication activities in Sweden are represented in news media and interpreted by citizens, with special focus on how trust and distrust are clarified or indicated and reasons why these positions are taken.

The methods span news material and text analysis as well as focus group interviews and, throughout, a dialogical understanding of different actors´ situations, communicative problems and strategies, as well as dilemmas. The output of PAR-EX will be two peer-review publications and a popular science report.

To ensure learning from the project, dissemination activities consist of expanding the network of stakeholders in Sweden, the popular science report and two seminars for stakeholders.