Voices in government crisis communication in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic : A rhetorical arena perspective

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore the discursive and communicative choices made in the United States’ government crisis communication during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2023). The article investigates government crisis communication from the perspective of the rhetorical arena theory (RAT, Frandsen & Johansen 2017). In our analysis, we ask whose voices are present in the crisis communication and how these voices are used to achieve the authorities’ rhetorical aims. The method of the study was a qualitative discourse analysis of press releases and official guidance documents published on the websites of the U.S. Department of State (DoS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2020–2023. The results show that the rhetorical sub-arenas include a wide variety of different voices and actors. The two arenas overlap in terms of voices of authorities, politicians, and media, but each sub-arena carries the institutional characteristics of their publishers. While the CDC highlights the voices of authorities and experts offering information and encouraging people to follow their guidance, the DoS brings to the front the voices of politicians legitimating the role of the United States on the global scene and government decisions in the national context. The ways of using different discursive and rhetorical techniques on each arena are strategic choices by the authorities and form essential tools for their crisis communication.