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In:Manufacturing Dissent: Manipulation and counter-manipulation in times of crisis
Edited by Cornelia Ilie
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 339] 2024
► pp. 119–156

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Chapter 4
Maintaining political authority and credibility during the Covid-19 crisis

The case of Czech government press conferences

 | Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena
Published online: 17 January 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.339.04ber
Abstract
This article explores how communicative influence is instantiated through the analysis of situational settings, pragmatic means, and discursive strategies at the press conferences held by the Czech government during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis to maintain political authority and credibility. The analysis is informed by the rhetorical approach used in crisis communication studies and follows the tenets of corpus-assisted discourse studies (Taylor and Marchi 2018). It combines quantitative insights with qualitative close reading. The results point to the fact that the building and maintenance of authority and credibility is achieved by a positive depiction of one’s crisis management performance and by intensive blame management. In addition, there is a tendency towards strategic overcommunication which can hinder the understanding and critical scrutiny on the part of the audience.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Covid-19 crisis communication
    • 2.2Government pandemic communication
    • 2.3Government pandemic press conferences
    • 2.4Pandemic communicative influence
    • 2.5Discursive macro strategies
      • 2.5.1Legitimization/delegitimization
      • 2.5.2Blame avoidance and positive self-presentation
  • 3.Material and relevant contextual background
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Situational level
    • 5.2Pragmatic level: Pragmatic markers – Boosters and downtowners
    • 5.3Boosters: A close look
    • 5.4Downtoners: An illustrative look
    • 5.5Discursive strategies
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
  • Software
  • Corpora
  • Appendix
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