Around 60 percent of the population are with the
Confederation’s crisis communication during the pandemic satisfied. Distrust is generally greater in rural areas. This is shown by a study by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
In October 2020, a person installs a new orange BAG poster with rules of conduct when dealing with the corona virus on the Bundesplatz in Bern.
The Swiss population listened and watched as Alain Berset and Co. provided information about the pandemic. But how did she rate the crisis communication by the authorities and the media coverage?
The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts asked this question to over 1000 people – again and again from April 2020 to May 2022. The representative survey shows that the majority of Swiss people feel well informed. Around 60 percent are satisfied with the way they were addressed and informed by the federal government, cantons and media. This value corresponds to the yes shares in the past votes on the Covid 19 law.
In the group of those who are satisfied, the study distinguishes between those who are “uncertainly satisfied” (24 percent) and those who are “trustingly satisfied” (35 percent). The unsettled can imagine that the pandemic is a conspiracy. Those who trust, on the other hand, are sure that the government or the media are not withholding information from them.
Crisis communication from a population perspective
Four reaction types in relation to satisfaction with authorities and the media and affinity for belief in conspiracies
The other 41 percent of those surveyed are not satisfied with the Federal Council’s crisis communication. 24 percent of them think that the federal government and the cantons have not taken the needs of the population into account when making their decisions. According to the study, they also think the authorities have deliberately withheld scientific evidence to further their political agendas. They belong to the “objectively dissatisfied”.
The “suspicious dissatisfied” are convinced that the government deliberately spread misinformation. They make up 17 percent of those surveyed and have a strong affinity for conspiracy theories.
Age, level of education and place of residence influence evaluation
How respondents rate the authorities’ crisis communication depends on where they live, how educated they are and how old they are. Compared to the city, respondents in the countryside tend to believe that the authorities are deliberately misinforming and that there is actually a larger secret plan behind the pandemic. A Röstigraben cannot be identified.
The level of education also plays a role. Almost a quarter of those surveyed who only attended compulsory school or did an apprenticeship belong to the “suspiciously dissatisfied” group. For university graduates it is only 9 percent.
That is why the authors of the study, Laura Oswald and Marcel Zbinden, see the educational institutions as having a duty. School should learn earlier how to distinguish serious from dubious news sources and that one’s own news feed in social networks does not reflect reality, but largely reflects personal preferences.
Involve dissidents in the decision-making process
Respondents who were particularly affected by the pandemic tend to be among the dissatisfied. The self-employed are suffering more from the economic consequences of the pandemic than employees, which is why they are also more suspicious.
The same applies to the age groups. The young feel more restricted in their everyday life by lockdowns and other measures than the old. That’s why the under-30s are the most dissatisfied of all age groups with crisis communication and the associated consequences, according to the study.
Laura Oswald and Marcel Zbinden are convinced that there are always needs, hardships and fears behind every belief. That is why they advocate including those who think differently in the decision-making process. Ideally, this rapprochement should not only take place in times of crisis, but beforehand – as a preventative measure.
“In the last two years, the federal government and the Corona Task Force have tried to convince the population with scientific facts. However, people who do not trust the government for ideological reasons are hardly receptive to scientific facts,” says Zbinden.