Communication Efforts from the Saudi Ministry of Health and Saudi Media Coverage of the Coronavirus Pandemic - Case Study Example

Abstract

A mysterious outbreak of pneumonia was reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and the pathogen was identified as SARS-CoV-2, commonly referred to as the coronavirus. The disease soon spread across the world, and the WHO classified the outbreak as a pandemic. The pandemic resulted in a health crisis and also severe devastation of the world economy. Many businesses were closed, and millions lost their jobs. It soon became a global issue receiving extensive coverage from the media. Governments in many countries through ministries of health have partnered with the media to offer updates on the pandemic and run campaigns to fight off the disease. The Saudi government has been giving daily updates through press conferences where the ministry shares statistics on the status of the disease, such as new cases, recoveries, and fatalities. Also, the ministry has been using its website https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/Pages/default.aspx and Twitter account to educate and update the public (SaudiMOH, 2020). It also works closely with the media to communicate on covid-19 outbreak's essential issues (MOH, 2020). This article will seek to study communication efforts from the Saudi Ministry of Health and Saudi Media Coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. The case studies in this research will be the report titled Effective Communication Practices in managing the Corona Pandemic Crisis 2020 by Abdul-Malek Al-shalhoob, and Saudi media Practices during the Corona Crisis by Majed Aljuraywi and Meshel Alweil.

Goal

The goal of this research is to highlight the communication efforts and practices of the Saudi Ministry of Health through their dealings with the media during the corona pandemic.

Methods of research

The method of research will mostly involve qualitative research, monitoring and analysis based on published scientific studies and follow-up of the Ministry of Health website and account in Twitter and Saudi media.

Questions

• What are the communication efforts that the Ministry Of Health has made to educate people in Saudi Arabia? 
• What is the role of the Saudi media in covering the Coronavirus crisis and have they been helped to educate society? 
• What is the most followed media from the Saudis to receive news and instructions according to the studies in Saudi Arabia?

Introduction

The media and the ministries of public health in different countries worldwide have been on the front line in informing the public about the status of the coronavirus pandemic and the safety precautions to control the spread of the disease. These ministries in many parts of the world have consistently furnished the World Health Organization (WHO) with information that assists the organization to know the status of the pandemic worldwide. Different governments, through their ministries of public health, have been carrying covid-19 tests, and they have been relaying that information to the media. Most governments have been giving daily updates about the number of tests conducted, number of people infected, the status of infection whether severe or mild, number of people recovered, and number of fatalities from coronavirus infection. This information is relayed through press conferences, tweets, and also through governments' websites. A case study of Saudi Arabia indicates that the Saudi government has been sharing this information with the media since the pandemic affected the country.

Most governments have partnered with the media to update and inform the public. The media has played a critical role in keeping the public updated about the spread of the disease as well as educating the public on safety precautions and also other useful information from the government and other organizations like the WHO. Some media houses around the world have even donated some of their airtime and space to run anti-covid-19 campaigns. It is through the media that the information from the governments reaches the public and the public uses this information to stay safe from the pandemic and the public is also equipped with information on how to handle positive cases. The Saudi Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Saudi media, has successfully used effective communication as a strategy to improve resilience and response to covid-19.

Literature Review

A government has the responsibility to offer leadership during crises such as during a pandemic. Although there are many sectors that are involved in disaster preparedness and response, it is the government that takes the central role and runs overall coordination and communication efforts. During a disaster such as a pandemic, there are significant roles played by individuals, families, communities, private sectors, international organizations and other entities, and it is the government that is mandated with ensuring coordination and direction of these efforts, and ensures centralized communication to ensure accuracy of information and minimize confusion. Effective communication is crucial in enhancing response to a pandemic and building resilience.

The role of the government in fighting a pandemic is crucial and can highly determine the impact of a pandemic on a population. The ministry of health plays a natural leadership and advocacy role in enhancing preparedness and response. Effective communication prepares the population to fight the pandemic and ensures a better mitigation and response efforts. Consistent and accurate information are important parts of preparedness and response. Fuzzy communication can create confusion and lack of trust in the government’s ability to handle the pandemic, which can aggravate the pandemic. The ministry has a responsibility of providing reliable information on the risk, severity, progression of the pandemic and effectiveness of interventions made. Also, the ministry has a duty to raise awareness, offer guidance on actions required and potential consequences of the pandemic. These roles are executed through policies and effective communication is important for these policies to function.

It is essential for policymakers to consider effective communication during a health crisis such as the covid 19 pandemic. However, many policymakers concentrate on quarantines, medical supplies and travel restrictions and often forget to plan for communication. Past experience have proven that effective communication increases public compliance with the government’s directives, and this compliance helps in saving lives and reducing progression of the disease. A robust crisis communication infrastructure allows centralization of key functions and it improves pandemic response.

The media offers an intermediary between the government and the public and it is the media that conveys government’s information and directives to the public. The government also receives feedback and concerns raised by the public from the media. The media and particularly the mainstream media breaks down complex information to increase comprehension and subsequently compliance. The media can also repeatedly run placed ads and these ads can increase the public’s understanding about the pandemic and increase compliance. Some media houses host experts on public health issues who put things into perspective and such information helps in helping the public understand about the pandemic and the response. The media therefore plays a significant role in educating the public and building resilience. Broadcasting of alerts, warnings, and advisories is important in supplying the required information to the intended audience. Effective communication from the media too is critical in enhancing response.

The media can also stimulate and influence people to give donations that could be much required during a pandemic. By giving experts a forum to speak and share their knowledge, the media can share information with the public that could be used to improve government’s response to the pandemic. Many pandemics and other disasters are also accompanied with counterproductive information and the media can play a significant role in withholding and dismissing such information, and therefore protecting the public from consumption of any information that may impede response to the pandemic. The media is important in providing the truth and dispelling any rumors that could cause panic and stress. Rumors also often contain misleading information that could be counterproductive in the fight against the pandemic and the media as a role to clarify information and ensure the public only consumes accurate, factual, and reliable information.

However, the media can also play a negative part that could impede preparedness and response to a pandemic such as the covid-19. Taking a subjectivist stand on a pandemic can result to the media playing a counterproductive role which might result to increased panic, craze, and collective stress. The media can politicize a disaster and complicate further preparedness and complex which might enhance progression of the pandemic. Politicizing a pandemic can put pressure on decision-makers and disaster managers to explain and justify whatever they do in responding to the pandemic. Lack of effective communication from the government can increase chances for the media to wrongfully assume the roles of experts, emergency workers and whistleblowers. Assumption of these roles by the media can potentially derail preparedness and response. Negative role of the media during a pandemic can occur by a media house perpetuating myths, reporting in a way that creates stress, obstructing pandemic managers, politicizing pandemic management, and passing blame. Such actions by the media can impede pandemic management and result to progression of the pandemic.

Methods

The method of research will mostly involve qualitative research, monitoring and analysis based on published scientific studies and follow-up of the Ministry of Health website and account in Twitter and Saudi media. This method of research will involve asking open ended questions to people through conversational communication that will be guided by questionnaires. All answers will be recorded and analyzed. These questions will be asked on one-on-one interview, case study research, and focus groups. The questions will record individual responses, beliefs and opinions.

Discussion

The Saudi Ministry of Health has assumed the leading role in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and communicating to the people about the safety precautions and progression of the pandemic. The ministry has established a Command and Control Center that takes the central role in communicating all important information on covid-19. There is a ministry website that publishes daily updates on covid-19 virus and also information on virus infection guidelines (MOH, 2020). The information is freely accessible and visual aids in form of graphs are availed and, therefore, the Saudi government is open and transparent in information pertaining to covid-19 pandemic. The public can access this information on https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/Pages/default.aspx (MOH, 2020). The website has a detailed booklet offering coronavirus disease guidelines that is constantly updated as per the guidelines on the WHO. The booklet can be accessed at https://covid19.cdc.gov.sa/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/COVID-19-Coronavirus-Disease-Guidelines-en.pdf (MOH, 2020). This information is essential in improving preparedness and response to the disease and, therefore, the Saudi Ministry of Health has done remarkably well in providing the necessary information to its citizens.

Another strategy used by Saudi Ministry of Health is the use of the social media particularly Twitter and Facebook to reach out to its citizens. The ministry uses these platforms to regularly communicate on the progression of the covid-19 pandemic as well as keeping the public updated on the progression of the disease and also educating the public on coronavirus guidelines. Use of these platforms increases accessibility to information and more people get educated about the disease. This dissemination of information is essential in fighting the pandemic and increased raise of awareness improves compliance which helps in promoting desirable behavior. The ministry’s twitter handle can be accessed on https://twitter.com/SaudiMOH, while the Facebook platform is accessible through https://web.facebook.com/SaudiMOH/?_rdc=1&_rdr (SaudiMOH, 2020). Social media platforms are helps in reaching more people with increased access to the internet.

Use of communication to enhance preparedness and response to coronavirus pandemic in Saudi is also evident in the ministry issuance of daily updates through media briefings. The ministry formed a response team with a spokesman and the team is responsible for offering daily briefings to the media on the progression of the virus and they also use this chance to reiterate on the necessary health precautions as well as reporting on the effectiveness of these methods in fighting the pandemic. The press members also use these press conferences to ask questions and the response team get a chance to reply. Most of these media briefings are aired live and therefore most of Saudi citizens can access the information from the ministry in the media (Aljuraywi & Alweil, 2020). The Saudi Ministry of Health has therefore done remarkably well is availing the necessary information on covid-19 to the public. It is evident that the ministry has tried to use as many outlets as possible to reach the public. Effective communication has helped in raising awareness and it has significantly improved preparedness and response in the country.

Saudi media has played a remarkable role in offering a clear response to the coronavirus outbreak. The media took the outbreak seriously from the onset and it has remained objective in covering the coronavirus pandemic and educating the public. Unlike some media houses in some other parts of the world and particularly the western world, Saudi media has remained objective in covering the pandemic and they have desisted from any attempt to sensationalize or politicize the pandemic (Al-shalhoob, 2020). The media has been at the forefront in educating the public about staying safe from the coronavirus disease. One example is the Jeddah-based Arab News, which is the largest English newspaper in the region. The newspaper has modified its twitter logo to appear partially covered with a facemask to symbolize the importance of a facemask in fighting the pandemic.

Mainstream media houses in Saudi have been running ads since the outbreak of the virus to help raise awareness and knowledge required to manage the pandemic. Studies have shown that majority of Saudi’s population are well knowledgeable about covid-19 disease and the media has played a significant role in building this knowledge. Also, the population have taken positively the measures given to stop spreading of the virus and majority have an optimistic attitude about overcoming the disease (Al-shalhoob, 2020). This knowledge and optimism can be traced to responsible reporting from the Saudi media and it would have not been the case if the media had chosen to politicize and sensationalize the pandemic. The media has contributed significantly in enhancing compliance to the covid-19 regulations and thereby improving response and success in managing the pandemic. This objectivity has promoted safety responses such as wearing of facemasks, washing hands, keeping social distance and staying at home policy. Studies have shown that Al Aribiya is the most followed media house in providing information on covid-19.

Conclusion

The Saudi has responded relatively well to the global covid-19 pandemic despite the country neighboring one of the global coronavirus disease epicenters. The response shows excellent leadership and effective communication from the government is one the reasons the country has demonstrated resilience in the face of a health crisis. The Saudi government has protected its people’s interests since the outbreak of the virus and it has labored to ensure its citizens are provided with essential information required to manage the health crisis. The Saudi Ministry of Health adopted effective communication as one of the strategies of coronavirus pandemic response and this communication has enhanced preparedness and response. The ministry has ensured adequate and effective communication since the outbreak through different outlets such as social media platforms, ministry’s website and media briefings. This communication strategy has played a significant part in improving resilience and the country provides valuable lessons to the rest of the world. The media in Saudi has also demonstrated responsible reporting and the media has played a significant part in improving the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The media has remained objective and desisted from sensationalizing and politicizing the pandemic which can cause panic and result to increased progression of the pandemic. The joint efforts between the government and the media in Saudi has helped in protecting lives and managing the pandemic. Effective communication is therefore critical in managing a pandemic and governments should invest in building strong communication system to improve preparedness and response to a pandemic.

Most governments have partnered with the media to update and inform the public. The media has played a critical role in keeping the public updated about the spread of the disease as well as educating the public on safety precautions and also other useful information from the government and other organizations like the WHO. Some media houses around the world have even donated some of their airtime and space to run anti-covid-19 campaigns. It is through the media that the information from the governments reaches the public and the public uses this information to stay safe from the pandemic and the public is also equipped with information on how to handle positive cases. The Saudi Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Saudi media, has successfully used effective communication as a strategy to improve resilience and response to covid-19.

Literature Review

A government has the responsibility to offer leadership during crises such as during a pandemic. Although there are many sectors that are involved in disaster preparedness and response, it is the government that takes the central role and runs overall coordination and communication efforts. During a disaster such as a pandemic, there are significant roles played by individuals, families, communities, private sectors, international organizations and other entities, and it is the government that is mandated with ensuring coordination and direction of these efforts, and ensures centralized communication to ensure accuracy of information and minimize confusion. Effective communication is crucial in enhancing response to a pandemic and building resilience.

The role of the government in fighting a pandemic is crucial and can highly determine the impact of a pandemic on a population. The ministry of health plays a natural leadership and advocacy role in enhancing preparedness and response. Effective communication prepares the population to fight the pandemic and ensures a better mitigation and response efforts. Consistent and accurate information are important parts of preparedness and response. Fuzzy communication can create confusion and lack of trust in the government’s ability to handle the pandemic, which can aggravate the pandemic. The ministry has a responsibility of providing reliable information on the risk, severity, progression of the pandemic and effectiveness of interventions made. Also, the ministry has a duty to raise awareness, offer guidance on actions required and potential consequences of the pandemic. These roles are executed through policies and effective communication is important for these policies to function.

It is essential for policymakers to consider effective communication during a health crisis such as the covid 19 pandemic. However, many policymakers concentrate on quarantines, medical supplies and travel restrictions and often forget to plan for communication. Past experience have proven that effective communication increases public compliance with the government’s directives, and this compliance helps in saving lives and reducing progression of the disease. A robust crisis communication infrastructure allows centralization of key functions and it improves pandemic response.

The media offers an intermediary between the government and the public and it is the media that conveys government’s information and directives to the public. The government also receives feedback and concerns raised by the public from the media. Read More