When communist propaganda meets western public relations: Examining Vietnam’s government pandemic communication

IF 2.7 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Public Relations Inquiry Pub Date : 2023-12-08 DOI:10.1177/2046147x231218310

Thu Luong Le, Elena Block

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This article explores the communication strategies used by Vietnam’s communist government during the earlier phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. What makes this case worth studying is the examination of Vietnam’s hybridised use of Western public relations strategies with communist propaganda and the fluctuating, emphasis on one or the other depending on the outbreak’s implications. While Vietnam was praised as a pandemic hero in 2020, thanks in part to some academic and news media representations of the Vietnam government as an effective communicator, this perception changed when the Delta variant hit the country. What happened? Which communication strategies changed? Which remained? To answer these questions, we used a mixed qualitative method consisting of a case study and manual and computational thematic analyses of government and news media and social media texts to identify the strategies and themes that were dominant during the first COVID-19 outbreaks. This study helps to throw light on the effectiveness but also the problems that may arise from a mixed use of public relations and propaganda strategies during a global pandemic; it also raises questions about the need to build a country-specific pandemic communication framework as well as to rethink theories and uses of propaganda vis-à-vis PR today.

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当共产主义宣传遇上西方公共关系：考察越南政府的大流行病传播

本文探讨了越南共产党政府在COVID-19大流行的早期阶段使用的沟通策略。这个案例之所以值得研究，是因为越南将西方公共关系策略与共产主义宣传相结合，并根据疫情的影响，反复强调其中一种策略。虽然越南在2020年被称赞为流行病英雄，部分原因是一些学术和新闻媒体将越南政府描述为有效的沟通者，但当德尔塔型病毒袭击该国时，这种看法发生了变化。发生了什么事?哪些沟通策略发生了变化?保持?为了回答这些问题，我们使用了一种混合定性方法，包括案例研究以及对政府、新闻媒体和社交媒体文本的手动和计算专题分析，以确定在首次COVID-19爆发期间占主导地位的战略和主题。这项研究有助于阐明在全球大流行期间混合使用公共关系和宣传战略的有效性，但也可能产生问题;它还提出了一些问题，即需要建立一个针对具体国家的大流行病传播框架，并重新思考今天通过-à-vis公共关系进行宣传的理论和用途。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Public Relations Inquiry COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

11.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Public Relations Inquiry is an international, peer-reviewed journal for conceptual, reflexive and critical discussion on public relations, supporting debates on new ways of thinking about public relations in social, cultural and political contexts, in order to improve understanding of its work and effects beyond the purely organisational realm. We interpret public relations in a broad sense, recognising the influence of public relations practices on the many forms of contemporary strategic, promotional communication initiated by organisations, institutions and individuals. The practice of public relations arises at points of societal and organisational change and transformation, affecting many aspects of political, economic, social and cultural life. Reflecting this, we aim to mobilize research that speaks to a scholars in diverse fields and welcome submissions from any area that speak to the purpose of the journal, including (but not only) public relations, organizational communication, media and journalism studies, cultural studies, anthropology, political communication, sociology, organizational studies, development communication, migration studies, visual communication, management and marketing, digital media and data studies. We actively seek contributions that can extend the range of perspectives used to understand public relations, its role in societal change and continuity, and its impact on cultural and political life. We particularly welcome multi-disciplinary debate about the communication practices that shape major human concerns, including: globalisation, politics, and public relations in international communication migration, refugees, displaced populations terrorism, public diplomacy public and corporate governance diversity and cultural impacts of PR the natural and built environments Communication, space and place The development and practices of major industries such as health, food, sport, tourism, technology.