Crisis construction in the comtemporary communication environment: a dynamic, complex, and mis/disinformation-rich process

Abstract

Digital technologies have revolutionized the current media and communication ecosystem, changing the dynamics of information exchange during disruptive events. These changes, combined with the range of global crises and challenges that the world has been recently facing, warrant allocating the process of crisis communication greater scholarly attention. Against this background, a review of the crisis communication literature is herein conducted to identify the key features and emerging trends characteristic of the contemporary communication landscape and thereby contribute to informing future decision-making. The literature review unveiled the dynamic, complex, and mis/disinformation-dominated nature of modern crisis communication channels. Equally important, drawing on these observations, this research outlined two key recommendations for practitioners to upgrade their crisis communication practices and keep abreast of the changing media and information paradigms. On a theoretical plane, the article recommends a more practice-oriented approach to be adopted by future crisis communication studies, thus following a more prescriptive research agenda.