“Let's start with the basics of the virus”: Engaging the public in two forms of explainers

Abstract

Explainers are a relatively new genre increasingly used to provide readers with background information, disseminate specialised knowledge and enhance public outreach. These functions were particularly crucial during the Covid-19 pandemic which demanded accurate and widespread health-related information to counter considerable social media disinformation. Based on 81 academic and 81 popular explainers on the topic of Covid-19, we explore how writers employ a range of engagement features to assist them to hook and inform readers of important public health information. The results reveal considerable use of engagement features in both forms of the genre as a way of establishing interpersonal rapport with audiences to better inform them of key issues. Popular explainers contained more features overall and had higher frequencies of reader-mentions, directives and personal asides while academic explainers emphasized shared knowledge and addressed the audience with questions. These variations are explained in terms of the experiences of writers with specific persuasive forms and of the slightly different audiences. The findings are a contribution to the literature on engagement and to an understanding of communication at a time of public health crisis.