Public attitudes towards COVID-19 communication messages : A comparative study between traditional and new media messages of the Egyptian Ministry of Health.

Abstract

The emerging pandemic requires proper communication plan with the various public to educate them about the health dangers that they face and how to take the necessary precautions. The research analyzes the messages shared by the Egyptian ministry of health over the traditional and new media, measure understanding of and attitudes towards those messages, and explore the message content and format that the Egyptian public prefer and search for during pandemics. The study conducted qualitative and quantitative techniques. The extended parallel process Model is used to identify how the public perceives media messages during risk and crisis, as well as measuring attitudes towards the messages. Results found that during the first 111 days of the pandemic, the ministry of health had issued 497 posts over the official Facebook Page, 447 posts over the official Instagram account and 104 videos over the official YouTube channel. The main aim of most posts is spreading awareness of the virus and presenting directions to deal with the virus. The primary source of information that the various publics rely on is social media. Videos and infographics are the most preferred forms of messages that the publics follow. The awareness messages in the form of advices are the most shared types of messages. The Facebook platform is proven to be the highest platform the Egyptian publics rely on for health awareness information and the most used by the Egyptian ministry of health. The majority have positive attitude toward radio announcements, public service announcements that were aired on television, posters shared in schools, mosques and public transportations shared by the ministry of health clarifying the preventative methods. Television programs were the most preferred traditional medium during the pandemic, followed by the flyers and poster, radio, and newspapers consecutively. The sample has positive attitude towards messages shared over the official social media pages of the Egyptian ministry of health including the infographics highlighting the protective actions and the educational videos shared by the ministry of health over Facebook and YouTube to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and families.