2.1 Theoretical Framework

7 A crisis is usually perceptual in nature; it violates the stakeholder's expectancies and brings adverse outcomes (Argenti, 2013). Numerous theories exist on handling communication during a crisis. Most approaches however depend on traditional response strategies (Jahng & Hong, 2017). One such theory is the Situational Crisis Communication Theory which considers that organizations must first protect their stakeholders before turning towards fixing their reputation (Coombs, 2021), as such, it focuses essentially on organizational concerns, actions and outcomes (Liu and Fraustino, 2014). Another theory is The Image Repair Theory (IRT) (Benoit, 1995) which is the most widely used in the literature. It was chosen as the theoretical framing for the present study as it lends itself well to the fast-moving environment of social media when crisis response strategies should be put in place. The theory helps understand the way in which organizations and individuals respond to crises when they are accused of being responsible for an action, and when this action is offensive (Liu and Fraustino, 2014). While IRT strongly relies on the use of apologies, the evolution of the Image Repair Theory suggests that differing response scenarios produce differing results. More recently, Coombs et al. (2016) proposed a new IRT that includes the use of one of six main strategies: admitting guilt, denying if innocent, shifting blame, proving lack of control, reporting corrective action, and minimizing the issue. These strategies have, in the past, been used by governments in different ways. For instance when managing the SARS virus, the Chinese government sent frequent contradictory messages, this lead to a deterioration of the government’s image (Zhang and Benoit, 2009). In contrast, when studying the “Made in China” crisis situation, Peijuan et al. (2009) found that by shifting from a defensive strategy to one of offering corrective action, the Chinese government was successful at restoring the public’s confidence. Finally, the study by Zhang and Benoit (2004) suggested that by relying heavily on denial and bolstering, the image repair effort proved partially successful for Saudi Arabia in dispelling accusations of terrorism (Masngut and Mohamad, 2021).

2.2 Crisis Communication and the Media

8 Crisis situations test the resilience, leadership and preparedness of companies, systems and people (Germain and McGuire, 2014). Effectively responding to such situations requires a state of readiness, situational control and large flexibility (McGuire et al., 2020). In this sense, a carefully planned crisis communication can play a critical role in preventing and mitigating the effect of a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic over time by reducing fear and anxiety, increasing peoples’ adherence to government strategies, and improving the effectiveness of medical interventions (Malecki et al., 2021; Glik, 2007). Furthermore, adopting a clear manner of communicating is critical in initiating direct relationships and helping individuals interpret complex data and information during crisis situations (McGuire et al., 2020). In this sense, the media plays a crucial role in disseminating information about a crisis, highlighting key incidences and holding decision-makers accountable for their actions (Hargis and Watt, 2010). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the media served as a portal of communication between the government, health institutions and the general public. More specifically, the different media channels were consulted by people looking for accurate information and sound scientific facts, and were used to relay governmental decisions and transmit the reactions of the general public (Mheidly & Fares, 2020). Among these channels, social media is increasingly being used both for marketing and PR, as well as for crisis communication (Utz el al., 2013).

2.3 The Role of Social Media

9 In recent years, organizations both public and private have been turning towards social media for communication, given that it disposes of all the elements that the public understands and responds to (Malecki et al., 2021). For instance, in contrast with traditional communication forms where a more formal, conventional tone is expected, social media has facilitated a more conversational and dialogic approach (Kulkarni, 2019). Further, according to Utz et al. (2013) crisis communication through social media, results in a higher reputation and fewer secondary crisis reactions than crisis communication through other medium notably online newspapers. This was especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, as social media increasingly became an important communication tool for governments and public health authorities to provide relevant health information to the population (Zhao et al, 2020). It enabled the dissemination of vital messages quickly and efficiently and allowed the tailoring of messages to different audiences. Social media also created a space for communities to interact and become actively involved in sharing and refining relevant messages (Hyland-Wood et al., 2021). Moreover, given the speed at which information could be transmitted to a large number of people, social media was especially useful for communicating quick updates and warnings during crisis situations (McGuire et al., 2020; Eriksson and Olsson, 2016). At the same time, however, social media turned into a channel for rapidly spreading misinformation given its ability to reach large portions of the public (Malecki et al., 2021). This amplification in the spread of misinformation was such that the Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared that at the time “We are not just fighting an epidemic; we are fighting an infodemic”. During the pandemic, this spread of misinformation conveyed misleading messages on the disease to the public, promoted ineffective precautionary measures, and clearly hindered mitigation strategies put in place by the government (Mheidly & Fares, 2020). The result was an increase in public fear and anxiety about health, an exasperation of social tensions and a rise in discriminatory behavior (Hyland-Wood et al., 2021; Mheidly & Fares, 2020).

3.1 Context

10 Lebanon is a small country located on the eastern side of the Mediterranean. In 2020, its GDP per Capita was 4,649 $ for a population of 6.7 million, however, these past two years, the country has suffered a severe financial crisis that caused a drop of over 92 percent of its local currency. Through the drain of its foreign reserves, Lebanon has increasingly struggled to import basic goods such as food, fuel, medicine and medical equipment. Moreover, the risk of food insecurity has grown with more than 50 percent of Lebanese households living in poverty. This has led the population to question the government’s ability to manage the financial situation and stop the freefall of the local currency. In parallel, the country’s ambiguous approach to hosting Syrian refugees since 2011 and their increase in number – Lebanon is the country with the highest number of refugees per capita – has further tarnished the reputation of the government and highlighted its incompetence at managing large-scale crises. Moreover, the August 2020 Beirut port explosion, blamed on government negligence by many parties, caused several billions of dollars in damages and left tens of thousands homeless, further deteriorating the image the Lebanese had of their government. Against this backdrop, Lebanon has had to struggle with managing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a multi-crisis situation (Aoun and Aoun Barakat, 2022).

11 The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Lebanon, a woman arriving from Iran was declared on February 21, 2020. In the weeks that followed, critics accused the government of carelessness as officials had refused to suspend flights from countries where COVID-19 was circulating. In a bid to show their capacity at handling a crisis, the government then put in place a state of health emergency to stop the spread of the virus, however due to the absence of economic aid to the population, this decision negatively affected the livelihood of millions of Lebanese (Bizri et al., 2020). Furthermore, according to Moussallem et al. (2022) the policies adopted by the government were unpopular and led to a decline in government trust among the Lebanese people.

3.2 Methodology

12 This paper used a qualitative methodology to explore the communication strategy adopted by the Lebanese government during the COVID-19 pandemic. The choice of a qualitative study was motivated by the fact that this type of study captures the reality in considerable detail and is particularly useful when focusing on contemporary subjects (Chan and Ngai, 2007).

13 The social media accounts of ten public health authorities and five personalities on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter detailed in Table 1 were analyzed over a period of one year between 1 March 2020 and 31 March 2021. The timespan corresponds to the period between the appearance of COVID-19 in Lebanon and the start of the vaccination campaign. The accounts were chosen as they were either the source of official health information or were relaying local health information about COVID-19. Then COVID-19 related posts were identified using the following search terms: “COVID”, “Corona”, and “Coronavirus” and classified manually. Content analysis was then used to categorize these posts, tweets and comments, based on the strategies pertaining to the Image Repair Theory (Benoit, 1995). Content analysis is frequently employed by researchers and is a powerful data reduction technique. Its major benefit comes from the fact that it is a systematic, replicable technique for compressing large amounts of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of coding and can be applied to practically any form of linguistic communication (Stemler, 2000). Therefore, it is well adapted to the context of this study. To validate the Image Repair Theory, a directed approach to content analysis was adopted, this helped to determine the initial coding scheme and relationships between codes (Potter & Levine-Donnerstein, 1999). Firstly, key concepts from the theory were identified as initial coding categories, secondly, definitions for each category were determined using the theory. Thirdly, posts, tweets and comments were read and those relating to COVID-19 were highlighted. Fourthly, all highlighted selections were coded using the predetermined codes, and selections which could not be categorized with the initial coding scheme were given a new code (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005).

5.1 Contributions

19 The study offers several theoretical and practical contributions. Firstly, it shows the power of using social media as an effective channel for communication during crises, given its ability to adapt to different discourses including relaying information, educating the public and reporting corrective action. Secondly, the use of social media rendered a human aspect to public institutions as it allowed public personalities including Ministers and committee members involved in the fight against COVID-19 to be visible and communicate with the public. Thirdly, the presence of Lebanese public institutions and personalities on social media exposed them to a greater level of scrutiny from the general public leading them to exercise a higher level of transparency and accountability. Fourthly, the presence of public entities on social media and their diffusion of information allowed them to counter fake news and conspiracy theories circulating around COVID-19.

20 Moreover, the context of the study being a developing country affected by multiple crises and the focus on the use of social media by the government to win the cooperation of its population and to overcome the public health risks could set an example for developing countries facing crises and suffering from citizens’ mistrust.

21 Finally, the present study contributes to shedding the light on crisis communication within government context. As contrary to previous studies who focus on crisis communication in organizations notably in terms of improving the reputation of corporations, the present study analyzes its use by governments to win public opinion approval while facing opposition and criticism for mishandling previous crises (financial, economic, social).

5.2 Conclusion

22 The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of effective crisis communication notably the necessity to use simple, clear, and appropriate messages to respond to the target audience’s state of mind. By using the Image Repair Theory, this study exposed how with the help of social media, the Lebanese government adopted different communication strategies to communicate with the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic. These oscillated between minimizing the importance of the virus to blaming the media and public for showing exaggerated reactions and spreading fake news, before moving at a later stage to educating the public and emphasizing the corrective actions that were implemented to counter the spread of the virus.

23 This study also highlights the need to counter misinformation and the spread of fake news as this leads to heightening citizens’ anxiety and fear towards the virus, especially in countries such as Lebanon where trust in institutional authorities is low. Furthermore, governments that have a limited legitimacy cannot deal with public health crises in a traditional way and communicate through speeches, communiques, and decrees. Hence, the important role played by online media in promoting health awareness, relaying accurate and precise information and ultimately influencing health attitudes and behaviors.

5.3 Limitations

24 This study suffers from limitations related to the generalizability of results to other countries. Future research could expose government communication best practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in other countries. Another limitation is that it takes into account a single country, hence the difficulty in establishing a comparison with other countries, therefore future studies could investigate how cultural differences might attenuate or exacerbate the effects of misinformation on a large audience. Finally, it suffers from limitations related to the qualitative methodology, therefore further studies could adopt a quantitative methodology when analyzing social media posts.

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