Credibility and uncertainty in communication during COVID-19

Abstract

In our study, we seek the answer to how Hungarian government epidemic management measures in the first phases of the pandemic affected the communication activity observed on online platforms. The aim of our primary research was to examine what marked opinions were expressed in the assessment of communication related to epidemic management. Among the measures in the first phase, we examined communication related to mask wearing and rapid release of hospital beds using a netnographic method, analyzing a total of 2,000 comments from 5 online forums. Based on the forum comments, very extreme and divergent opinions (scepticism, indignation, accusation, acceptance) about the accuracy and reliability of health communication emerged in the online community. The results of our research indicate that during COVOD-19, both political and health communication divided the opinions of the Hungarian population on online platforms.