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Manufacturing Dissent: Manipulation and counter-manipulation in times of crisis
Edited by Cornelia Ilie
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 339] 2024
► pp. 119–156

Chapter 4
Maintaining political authority and credibility during the Covid-19 crisis

The case of Czech government press conferences

| Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena
This article explores how communicative influence is instantiated through the analysis of situational settings, pragmatic means, and discursive strategies at the press conferences held by the Czech government during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis to maintain political authority and credibility. The analysis is informed by the rhetorical approach used in crisis communication studies and follows the tenets of corpus-assisted discourse studies (Taylor and Marchi 2018). It combines quantitative insights with qualitative close reading. The results point to the fact that the building and maintenance of authority and credibility is achieved by a positive depiction of one’s crisis management performance and by intensive blame management. In addition, there is a tendency towards strategic overcommunication which can hinder the understanding and critical scrutiny on the part of the audience.
Keywords: discursive strategies, blame management, pandemic management, press conferences, Covid-19, government communication
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Covid-19 crisis communication
    • 2.2Government pandemic communication
    • 2.3Government pandemic press conferences
    • 2.4Pandemic communicative influence
    • 2.5Discursive macro strategies
      • 2.5.1Legitimization/delegitimization
      • 2.5.2Blame avoidance and positive self-presentation
  • 3.Material and relevant contextual background
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Situational level
    • 5.2Pragmatic level: Pragmatic markers – Boosters and downtowners
    • 5.3Boosters: A close look
    • 5.4Downtoners: An illustrative look
    • 5.5Discursive strategies
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
  • Software
  • Corpora
  • Appendix
Published online: 17 January 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.339.04ber
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Cited by (6)

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Breeze, Ruth
2024. Chapter 9. Lessons learned?. In Manufacturing Dissent [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 339], ► pp. 284 ff. DOI logo
Ilie, Cornelia
2024. Crisis manipulation. In Manufacturing Dissent [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 339], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Ilie, Cornelia
2024. Chapter 3. Manipulating citizens’ beliefs and emotions. In Manufacturing Dissent [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 339], ► pp. 85 ff. DOI logo
Maillat, Didier & Steve Oswald
2024. Chapter 2. Manipulation in exceptional times. In Manufacturing Dissent [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 339], ► pp. 62 ff. DOI logo
Marinho, Cristina & Michael Billig
2024. Chapter 6. How can governments be prevented from manipulating statistics about Covid-19?. In Manufacturing Dissent [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 339], ► pp. 186 ff. DOI logo
Stopfner, Maria
2024. Chapter 1. Spanish influenza 1918/19. In Manufacturing Dissent [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 339], ► pp. 26 ff. DOI logo

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