The best practical applications on communication about the coronavirus

Since the pandemic is still such a recent development, basic books on vaccination advocacy, conspiracy theories, as well as good and bad examples in coronavirus communication have not yet been published. This is the reason we put together a series of webinars on all these topics under the heading “Propastop Library”.

The Estonian National Library’s video discussion topic is the commotion over vaccinations. What are people responsible for themselves, for what part is the state, the press, social media and others responsible? Maia Klaassen from the University of Tartu, Priit Simson from the National Audit Office, Argo Kerb from the National Library and doctor Karmen Joller exchange ideas. Recorded in February 2021, video length about 1 hour.

The NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence located in Riga has a webinar series #StratComTalks that in January 2021 focused on vaccination and disinformation. Morgan Olofsson, Head of Communications at the Swedish Emergency Services Agency, and Jon Hassain, Communications Adviser to the UK Government, spoke in English during an hour-long video on the subject.

Maia Klaassen, Signe Ivask, a lecturer on journalism, Delfi reporter Greete Palgi and Member of the European Parliament Urmas Paet discussed the topic in the webinar “Information Disorders in an Emergency”. Journalist Ege Tamm moderated the April 2020 discussion. The video was less than two hours long.

An exotic view was given in a webinar organized by Philippine journalists on the responsibility and role of the media in dealing with the coronavirus crisis. A summary of the approximately two-hour video recorded in the summer of 2020 can be read here.

The webinar organized by the European Policy Think Tank CEPA provides an overview of how the Baltic States coped with the coronavirus in March 2020. It is interesting to compare the views expressed in the video with the events a year later, in the winter of 2021, when a real coronavirus crisis finally reached the Baltic nations.

Politicians, researchers and journalists discussed the topic at the video conference of the ERR research portal Novaator “Lessons from the coronavirus for scientific communication”. The total length of the material recorded in November 2020 is 4.5 hours.

Pictured: Graffiti in London, March 2020. Photo by Duncan c / Flickr / CC