Propaganda as a Tool of Crisis Communication: The Case of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Venezuela

There is currently a gap in knowledge concerning how authoritarian regimes communicate with the public during crises and how they seek to make-meaning of crises. A key characteristic of authoritarian regimes is that they seek to manage the flow of information and fill the mass media with pro-regime narratives, of which propaganda is a key communication tool. Propaganda as a means of communication aimed at influencing a target audience to advance a political agenda. This paper analyses the Maduro regime’s use of propaganda during the Covid-19 pandemic in Venezuela, focusing on identifying the communication techniques and narratives employed by the regime in it’s response to the crisis. A content analysis is employed to analyse regime-backed media during the period of the pandemic. This study bears significance for furthering an understanding of how autocratic political actors respond during crises and frame security where state-capacity is weak. It concludes that the Maduro regime...Show moreThere is currently a gap in knowledge concerning how authoritarian regimes communicate with the public during crises and how they seek to make-meaning of crises. A key characteristic of authoritarian regimes is that they seek to manage the flow of information and fill the mass media with pro-regime narratives, of which propaganda is a key communication tool. Propaganda as a means of communication aimed at influencing a target audience to advance a political agenda. This paper analyses the Maduro regime’s use of propaganda during the Covid-19 pandemic in Venezuela, focusing on identifying the communication techniques and narratives employed by the regime in it’s response to the crisis. A content analysis is employed to analyse regime-backed media during the period of the pandemic. This study bears significance for furthering an understanding of how autocratic political actors respond during crises and frame security where state-capacity is weak. It concludes that the Maduro regime employs propaganda to shift blame for the crisis while espousing an image of the strength and resilience of the regime, it’s system and instruments of social control. This parallels with reports of similar initiatives to control and manipulate information in other undemocratic states during the pandemic.Show less

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Propaganda as a Tool of Crisis Communication: The Case of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Venezuela