Abstract
This paper analyses public leadership in Scandinavia during the latest two pandemics, the swine flu pandemic in 2009 and the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, by compiling and contrasting national proxies of media visibility among pandemic response actors. Concretely, the paper taps into key media databases to develop indicators of how often national leaders and leading health experts are mentioned in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish media reports about the 2009 and 2020 pandemics. The study reveals a high degree of continuity of public leadership in Sweden during the two pandemics. In contrast, Norway and in particular Denmark both moved from a predominately expert-driven media presence in 2009 to a much stronger top-down ministerial leadership presence during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. In addition, Sweden also displays the most balanced media representation of health experts and cabinet ministers during both pandemics. The paper concludes by discussing the pros and cons of the outlined differences in public leadership and the possible practical implications with regards public debate and trust.
Highlights
Otherwise very similar Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have had markedly different responses to the SARS-CoV-2 ( “coronavirus”) pandemic
From a gross roster of more than fifty key actors involved in pandemic responses across the three countries, we produce replicable and quantifiable indicators of public leadership based on visibility in national newspaper articles
Our analysis suggests that the reporting on the 2009 swine flu pandemic was less intensive than during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic
Summary
Otherwise very similar Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have had markedly different responses to the SARS-CoV-2 ( “coronavirus”) pandemic. This has gained international attention, both academically (cf Gordon, Grafton, and Steinshamn 2020; Rubin et al 2021; Yarmol-Matusiak, Cipriano, and Stranges 2021) and in the media (cf Ludvigsson 2020; Steinglass 2020). From a gross roster of more than fifty key actors involved in pandemic responses across the three countries, we produce replicable and quantifiable indicators of public leadership based on visibility in national newspaper articles These indicators are comparable across different countries, agencies and periods. The paper ends by discussing the implication of this media analysis and pointing to future research
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