Policy communication in times of public health crisis: Longitudinal network modeling of U.S. politician-health agency interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Severe public crisis such COVID-19 pandemic entail coordinated communication between politicians and public health agencies. The study explores how and why U.S. politicians share messages from health agencies on social media during COVID. Proposing a multi-theoretical, multi-level (MTML) framework to understand the phenomenon, we draw upon the Advocacy Coalition Framework and Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication theory and conceptualize politicians' public health communication as serving the dual functions of policy and risk communication. With bipartite longitudinal network modeling, our analysis finds a fragmented national message-sharing network deprived of central federal leadership and clustered around state-level actors such as local health agencies and state governors. The politicians' party affiliation and positions on COVID-19 policies significantly impacted whether they would help distribute messages from public health agencies. Health agencies' message features such as expression of certainty and use of analytical words also influenced politicians’ message sharing patterns. These findings suggest the pandemic communication is both a policy advocacy and a risk and crisis communication process. This integrated theoretical approach offers explanations of information sharing dynamics between politicians and health agencies, two major information sources for the public.