Federal Council changes communication behavior in the Corona crisis
Before and since the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago, the Federal Council’s communications have been in crisis mode. They have intensified significantly. At times, up to two million people watched the press conferences live.
Even before the first case of infection with the coronavirus in Switzerland, the Federal Council had closely monitored the situation, especially in neighboring countries, as Federal Council spokesman and Vice Chancellor André Simonazzi said in a video released by the Keystone-SDA news agency on Tuesday. The concept for crisis communication had already existed at that time.
In the extraordinary situation, the media conferences of the national government also changed. Instead of taking place in front of accredited journalists from the Federal Palace, they were held in front of a broad public that expected answers from the Federal Council, as Simonazzi said.
In addition, according to the Vice Chancellor, media conferences at the scientific level became necessary to explain the basis of the Federal Council's decisions to the population. During the crisis, everything had changed quickly, and new findings that had to be informed about had been added continuously.
This also included the protective mask story, as Simonazzi explained. At first, the scientific opinion prevailed that protective masks were not very effective for the general population. Later, this changed and was communicated in the same way. The communication was never contradictory. (SDA)
