CRISIS COMMUNICATION OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: RISING OF THE SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

Abstract

With the rapid development of the post-industrial period technology, it offers human beings beyond the limits and presents unforeseen risks and crises. The butterfly effect, which has become more active especially with the rise of globalization, causes an event to take on a form that transcends spatial boundaries at an unreachable violence and speed. In this process, the concept of crisis communication is gaining importance as the most effective way to eliminate crises. Today, when it is not possible to eliminate the crises altogether, crisis communication offers expansions on minimizing the loss during the crisis and reputational recovery at the end of the crisis. This study focuses on the crisis communication strategies of countries around the world and the general trend adopted is more and more compatible with the understanding of the surveillance society. In the first part of the study, which consists of two parts, a general framework is drawn about the concept of surveillance society, its features and practices, and in the second part, the methods used by governments to manage the crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic process and the concept of surveillance society are revealed. The study is concluded with the conclusion section, which includes a general assessment of governments' crisis communication practices and suggestions for effective crisis communication in terms of public relations.