Narrative and Framing of a Pandemic: Public Health Communication in the Vietnamese Public Sphere

Abstract

This paper explores the Vietnamese government’s approach toward public health risk communication in the context of citizen mobilization during the Covid-19 pandemic. We analyze the government’s communication strategy using images and videos published during the pandemic, such as artwork, leaflets, campaigns, music videos, and public announcements in public spaces. The government’s visual risk communication strategy is embedded in an idealized vision of cooperative citizenship. The focus is on the moral obligation of citizens toward the Vietnamese nation and the morality of caring, in which the state communicates behavior it deems morally correct.