COVID-19 Policy Communication Analysis: The Case of Singapore, based on Facebook Posts of Channel News Asia (CNA) and The Strait Times

Souliphone DALAVONG

Master's thesis

COVID-19 Policy Analysis: the case of Singapore

Abstract:

COVID-19 has ravaged the world and Singapore is no exception. However, with its excellent public healthcare system, the adoption of technologies for contact tracing, and adequate policy, Singapore was ranked 18th in the COVID-19 resilience country ranking in 2021, placing its 1st in the ASEAN region (Bloomberg, 2021). Although national public policy for COVID-19 in Singapore started in 2020, this study focuses solely on the period from January to August 2021. Using the framework from Djalante et al. 2020, the study focuses on communication and perceptions of public policy for COVID-19 in Singapore. It uses a qualitative methodology and examines the government's communication through Facebook posts of the two most popular news organizations in Singapore, Channel News Asia (CNA) and The Strait Times, during the aforementioned period. Out of their 2,026 posts, 451 of them were about COVID-19 and were chosen for analysis. The analyses identified 7 major themes. In addition, the study then investigates the emotions of the public by analyzing the comments on the posts in the theme's "recommendations" and "measures". This study adds to the knowledge about how the COVID-19 policies in Singapore were being communicated through social media and highlight the emotions and perceptions of the citizens toward the government.

Abstract:

COVID-19 has ravaged the world and Singapore is no exception. However, with its excellent public healthcare system, the adoption of technologies for contact tracing, and adequate policy, Singapore was ranked 18th in the COVID-19 resilience country ranking in 2021, placing its 1st in the ASEAN region (Bloomberg, 2021). Although national public policy for COVID-19 in Singapore started in 2020, this study focuses solely on the period from January to August 2021. Using the framework from Djalante et al. 2020, the study focuses on communication and perceptions of public policy for COVID-19 in Singapore. It uses a qualitative methodology and examines the government's communication through Facebook posts of the two most popular news organizations in Singapore, Channel News Asia (CNA) and The Strait Times, during the aforementioned period. Out of their 2,026 posts, 451 of them were about COVID-19 and were chosen for analysis. The analyses identified 7 major themes. In addition, the study then investigates the emotions of the public by analyzing the comments on the posts in the theme's "recommendations" and "measures". This study adds to the knowledge about how the COVID-19 policies in Singapore were being communicated through social media and highlight the emotions and perceptions of the citizens toward the government.

Keywords

COVID-19 Policy, communication, Singapore, Facebook posts.

Language used: Czech

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 31. 5. 2022

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Mgr. Simona Šafaříková, Ph.D.

Palacký University Olomouc

Faculty of Science

Master programme / field:
Development Studies and Foresight / Development Studies and Foresight - specialization in Global Development Policy