English Abstract
Abstract :
This study has the noble goal of exploring the Kingdom of Bahrain's unmatched success in managing the overwhelming difficulties provided by the media's coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak. It intends to precisely study how the nation watched and presented media material, as well as the persuasive strategies used to transmit important facts and statistics during national campaign team press conferences. The study's primary goal is to precisely determine the most targeted sector and important themes that were stressed in these press conferences in order to properly transmit critical information to the intended audience.
The study adopts a descriptive framework that utilizes a media survey approach, with a particular focus on analyzing press conferences using content analysis tools. Notably,this study is considered one of the first studies in the Arab Scientific Library to employ content analysis tools. in examining press conferences. Additionally, the study employs an interview tool to conduct an interview with Dr. Walid Al-Manea, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health and a key member of the National Team tasked with addressing the challenges posed by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). Dr. Al-Manea was present at all press conferences, providing unique insights that supplemented the study's analysis.
To determine the study's samples, the purposeful sampling method was employed, targeting all press conferences held by the National Team tasked with addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in Bahrain from 2020 to 2021. The final study sample included 48 press conferences. The study yielded several key findings regarding the press conferences held by the National Team, with the most noteworthy results being:
The Kingdom of Bahrain has managed the crisis of the emerging Corona pandemic (Covid-19) in the media, through the efforts made by the national team to tackle the Corona virus (Covid-19), and the media team at the Ministry of Health played an important pivotal role in confronting this global health crisis, by forming task forces, specialized media professionals who draw up and follow up on the implementation of studied media plans. They also follow up on all stages of dealing with this pandemic and inform the Bahraini community of all plans, procedures and measures taken with full transparency and clarity, which constituted a source of great satisfaction and confidence among the public who receive all the instructions issued.
The communicator realizes the importance of media and its pivotal role in crisis management.
The most used slogans in media campaigns were "protection and commitment with a rate of (33.3%).
The most used language in press conferences was a mixture of classical and colloquial Arabic, with a percentage of (100%).
The average time spent by the communicator in press conferences was 25.28 minutes for one press conference.
The most used form of content presentation in press conferences was discourse (100%). then infographics (95.8%), and graphics (87.5%).
The most important ideas mentioned in press conferences were (social divergence, statistics, instructions, following preventive and precautionary measures, awareness leaflets, review of achievements, and community partnership) with a rate of (4.6%), followed by (readiness and news) with a rate of (4.5%). Then (decisions and medical staff) with a rate of (4.4%).
Persuasive language (rational and emotional) was used consistently in all press conferences (100%).
The most persuasive methods used in press conferences were transparency in conveying facts and reassurance with a rate of (10.1%), followed by citing statistics with a rate of (9.9%).
The most frequently targeted sectors in press conferences were health and social life with a rate of (28.7%), followed by the economy sector with a rate of (15.6%).
The study recommends the importance of continuing the efforts made by the Kingdom of Bahrain regarding strategic planning for crisis management, which are based on proactive crises and not on reactive grounds. The most important of which are the Crown Prince Center for Medical Studies, the Ministry of Health, the University of Bahrain and the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies. Communicating in press conferences and the extent to which it is trusted by the recipient when managing crises.
The study also recommended conducting future studies to evaluate public satisfaction with press conferences as well as investigating the extent to which the recipients trust the communicators in press conferences when managing crisis.
