Tracking the Differentiation of Risk: The Impact of Subject Framing in CDC Communication Regarding COVID-19

Kathryn Lambrecht

doi:10.1177/1050651920958394

Tracking the Differentiation of Risk: The Impact of Subject Framing in CDC Communication Regarding COVID-19

Kathryn Lambrecht

Integrative Sciences and Arts, College of (CISA)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Communicating risk amid moments of scientific ambiguity requires balance: Overdelivering certainty levels can cause undue alarm whereas underdelivering them can lead to increased public risk. Despite this complexity, risk assessment is an important decision-making tool. This article analyzes the circulation of the term “risk” in a corpus (74,804 words) of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention communications regarding COVID-19 from January 1 to April 30, 2020. Tracking collocations of the 147 instances of risk in this corpus reveals that experts initially framed risk away from individuals, complicating people’s differentiation between public and personal impacts. Recommendations are offered for how institutions can reframe subjectivity to promote vigilance during pandemics.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	94-100
Number of pages	7
Journal	Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Volume	35
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651920958394
State	Published - Jan 2021

Keywords

COVID-19
communicating expertise
risk communication
scientific certainty

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Business and International Management
Communication
Business, Management and Accounting(all)

Access to Document

10.1177/1050651920958394

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