The role of social media in building trust towards the Egyptian Government performance during the Coronavirus Pandemic

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assisstant Professor at Journalism department– Faculty of Mass Communication– Cairo University

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization. This pandemic has since saturated the headlines of media channels that disseminate information to global citizens, COVID-19 has become the most widely talked about topic on social media, Previous studies suggested that trust between governors and the governed is essential to facilitating good governance. This claim has become a prominent contention during the coronavirus pandemic.
Objective To analyze and evaluate how public attitudes and trust in government communications are affected using social media by Egyptian youth during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Method: The study is based on a web-survey with adults aged between 18- 40 years old, run in Egypt during April 2020, After the first case of COVID19 was reported in Egypt.
Findings:  the study finds support that the corona crisis led to higher levels of trust. in government and more positive attitudes towards governmental officials, most agreed or strongly agreed that information from official government sources Trust in government communication was significantly associated with a higher degree of satisfaction and support to governmental decisions during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Results showed that higher trust in government was significantly associated with higher adoption of health and social behaviors in all.
Conclusion: The findings show that trust is a vital commodity when managing an evolving outbreak, Egyptian youth tend to have positive attitudes towards government.

Keywords

Main Subjects


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