Crisis Communication in a Multicultural Society

Immigrants in the local emergency management and the media's coverage of the crisis – does the message reach all audiences?

The overall aim of the project is to study  local emergency communication from a multicultural perspective: How do one account for immigrants' perceptions, needs and behaviour in the crisis communication process? There are very few studies in the field. This study, more precisely, will analyse the local emergency communications from community actors:  the local authorities and the media. The empirical design consists of three separate studies at the local / municipal level, a national survey of a sample of Swedish municipalities, interviews with three or four municipalities as well as a media study of the local media in those municipalities where the interviews made.

Publications 

Letukas, L. & Olofsson, A. (2009). Solidarity Triumphs Catastrophe? An Empirical and Theoretical Analysis of Post-Tsunami Media in Sweden and the United States. I After the Tsunami - Crisis Communication in Finland and Sweden / ed Lars Nord and Ullamaija Kivikuru. Göteborg : Nordicom.

Olofsson, A. (2007). Crisis communication in multicultural societies: A study of municipalities in Sweden. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, vol. 25: 2, ss. 145-172.

Olofsson, A. (2007). Kriskommunikation i ett heterogent samhälle lika för alla eller till var och en efter behov?[Crisis communication in a heterogeneous society – the same to all or as they require?] Sociologisk forskning, : 3, ss. 6-29.

Olofsson, A. (2007). Kriskommunikation i ett heterogent samhälle. Allmänhet, kommuner och medier. Slutrapport till Krisberedskapsmyndigheten, www.msb.se.

Conference Pappers 

Olofsson, A. (2006). 'Crisis communication in multicultural societies: A study of local governments in Sweden' : Paper presented at the XVI World Congress of Sociology, 2006-07-23 - 29, Durban, South Africa.