Önkormányzati kommunikáció a COVID-19 világjárvány okozta krízishelyzetben
Authors: Baranyai Nóra , Barsi Boglárka , Nárai Márta 
Published: December 2021

Összefoglaló. A COVID–19-járvány kezelésében az önkormányzatok
kiemelkedő szerepet kaptak. Tanulmányunkban azt kívánjuk bemutatni, hogy ebben a
krízishelyzetben, a járvány magyarországi három hulláma során az önkormányzatok
milyen módon kommunikáltak különböző online felületeken (települési honlapok,
települési és polgármesteri Facebook-oldalak) a lakossággal. A változó
járványhelyzet, a reagálás gyorsaságának szükségessége felhívta a figyelmet
arra, hogy milyen fontos az önkormányzatok és a lakosok közötti kommunikáció,
illetve az új kommunikációs csatornák alkalmazása. A településtípusok között nem
mutatkozott nagy különbség a kommunikáció mikéntjére, jellegzetességeire
vonatkozóan, bár a feladatmennyiséget tekintve nyilván más-más kihívásokkal
kellett az eltérő méretű önkormányzatoknak szembenézniük.

Summary. Local governments had a key and prominent role in tackling
COVID-19 pandemic. Their task was to take short-term measures quickly, to
organize protection and care for those in need. The main objective of our paper
is to present, how local governments communicated with their inhabitants on
various online interfaces in this crisis situation. Our analysis covers 54
settlements representing all the different levels of the settlement network from
large cities to small villages. We examined the webpages and Facebook pages of
local governments and mayors, firstly during the first wave, then during the
second and the third waves of the pandemic.

Recognizing their responsibility, local governments clearly tried to provide all
the information to the inhabitants as quickly as possible. They considered the
online interfaces the most effective, but the online communication had typically
been complemented by information published on more traditional channels as well.
There were no significant difference in terms of the way and characteristics of
communication among the different types of settlements, although local
governments of different sizes obviously had to face different challenges in
terms of the amount of tasks they had to tackle.

The communication process was a very difficult task because of the lack of
information and the not entirely transparent data provision. Even on the
Facebook pages especially suitable for this purpose, interactivity rumbled, and
in many cases the questions and suggestions of the inhabitants remained
unanswered. It is instructive that, with few exceptions, local authorities do
not place emphasis on surveying local needs and opinions.

The full range of measures and contact with the public cannot be evaluated from
local governmental online communication, but it can be said that the publication
of information has changed thematically and has significantly declined in volume
and frequency since the first month of the epidemic in March 2020. There were
local governments that performed excellently in online communication, i.e. they
published regular and relevant information, but there were also some (mainly
small settlements) that did not use these channels at all or after a while. The
latter may be explained by the fact that the population of the settlement – due
to its age composition or the characteristics of Internet use – can be
effectively informed mainly through other, traditional channels. There is little
doubt that the lack of information available to local governments, declining
local empowerment, and growing central management in epidemic management may
also have resulted in less and less communication at the local level.