Communication Theory Application

COVID-19 Pandemic
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COVID-19 Pandemic
Authoritarian approach illustrates that all communication outlets are under the control of the government or other bureaucratic authorities (Denzin, 2016). The strict principle of mass communication resulted from the philosophical work of Plato from 327 to 407 B.C. With the invention of the printing press; the authoritarian approach was essential in censoring, application of licenses, taxation, and making laws. In this theory, the independence of the media remains powerless (Jacobs, 1992). Thus, media houses cannot air what they want freedom in their efforts to make the people aware of the issues that affect them. The media has to follow the restriction set aside by the governing authorities. As much as the media has to respect the guidelines of the leaders. In this case, the printing press and the media cannot operate as independent entities since their work have to go through a censorship process.
The Coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing global health crisis that the world is facing. COVID-19 is an acute respiratory disorder characterized by shortness of breath (Wong et al., 2020). The identification of the first case of the coronavirus was in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Following the spontaneous spread of the infection over the past couple of months, the World Health Organization declared the epidemic a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30th January 2020 and a pandemic on 11th March 2020. As per Wong et al., (2020), four months since its outbreak, there have been more than 2 million cases of COVID-19 in over 180 countries around the world, resulting in the loss of lives of over 150,000 people. Countries around the world are doing everything possible to stop the spread of infection including urging citizens to stay at home, avoid gatherings, practice personal hygiene and self-quarantine due to the airborne nature of the disease.
The authoritarian theory has been resilient in the Chinese Communist Party (CPP). The Skorokhodova and Borodyanskaya (2015) agree that the Chinese government prevails in this approach because of their tradition-based way of political succession, rise in meritocratic considerations as well as the establishment of organizations that encourage public participation. As a result, CPP has been able to continuously maintain its legitimacy in terms of handling emerging challenges that affect the people of China (Skorokhodova & Borodyanskaya, 2015). For instance, the government of China has been active in using the media to give the Chinese citizens updates on the prevailing conditions of COVID-19 (Wong et al., 2020). The leadership holds press releases daily in all the media stations to brief the country on the status of the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost all countries in the world, leading to loss of lives, hospitalization, restriction of movement, and decline in economic growth. Countries such as China use the press and media to relay the information that is essential for the citizens in an effort not to cause panic and conflict among the people (Newton, 2006). In this case, news outlets and journalists do not have a choice in what the governm...