Framing Covid‐19

How UK Government and Media Narrated the “Crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID6445385
AuthorsIan Holmes (0000-0001-7639-5369, University of the Arts London, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume53
Issue3
Publication date2025-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitics & Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1555-5623 • E-ISSN: 1747-1346
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/polp.70040
OpenAlexW4411699503
LanguageEN
References cited67

This article aims to interrogate how narrative elements were used in the communication of policy by the UK government and media during the 2020–22 COVID‐19 pandemic, using the lens of the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF). Contrary to homo economicus of the rational universe, the NPF contends that homo narrans navigates the world through stories; comprised of setting, plot, characters (heroes, villains, and victims) and, critically, the story's moral . The study aims to show how these narrative elements were employed as an effective framing strategy designed to sustain public attention and compliance through the playing out of a securitized script, in which archetypal characters—the policy actors—perform a moral story. This study also innovates the plot element, utilizing a theory of circular narrative— story circles —from outside the extant policy literature, it is hoped that this conceptual exploration of narrative dynamics can lay the foundations for future empirical research. Related Articles Vince, J. 2022. “A Creeping Crisis When an Urgent Crisis Arises: The Reprioritization of Plastic Pollution Issues During COVID‐19.” Politics & Policy 51, no. 1: 26–450. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12512 . Neill, K. A., and J. C. Morris. 2012. “A Tangled Web of Principals and Agents: Examining the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Through a Principal–Agent Lens.” Politics & Policy 40, no. 4: 629–656. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00371.x . Zimmermann, A., and J. O. Kenter. 2023. “Framing the Change and Changing Frames: Tensions in Participative Strategy Development.” Politics & Policy 51, no. 1: 81–113. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12518

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Advertising · Business · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Crisis communication · Framing (construction · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Media studies · Political science · Public relations · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Sociology · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · History · Medicine · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Virology

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