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Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises

Chedza Simon Orcid Logo, Sian Rees Orcid Logo, Richard Thomas Orcid Logo

Public Relations Inquiry, Volume: 12, Issue: 3, Pages: 321 - 341

Swansea University Authors: Chedza Simon Orcid Logo, Sian Rees Orcid Logo, Richard Thomas Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/2046147x231200891

Abstract

This article examines Facebook posts in Botswana to determine how government public relations (PR) practitioners used language to help protect the reputation of two state-owned agencies during times of crisis. For insufficiently prepared PR practitioners, crises can quickly become complex owing to t...

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Published in: Public Relations Inquiry
ISSN: 2046-147X 2046-1488
Published: SAGE Publications 2023
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64475
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spelling v2 64475 2023-09-08 Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises 779cc8f164233bbe11752e1d4f4eefab 0000-0003-4479-1150 Chedza Simon Chedza Simon true false 5e8c67d76cd6b763a9f5b7ef1b3e26f0 0000-0002-4745-7433 Sian Rees Sian Rees true false 6458b4d9c68a8d6431e86961e74dccb5 0000-0003-3511-5628 Richard Thomas Richard Thomas true false 2023-09-08 AMED This article examines Facebook posts in Botswana to determine how government public relations (PR) practitioners used language to help protect the reputation of two state-owned agencies during times of crisis. For insufficiently prepared PR practitioners, crises can quickly become complex owing to the proliferation of social media which has dramatically reshaped crisis communication in non-Western, multicultural contexts. While crisis communication has drawn more scholarly interest, the way the Botswana Government use language to maintain power and legitimacy during emergencies represents a fresh case study. We use Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in our scrutiny of the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) crisis of 2011, and the Botswana Railways (BR) crisis of 2019. The analysis reveals a corporate ideology of economic development used as an underlying manipulative and propagandistic form of organized persuasive communication (OPC) strategy aimed at establishing and maintaining power. The article also demonstrates how, via this strategy, the government uses state power to galvanize support and mobilize audiences to rally behind state-owned organizations. Journal Article Public Relations Inquiry 12 3 321 341 SAGE Publications 2046-147X 2046-1488 Crisis communication, ideology, framing, crisis response strategies, Botswana, critical discourse analysis, state-owned enterprises 30 9 2023 2023-09-30 10.1177/2046147x231200891 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2046147x231200891 COLLEGE NANME Media COLLEGE CODE AMED Swansea University This work was supported by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK. 2023-10-09T16:05:45.0766516 2023-09-08T10:23:15.1298603 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR Chedza Simon 0000-0003-4479-1150 1 Sian Rees 0000-0002-4745-7433 2 Richard Thomas 0000-0003-3511-5628 3 64475__28735__fe53ed52531c43149e1ba30e3c1356ec.pdf 64475.VOR.pdf 2023-10-09T16:04:30.9534582 Output 772370 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2023. Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises
spellingShingle Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises
Chedza Simon
Sian Rees
Richard Thomas
title_short Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises
title_full Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises
title_fullStr Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises
title_full_unstemmed Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises
title_sort Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises
author_id_str_mv 779cc8f164233bbe11752e1d4f4eefab
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author_id_fullname_str_mv 779cc8f164233bbe11752e1d4f4eefab_***_Chedza Simon
5e8c67d76cd6b763a9f5b7ef1b3e26f0_***_Sian Rees
6458b4d9c68a8d6431e86961e74dccb5_***_Richard Thomas
author Chedza Simon
Sian Rees
Richard Thomas
author2 Chedza Simon
Sian Rees
Richard Thomas
format Journal article
container_title Public Relations Inquiry
container_volume 12
container_issue 3
container_start_page 321
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
issn 2046-147X
2046-1488
doi_str_mv 10.1177/2046147x231200891
publisher SAGE Publications
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - Media, Communications, Journalism and PR
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2046147x231200891
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description This article examines Facebook posts in Botswana to determine how government public relations (PR) practitioners used language to help protect the reputation of two state-owned agencies during times of crisis. For insufficiently prepared PR practitioners, crises can quickly become complex owing to the proliferation of social media which has dramatically reshaped crisis communication in non-Western, multicultural contexts. While crisis communication has drawn more scholarly interest, the way the Botswana Government use language to maintain power and legitimacy during emergencies represents a fresh case study. We use Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in our scrutiny of the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) crisis of 2011, and the Botswana Railways (BR) crisis of 2019. The analysis reveals a corporate ideology of economic development used as an underlying manipulative and propagandistic form of organized persuasive communication (OPC) strategy aimed at establishing and maintaining power. The article also demonstrates how, via this strategy, the government uses state power to galvanize support and mobilize audiences to rally behind state-owned organizations.
published_date 2023-09-30T16:05:46Z
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