Peter Van Aelst is Professor of Political Communication at the Department of Political Science of the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Jay G. Blumler was an Emeritus Professor of Public Communication at the University of Leeds, UK and Emeritus Professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland, USA.

"This book offers a rich trove of empirical data and theoretical arguments from around the world that will help understand further multiple communication and political aspects of the pandemic. I am particularly struck by the sophistication of the analysis and the impressive efforts to analyze the effective and botched responses to the pandemic as shaped by communicative processes, choices and styles by governments. Peter Van Aelst and the late great Jay Blumler have assembled a formidable collection that yields novel insights into classic political communication questions - polarization, government communication, elite cues, leadership, and public trust."—Silvio Waisbord, Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University

• 1. COVID-19 as an ideal case for a rally-around-the-flag? How government communication, media coverage and a polarized public sphere determines leadership approvals in times of crisis. PART 1: Government communications 2. From consensus to dissensus: The UK’s management of a pandemic in a divided nation 3. Beyond Control and Resistance: The Dual Narrative of the Coronavirus Outbreak in Digital China 4. COVID-19 in Chile: A health crisis amidst a political crisis amidst a social crisis 5. The Italian Prime Minister as a captain in the storm: The pandemic as an opportunity to build personalized political leadership. PART 2: Media coverage 6. Interactive Propaganda: How Fox News and Donald Trump co-produced false narratives about the Covid-19 crisis 7. Stooges of the system or holistic observers? A computational analysis of news media’s Facebook posts on political actors during the coronavirus crisis in Germany 8. More Than "a Little Flu": Alternative Digital Journalism and the Struggle to Re-Frame the Brazilian Government’s Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak 9. When a Polarized Media System Meets a Pandemic: Framing the Political Discord over COVID-19 Aid Campaigns in Turkey PART 3: Public Opinion 10. Divided we trust? The role of polarization on rally-around-the-flag effects during the COVID-19 crisis 11. The role of political polarization on American and Australian trust and media use during the COVID-19 pandemic 12. "I don’t vote because I don’t want to get infected": Pandemic, polarization and public trust during the 2020 Presidential Election in Poland. 13. The Swedish Way: How ideology and media use influenced the formation, maintenance and change of beliefs about the coronavirus

Peter Van Aelst is Professor of Political Communication at the Department of Political Science of the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Jay G. Blumler was an Emeritus Professor of Public Communication at the University of Leeds, UK and Emeritus Professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland, USA.

"This book offers a rich trove of empirical data and theoretical arguments from around the world that will help understand further multiple communication and political aspects of the pandemic. I am particularly struck by the sophistication of the analysis and the impressive efforts to analyze the effective and botched responses to the pandemic as shaped by communicative processes, choices and styles by governments. Peter Van Aelst and the late great Jay Blumler have assembled a formidable collection that yields novel insights into classic political communication questions - polarization, government communication, elite cues, leadership, and public trust."—Silvio Waisbord, Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University

• 1. COVID-19 as an ideal case for a rally-around-the-flag? How government communication, media coverage and a polarized public sphere determines leadership approvals in times of crisis. PART 1: Government communications 2. From consensus to dissensus: The UK’s management of a pandemic in a divided nation 3. Beyond Control and Resistance: The Dual Narrative of the Coronavirus Outbreak in Digital China 4. COVID-19 in Chile: A health crisis amidst a political crisis amidst a social crisis 5. The Italian Prime Minister as a captain in the storm: The pandemic as an opportunity to build personalized political leadership. PART 2: Media coverage 6. Interactive Propaganda: How Fox News and Donald Trump co-produced false narratives about the Covid-19 crisis 7. Stooges of the system or holistic observers? A computational analysis of news media’s Facebook posts on political actors during the coronavirus crisis in Germany 8. More Than "a Little Flu": Alternative Digital Journalism and the Struggle to Re-Frame the Brazilian Government’s Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak 9. When a Polarized Media System Meets a Pandemic: Framing the Political Discord over COVID-19 Aid Campaigns in Turkey PART 3: Public Opinion 10. Divided we trust? The role of polarization on rally-around-the-flag effects during the COVID-19 crisis 11. The role of political polarization on American and Australian trust and media use during the COVID-19 pandemic 12. "I don’t vote because I don’t want to get infected": Pandemic, polarization and public trust during the 2020 Presidential Election in Poland. 13. The Swedish Way: How ideology and media use influenced the formation, maintenance and change of beliefs about the coronavirus