Striking the Right Tone in Avian Influenza Outbreak Preparation: Understanding Current International Government Communication

This report presents the findings of a study examining the tone of international government avian influenza outbreak preparation communication.Effectively chosen and deployed tone can be highly beneficial in assisting pre-and post-outbreak measures.An analysis of the key communication approaches across five cases -Australia, the European Union, Aotearoa New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America -shows that the neutral and institutional tones are widely used across key online government communications.Furthermore, the majority of the communicated information is provided through lexical (that is, written) content.Based on the findings, recommendations for enhancing tone, as well as content, in government avian influenza outbreak preparation communication are provided.