Abstract:  Africa faces a double Covid-19 crisis. At once it is a crisis of the pandemic, at another an information framing crisis. This article argues that public health messaging about the pandemic is complicated by a competing mix of framings by a number of actors including the state, the Church, civil society and the public, all fighting for legitimacy. The article explores some of these divergences in the interpretation of the disease and how they have given rise to multiple narratives about the pandemic, particularly online. It concludes that while different perspectives and or interpretations of a crisis is not necessarily wrong, where these detract from the crisis itself and become a contestation of individual and or sector interests, they birth a new crisis. This is the new crisis facing the continent in relation to the pandemic.

Keywords:  Africa; Coronavirus; Covid-19; crisis; health journalism; misinformation; news framing

Published:   25 June 2020

Issue:   Vol 8, No 2 (2020): Health and Science Controversies in the Digital World: News, Mis/Disinformation and Public Engagement