Public relations in Civil Guard communication during COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 copied the information content in the media and highlighted the need for responsible communication from all spheres of society to guarantee citizen security and maintain the trust and credibility of the authorities as sources of information. In a context of information multiplatforms, official communication focused on the rotation of public appearances and an increase in fake news, the need to be informed increases the use and consumption of media by citizens, while at the same time rigorous official communication is demanded by the agents in authority. This study aims to describe the relationship of the Guardia Civil with different audiences, as an active agent and formal prescriber during the pandemic based on three objectives: 1. To know the presence of the Civil Guard in the conventional and digital media during the pandemic; 2. To describe the treatment and approach of news about the Guardia Civil in the press during the pandemic; and 3. From the information about its stakeholders in the social responsibility reports, infer the relational role of the Guardia Civil with its audiences in the press news.

To achieve the objectives, a mixed methodology with content analysis is used. First, a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the strategic communication (media used and stakeholders) described in the Social Responsibility Reports of 2019 and 2020, and in the Sustainability Plan (2021-2025) of the Civil Guard is carried out. Second, based on the search for the keywords "Guardia Civil" and "COVID" in the two generalist newspapers with the largest coverage in Spain (El País and El Mundo), and throughout the six waves (from March 14, 2020 to December 31, 2021), a content analysis of the 198 resulting news items is performed (FACTIVA database). The analysis variables are: year, newspaper, focus, role of the CG in the communication, media treatment, formal agents and publics in the news and level of responsibility in their communicative behavior. The data indicate a segmentation of audiences in the Social Responsibility and Sustainability Plan reports that show a communication strategy based on a motivational relational behavior of the Civil Guard with its stakeholders, as opposed to a prescriptive presence of other official bodies or protagonist with a predominantly informative approach of the news in the media towards the general population. The only exception refers to the group of young people who appear associated with news about the intervention of the Guardia Civil for non-compliance with restrictions. Although the presence of the Guardia Civil in the media decreases in 2020, its strategy maintains -coinciding with several studies- the use of media that generate more trust in the population (traditional and digital) and, in addition, it registers an increase in followers on Twitter and TikTok. The news with informative approaches refer to restrictions, while the motivational ones focus on communicating measures to safeguard health. It is concluded that although its communicative strategy segments audiences, even in its profiles in social networks such as TikTok, it is still not a visible strategy in news about the Civil Guard in the media.