Exploring strategies of multimodal crisis and risk communication in the business and economic discourses of global pandemic news

This chapter intends to broaden the range of methodological approaches to multimodal communication by proposing an interdisciplinary approach for investigating strategies of multimodal crisis and risk communication in business and economic discourses of global news during the first months of the current pandemic era. The focus is on the fundamental roles of multimodal communication strategies in crisis situations when risk informers, risk bearers, risk researchers and risk regulators enter the global news’ multivocal arena with multiple discursive agendas revolving around challenging business and economic issues. The empirical evidence represented by global news videos released during spring 2020 is collected from the websites of three international news channels: CNN, The Economist and Financial Times. The chapter proposes a qualitative analytical model that helps reveal the ways in which crisis-related sensemaking processes are used to legitimate and evaluate various versions of unpredictable reality across blurred national borders. Thus, this chapter shows how multimodal meaning creation in business and economic discourses during the pandemic era can be systematically investigated and explained.