Crisis Response Strategies in Political Interviews: A European Union Perspective

This chapter contributes to the study of crisis communication by investigating the argumentative dimension of crisis response strategies in political interviews. As political interviews are accountability practices, crisis responses by political actors are seen as persuasive attempts at (re)enacting reputation and creating citizen trust. In addition to explaining the argumentative nature of political interviews, and how it constrains crisis responses, this chapter analyzes how two European Union political leaders respond to critical questions during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Understanding the EU’s response strategies is of special significance, due to its broad role as a crisis management institution. The first case study illustrates the use of potentially effective accommodating strategies, in which mistakes are admitted and lessons are drawn from them. The second case study discusses how defensive strategies employed to avoid blame and deny mistakes is a potentially less effective choice.