Mid Sweden University

This study compared the narratives presented by government officials’ to the people in Sweden and Australia regarding the Covid-19 Pandemic. Government officials form the first line of communication and set the scene for further communication, contributing to peoples understanding of reality. This study investigated the first layer of communication to the nation in a global crisis. Comparing and contrasting cross cultural narratives that addressed the same global phenomenon yielded new knowledge about how narratives are told and can set the foundation for further communication and meaning making in the public.This study investigated communication to the nation to discover if the narrative differ or share commonalities between Australia and Sweden -two countries with significantly different strategies to handling the Covid-19 outbreak to the purpose of gaining deeper knowledge of how narration from national leaders is shaped and inform public meaning making.Method: Narrative Content Analysis (Content analysis, Narrative Analysis, Grounded Theory)Theory: Narrative Theory