What is Explanation

COVID-19 is a new ongoing pandemic and an alarming public health issue which urges emergency measures at a national and international level. This chapter uses a collaborative message-centered approach and explores how the Department for Emergency Situation (DES) in Romania tailored its verbal and visual messages to this pandemic and how the Romanian online users assessed the DES involvement in the risk and crisis management. The quantitative and qualitative content analyses showed that DES laid an emphasis on the narratives of informational responsibility and responsibility in action, whereas online users focused on the narratives of multilayered rationalization and a multifaceted incompetence.