The Voice of Authority Vis-a-Vis the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Although it has not been considered as criticism, the World Health Organization (WHO) represents an authoritative voice when it comes to managing health issues, especially those concerning the recent epidemiological emergency. Since the outbreak of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, there has also been an infodemic, an overabundance of information, which makes it difficult to separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’, true from fake news. This paper focuses on carrying out a semio-linguistic analysis in an effort to explore the communicative traits of the communiqués issued by WHO. To this end, the linguistic and discursive strategies used to foster an impression of truthfulness and create trust regarding the information concerning the Coronavirus pandemic were explored. The analysis strives to highlight the interplay of simulacra and semantic configurations functional to the ‘discursive efficiency’ of the official statements of the organization.