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Male rape remains largely obscure in communication discourses; on rare occasions it suffers juxtaposition against its much-publicised counterpart, female rape. Yet victims of male rape too suffer various physical, sexual, emotional and mental health risks, as well as lack of much-needed support systems. In general, social networking sites (SNSs) have provided a democratic space to facilitate discourses about risky problems, enabling polarised discussions and perspectives towards matters, such as male rape, where few such platforms previously existed. This article explores online discourses about male rape. A netnography approach was used to analyse over 122 tweets. The results indicate that male rape is trivialised through the oversimplification of its definition and the downplaying of victims' experiences. In discourses, prevailing gendered online conversations centred on and amplified female rape, barely acknowledging the trauma and suffering of male rape victims. Of note were some voices calling for more awareness about male rape and calls to stop gendered norms from deterring survivors from sharing experiences. The findings underscore the argument that although conversations highlighting male rape continue to be suppressed in societies, SNSs have the potential to be used as instruments of awareness and support for victims.

Narrative health communication has the potential for effective health promotion about cancer amongst youth from low- and middle-income countries such as South Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa experiences a rising cancer-related disease burden with predicted increase of over 85% by 2030. Whilst promotion through communication, of cancer prevention strategies targeting 18–29 year olds remains scanty, it is crucial for cancer prevention behaviour before the disease develops. The study aimed at examining how narrative storytelling can create cancer awareness amongst students at the University of Johannesburg. A qualitative approach was adopted. During October 2019, an awareness session that formed part of a month-long health campaign involving various activities for students, promoted preventative behaviour leading to early cancer detection. Campus Health Services in collaboration with other University departments invited six cancer survivors and experts to share stories about their various cancer experiences with students and staff. Many of the participants aged between 18 and 49 years, indicated that they did not know how to engage in self-examination of their bodies and had never taken any cancer tests. Most of the participants expressed a willingness to engage in frequent self-examination and visiting health facilities to receive regular professional tests as a result of storytelling. Results may assist health promotion organisations with the construction of effective cancer health messaging especially for hard-to-reach groups such as youth in developing countries.

AbstractGovernments during the Covid‐19 pandemic in response to the challenge of reaching as many of their citizens as quickly as possible have relied on the use of digital media communication. Various stakeholders, however, have questioned whether strategic use of digital communication by governments has been effective during the Covid‐19 health crisis. We thematically analyzed a public online bi‐country webinar and conducted a netnographic analysis of South African Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize and Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services Twitter accounts to evaluate the effectiveness of government digital communication during the Covid‐19 pandemic. Stakeholders and social media analysis highlight that government digital communication has lacked engagement, falling short in assisting citizens to understand the effects of the Covid‐19 pandemic. We highlight the shortcomings of governments simply transmitting information on channels built for dialogue, the digital divide limiting reach, as well as how limited engagement opens up opportunities for misinformation.

The role of communication in a pandemic emergency is crucial because it contributes to the spread of collective interpretations of the crisis that drive community responses. Based on the social representations' theory approach, and specifically relying on the notions of collective symbolic coping and polemical social representations, the study presents 10 country-based case studies of public communication with the aim of exploring the social representations of COVID-19 during the first wave of the outbreak. Multiple communication sources from 10 countries in 5 geo-cultural contexts (Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa) were selected and analyzed: institutional websites; international/national/local newspapers and news channels; national/international press agencies; and social media platforms. Results highlighted the prevalence of multivocality and polemical social representations, along with outgroup blaming and stigmatization processes, the use of military and naturalistic metaphors, antinomies, and discourse polarization. Implications for effective public communication in crisis management are discussed.