Response to Crisis and its Impact on the Audience: A Case Study of the Christchurch Terror Attack of March, 2019

Abstract

The long-term damage to society caused by terrorist attacks can only be mitigated through the implementation of effective strategies. The 2019 Christchurch attack in New Zealand, which targeted Muslim places of worship, deeply impacted the local and international community. This study evaluates how the New Zealand government responded to the attack and how Saudi Arabian Twitter users interacted with these responses in the month following the attack. Content analysis was used to analyse the data and identify the main themes found in the tweets. The data analysis showed that the government effectively used social media to communicate several actions that it took in response to the attack. Effective communication and interaction with a global audience is a critical strategy to manage crisis. Other effective actions included condemning the attack, supporting healing and reconciliation, providing health services and empathising with the victims. Assessing the tweets from Saudi Arabian users showed that they interacted favourably with the communications from the New Zealand government, particularly in the week after the attack. The Saudi Arabian public supported the actions of the New Zealand government, and this could be seen through Twitter users condemning the attack and supporting those affected. Therefore, effective crisis management facilitated healing of the country and the government gaining support locally and internationally.