Clarifying the expression of “communication crisis” used in Vietnam through communication research

Abstract

In Vietnam, for the past two decades, the phrase “communication crisis” has been used widely in order to refer to all “noisy” incidents appearing on media channels, including social platforms and newspapers. However, in the international circle of communication academics, there has been no such term as “communication crisis” (the most exact translation into English for the phrase “khủng hoảng truyền thông”) till now, only the term “crisis communication” (translated into Vietnamese as “truyền thông xử lý khủng hoảng”) is popularised. This article initially clarifies whether the term “khủng hoảng truyền thông” exists or not, through surveying a number of research studies and academic documents on crisis management and communication conducted by international authors, with a comparison to define and standardise the scientific term in Vietnamese. At the same time, the article also explores some related theories and models proposed by international scholars to serve as the foundation for explaining the nature of the use of the expression “communication crisis” in Vietnam.