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CommunicationsEssayCrisis communication

COVID-19 communication analysis: Lasswell 5W model guide

An analysis of the communication surrounding the COVID-19 virus, running from the first outbreak up to the point you begin the work, structured throughout by Lasswell's 5W model of communication.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 12, 2026

01

Why does the timeframe make this a historical analysis?

The brief is two sentences long and both of them constrain the work more than they look. The first fixes a period — from the first outbreak to the moment you start writing — which makes this a historical analysis of a changing communication environment rather than a snapshot of what people are saying now. The pandemic's messaging did not hold still: the same senders reversed themselves on masks, the channels shifted as briefings moved from press rooms to social platforms, and the audiences fragmented along lines that did not exist in January 2020. An analysis that treats the whole period as one undifferentiated moment throws away the only structure the brief actually supplies. Establish two or three phases with defensible dates and apply the model separately within each one, so change becomes visible instead of being averaged away into a single verdict about pandemic messaging.

The second sentence names the analytical frame, and using Lasswell's model properly means answering all five of its elements rather than the two that are easy. Who, says what, in which channel, to whom, with what effect. The first four can be answered by description: name the senders, characterise the messages, identify the platforms, segment the audiences. The fifth cannot. Effect is an empirical claim, and it is where communication essays quietly turn into opinion pieces — "this caused widespread confusion" is an assertion unless something measures it. Behaviour surveys, compliance data, vaccination uptake, search-trend data and documented policy changes are the kinds of evidence that make an effect claim defensible, and even one of them, properly cited, changes the register of the whole analysis. One measured effect is worth more than a page of confident description, because it is the only part of the model that can be wrong in a checkable way.

The scope is enormous, which is the practical problem, and the model gives you the tool to cut it down. Rather than attempting all communication about COVID-19, fix the Who and let the other four elements follow: analyse one health authority, or one national government, or one platform's moderation regime, across your chosen period. That produces a coherent piece with a real argument instead of a survey. It also keeps the effect question tractable, because a bounded sender has a traceable audience and a documented record. Whatever you choose, say explicitly in the introduction what you have bounded and why, since an examiner reading an unbounded treatment of pandemic communication will assume the boundaries were never considered rather than deliberately drawn. A stated limitation reads as judgement; an unstated one reads as an omission, and the two look identical on the page unless you say which it is.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

  • 01
    Apply all five elements of Lasswell's model rather than the descriptive four.
  • 02
    Support an effect claim with evidence rather than assertion.
  • 03
    Segment a long crisis into phases so change in messaging becomes visible.
  • 04
    Bound an unmanageably large topic by fixing one element of the model.
  • 05
    Recognise the limits of a linear communication model applied to a networked environment.
Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Assignment for the Spring semester 2020 will be to conduct an anal of the communication concerning Covid -19 virus from its first outbreak till the point you will start your work. Use the Lasswell’s 5W model for your analysis
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. Communication concerning Covid -19 virus The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Communication concerning Covid -19 virus

02

Turn the brief into deliverables

  1. 01
    An analysis of communication concerning the COVID-19 virus from its first outbreak to the point the work began.
  2. 02
    The analysis structured by Lasswell's 5W model.
  3. 03
    All five elements addressed: who, says what, in which channel, to whom, with what effect.
03

Applying the 5W model across phases rather than all at once

01

Bound the study

State the period, the sender or senders you are analysing, and why that boundary makes the question answerable.

02

Who: the senders

Identify the communicators and their authority, mandate and constraints during the period.

03

Says what: the message across phases

Track how the substantive message changed between your phases, including reversals.

04

In which channel

Distinguish the channels used and what each afforded — reach, speed, correction, moderation.

05

To whom

Segment the audiences and note who each message reached and who it did not.

06

With what effect

Make one or two effect claims and support each with a measurable indicator.

07

The model's limits

Close by noting what a linear sender-to-receiver model cannot capture about a networked information environment.

04

Where the pandemic communication record is documented

Recommended databases

  • World Health Organization
  • NCBI Bookshelf
  • PubMed
  • WHO risk communication guidance

Search sequence

  1. 1.
    Fix the sender and the period before searching anything.
  2. 2.
    Use the WHO response timeline to date your phase boundaries rather than choosing them by feel.
  3. 3.
    Search for one measured outcome — uptake, compliance, survey — that can anchor an effect claim.
  4. 4.
    Look for at least one documented reversal in messaging, since reversals are the clearest evidence of change over time.
05

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

  1. 01

    Timeline of WHO's response to COVID-19

    World Health Organization · 2024

    A dated primary record of what was said and when, which is what makes phase boundaries defensible rather than arbitrary.

  2. 02

    Infodemic

    World Health Organization · 2024

    The framing of information overload as a health problem in its own right — directly useful for the channel and effect elements.

  3. 03

    Science Brief: Community Use of Masks to Control the Spread of SARS-CoV-2

    CDC COVID-19 Science Briefs, NCBI Bookshelf · 2021

    A documented case of guidance changing as evidence accumulated, which is the clearest worked example of a message reversal to analyse.

  4. 04

    Communicating risk in public health emergencies: a WHO guideline for emergency risk communication (ERC) policy and practice

    World Health Organization · 2017

    Evidence-graded guidance on what emergency risk communication is supposed to achieve and how outcomes are measured — the standard against which your effect claims can be judged, and a source of measured indicators rather than assertions.

06

Review before submission

Common mistakes

  • Writing a general account of pandemic misinformation instead of applying the model.
  • Treating the whole period as a single moment, which hides the changes in messaging the timeframe was chosen to expose.
  • Asserting effects without any measurement to support them.
  • Attempting all COVID-19 communication worldwide rather than bounding the sender.
  • Describing channels as simply "social media" without distinguishing platforms with different affordances.
  • Presenting audiences as one undifferentiated public.

Submission checklist

  • The period analysed is stated, with a start and an end point.
  • Two or three phases are identified within that period.
  • All five Lasswell elements appear explicitly.
  • The scope is bounded and the bounding is explained in the introduction.
  • At least one effect claim is supported by cited evidence rather than assertion.
  • Channels are distinguished from one another rather than lumped together.
  • Audiences are segmented in a way the analysis then uses.

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.

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