Date of Award

2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA) in Digital Journalism​

First Advisor

Wambui Wamunyu

Department

Graduate School of Media and Communications

Abstract

This research provides an analysis of the communication strategies that government communicators are utilising in a bid to counter wrong narratives on the Ugandan social media space, using the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). The study focuses on the nature of information disorder that revolved around the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS), introduced in January 2021 by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and how it was stemmed. Through extensive content analysis of social media posts on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, 2 Key Informant interviews (KIIs) with key URA officials and 2 two In-depth interviews (IDIs) with tax and government communications experts, it was revealed that disinformation and some pockets of misinformation manifested on social media, in light of the topic on EFRIS. The content analysis highlighted comprehensive communication and counter-communication by URA against the wrong information about EFRIS, posted by some social media users. The KIIs and IDIs offered perspective on the manifestation of disinformation, noting that some social media users feigned ignorance that EFRIS was a tax and rather not a tool to ease tax payments. The content analysis further revealed that despite the disinformation, many social media users were already aware of the truth about the subject. Despite intense communication strategies to combat the information disorder around EFRIS, URA faced challenges of persistent disinformation, which cropped up on social media platforms where they had no presence, particularly, Tiktok, a popular video-sharing application. This created an information crisis which led to a perception crisis. The findings reveal that social media users with large followings as well as new, popular platforms, have a big impact on shaping user perceptions. The research underscores the need for government communications departments to carryout intentional digital media convergence, in a bid to combat persistent information disorder on social media. The findings advance a discernment of the correlation between social media platforms, its users, and the manner in which wrong narratives can be tackled. They also contribute to the improvement of crisis communication management on social media by government institutions.

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