The devil-angel shift in times of crisis: How Swiss scientists used policy narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This paper studies how scientists participated in policy debates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland not only by telling facts but also by telling stories. It combines insights from Narrative Policy Framework and science communication literature with a conceptualization of scientific advice to study how scientists used narratives and the devil-angel shift narrative strategy to communicate about policies and problems. Quantitative content analysis of Swiss newspaper articles shows that in statements with problem advice scientists use more narratives than in statements with policy advice and that the devil-angel shift score for problem advice is significantly lower for narratives with problem advice. Overall, the research shows that problem advice is a good predictor for the use of the devil shift. However, when scientists used narratives with policy advice, they often followed a negative narrative strategy that also highlights problems.