Crisis Communication of Government Officials During Covid-19 Lockdown

One of the challenges which government officials had to face during the time of Covid-19 lockdown has been crisis communication. Prime ministers, members of government and local government leaders had to inform their citizens about the danger caused by coronavirus pandemic and - what was probably more difficult - announce, present and justify social restrictions imposed in connection with a pandemic. The aim of the paper is to analyze the argumentative strategies used to justify the restrictions. The subject of the research are the speeches of selected European political leaders (prime ministers, ministers of health) during the introduction of lockdown.