Payne, GregoryEiró-Gomes, Mafalda2021-03-292021-03-292021-03-01Payne, G., & Eiró-Gomes, M. (2021, mar, 01-02). Risk communication: between probabilities and perceptions. Paper presented, Online, at International Meeting on Business, Institutions and the New Normal, Fundación Camilo Prado, Madrid, Espanha.http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/13166A thorethical approach to the concept of risk communication will be presented in an intertwitened dialogue with the present pandemic situation and the work that has been developed by differente international and national institutions and governments. Both in philosophy and sociology, as well as in communication sciences the serlian concept of “Brackground” (Searle, 1992, 1997) has been highly discussed and developed. Maybe it hasn’t gained such a pivotal importance as when we are discussing the way governments have communicated (or have they only informed?) to, for or with their publics during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. If it is true that a risk is a probability it has been defended for many years that it is also a perception. Between the experts and the public there is a gap that only “communication” might help to overcome. Have we managed to understand our publics in all their complexities, have we worked within worldviews, identities and values of those whose behaviours we wanted to change? Or have we on both sides of the Atlantic misunderstood the role of risk and crisis communication in all the process? Departing from concrete examples and perplexities concerning the present situation researchers will offer an overview of some of the main themes and issues concerning how risk is, or ought to be, communicated in the context of the communication in the public interest.engPublic relationsRisk communicationCrisis communicationSARS-CoV-2COVID-19conference object