With the CDC un­der fire for mixed mes­sages again, can new com­mu­ni­ca­tion strate­gies help re­coup pub­lic trust?

CDC di­rec­tor Rochelle Walen­sky took to Twit­ter last week to launch a first-ever “Di­rec­tor De­brief” se­ries, speak­ing di­rect­ly to fol­low­ers on the chan­nel. She in­tro­duced the videos with a look back at the past year since she joined, not­ing “the many chal­lenges faced in the past year” and promis­ing in 2022 “to use sci­ence and trans­paren­cy” to im­prove pub­lic health.

As the CDC ad­justs its com­mu­ni­ca­tions style — hold­ing so­lo press brief­in­gs re­cent­ly for the first time since Walen­sky joined a year ago as well as that video se­ries de­but on Twit­ter — the big­ger ques­tion is, can bet­ter com­mu­ni­ca­tions re­build pub­lic con­fi­dence in the agency?

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER