Visibility Without Guidance: Measuring the Actionability of Public Crisis Communication in Lebanon

Abstract

Public crisis communication is most valuable when it enables protective action: when it tells affected populations not only what is happening, but where, what to do, how to access help, and whom the guidance applies to. This study examines whether institutional crisis communication in Lebanon during an active conflict escalation met that standard. It presents a systematic actionability audit of 182 public-facing communication items issued by nine Lebanese state institutions, emergency responders, and United Nations humanitarian agencies between April 1 and May 7, 2026. Each item was coded on five binary dimensions: specific location, clear instruction, access channel or contact, time or date reference, and target group identification. An actionability score between 0 and 5 was calculated as the arithmetic sum of the five dimensions, with score consistency mechanically verified across all items. Findings indicate a substantial gap between communicative output and actionable guidance. The mean actionability score was 1.98 out of 5, with 46.7% of items scoring 0 or 1. Access channel or contact information was absent from 89.6% of items. UN humanitarian agencies produced a mean score of 3.10, compared with 1.35 for state and ministry sources, while emergency responders occupied an intermediate position. Communication type analysis shows that informational reporting was more prevalent than operational guidance. The findings suggest that institutional communication during this period was often informative rather than directive, and offer a replicable audit framework for assessing crisis communication adequacy in comparable contexts.