f Editorial

The editorial places our studies into a wider context linking together the different studies which cover election campaigning protest and the Covid-19 crisis. The works focus firstly on the crisis communication strategies of Nordic political leaders and secondly on the UK government’s social media messaging. Both these also offer insights into the tools of social media, multimodal and social semiotic analysis. Moving away from the pandemic we also offer insights into the work of photojournalists and their framing of Zimbabwean election contenders. Finally, for those interested in how facial expressions betray emotions, and how expressions can be read, the final article offers significant methodological insights on the use of Facial Action Coding System tools. Rounding off with a review of a recent handbook in the field, the editorial introduces this issue as one born out of and launched into a long hot political summer.