The challenges of public sector communication in the face of the pandemic crisis: professional roles, competencies and platformization

The pandemic crisis has led to a renew centrality of public sector communication in a hybrid and convergent media ecosystems aiming at (re)building relationships based on trust between institutions and citizens. This contribution reflects on the strengths and fragility of the Italian public communication in the face of the pan- demic, considering regulatory processes and paths of professionalization. It focuses also on the challenges of social media use in public sector, suggesting a critical ap- proach towards the platformization of the public sector communication activities. The last part of this manuscript presents the different articles that compose the special issue.