Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in Europe

Livrables

Database of schools and universities curricula

Database of schools and universities curricula in selected Member States, including Italy, Croatia and Bulgaria, with a focus on soft skills and digital media literacy skills.

Anonymised QCA and Network Analysis (SNA) dataset

D.7.2. Anonymised QCA and Network Analysis (SNA) dataset (Month 30)The data obtained from the QCA and SNA on the regulatory alternatives and coalitions promoting them will be made available publicly through the project’s website after the process of collection, analysis and refinement in order to make them anonymous according to the DPM.

Public opinion survey Data/database

Survey and analysis of Citizens’ expectations and critical attitudes (Lead Arena):Little is known about expectations citizens have in quality journalism and how these expectations translate in critical attitudes as news readers. We ask:T4.1a) what do citizens consider quality journalism in the post-truth era? AndT4.1b) under what conditions is trust in media and demand for quality journalism related to truth orientation, and in which instances do the experience of the ‘post-truth era’ undermine trust? Under what conditions are citizens more likely to believe that truthfulness is a core standard for journalism?These questions will be addressed through a public opinion survey and opinion formation experiments, both to be carried out in two consortium member countries, Norway and Italy.

Report of skills training

Development of a 5-day skills training module on media literacy targeting university students, young researchers, media professionals, teachers and interested citizens. The training module will combine lectures and hands-on exercises. The module will be made public and will offer a model that can be replicated by other organisations wishing to organize training on media literacy. (Lead: TEPSA)Organisation of a 5-day skills training on media literacy in Brussels for 15 participants selected through an open call for applications. Lectures and exercises will be led by selected project researchers and professional trainers. (Lead: TEPSA)

Report: (De)Securitising Information, Safeguarding and Reforming Liberal Democracy in the Digital Age

The report will evaluate state apparatuses’ attempts to manage trans-local production and circulation in online space – the new plane of international politics – in view of practical recommendations to safeguard and reform liberal democratic institutions in the digital age. Building on previous WP8’s deliverables, the report will identify and evaluate various related paradigms, and against this background provide an analytical assessment of EU’s digital agenda. Delivery: 36

Report of midterm conference

Organisation of a mid-term conference in Prague. This conference will serve as a forum for the consortium to disseminate on the first research findings of the consortium and raise further awareness about the project among external stakeholders. (Lead: IIR)

Report of PPC panel 2023

Organisation of 3 panels at TEPSA’s Pre-Presidency Conferences (PPC), a high-level forum of discussion on the challenges and priorities of the incoming Council Presidency. Taking place twice a year in the country that is about to take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU, PPCs are regularly attended by high-level national and EU policy makers and civil servants, in addition to academics, think tankers, media, civil society and students. The panels will discuss topics that are of direct relevance to the project’s research focus, such as liberal democracy, populism, disinformation, democratic participation, etc. (Lead: TEPSA)

Report: Reimagining the International as a Challenge to Liberal Democracy

The report will explore the nexus between reimagining the international/domestic and the porousness of borders in the digital age and what role this new understanding plays out in the securitisation practices related to disinformation and fake news in selected EU member states / EU as a whole, and how it affects changing modalities of the production of identity and otherness, bordering practices or attempts by the state apparatuses to govern the online space. The emergence and evolution of disinformation assemblages in liberal democracies and the paradigms of management of unease centered around particular sites and crises / controversies (e.g. related to the Covid-19 pandemic) will be explored in comparative perspective. Delivery: 19

Citizen practitioner's guide to post-truth politics regulation

D7.5. A citizen-practitioner’s guide to post-truth politics regulation (Month 36)The main results from the WP will be published as a short and practice-oriented guide available for free in Creative Commons format. This guide will identify the main debates in regulation, the regulatory alternatives and their costs (including cost of opportunity), the main actors operating in the transnational field and the effects in the journalistic profession.

Report of kickoff conference

Report of kick-off conference (lead beneficiary: UI), Month 4This document will summarise the key insights discussed in the public sessions of the project’s kick-off conference.

Code book for discourse analysis

Code book for discourse analysis. Coding for post-truth in parliamentary debates on migration.

Report of final conference

Organisation of a final conference in Brussels. This conference will serve as a key forum to convey the main findings of the project to relevant EU policy makers and representatives of EU institutions, in addition to academics, think tankers, media and civil society. (Lead: TEPSA)

Policy briefs WP2

Recommendations on lessons learned for policy makers (Conrad & Newman, month 36)

Two policy briefs for the project website

Two policy briefs for the project website (Months 24 – 36)

Public opinion survey: Country and comparative reports

D4.1.4 Comparativeresults paperWP4 ARENA R PU 26Survey and analysis of Citizens’ expectations and critical attitudes (Lead Arena):Little is known about expectations citizens have in quality journalism and how these expectations translate in critical attitudes as news readers. We ask:T4.1a) what do citizens consider quality journalism in the post-truth era? AndT4.1b) under what conditions is trust in media and demand for quality journalism related to truth orientation, and in which instances do the experience of the ‘post-truth era’ undermine trust? Under what conditions are citizens more likely to believe that truthfulness is a core standard for journalism?These questions will be addressed through a public opinion survey and opinion formation experiments, both to be carried out in two consortium member countries, Norway and Italy.

Policy brief on building trust between journalists and citizens

WP4.2b: Government-led policies/measures to survive or preserve democratic principles of journalism:WP4.2b focuses on the EU’s Democracy Action Plan and entails, first, the normative assessment of the strategies and tools that are proposed to be used to counter fake news/misinformation (legal normative theory dimension). Secondly, we map how the EU’s Democracy Action Plan is transposed into national policy contexts. Are political positions on counter/misinformation strategies largely shaped by and in line with ideological positions rather than pragmatic considerations? Or are there also more political forces at play? Are governments composed of parties more likely to benefit from a post-truth turn in discourse less likely to implement policies that could safeguard fact-based journalism.The objectives of WP4.2 will be met through a combination of semi-structured interviews with journalists and policy-makers in six consortium countries, tracing of anti-misinformation and transnational journalism collaboration instances in the period 2010-2022, process tracing and qualitative content analysis of all available documentation related to the EU’s Democracy Action Plan at EU level and in six consortium member countries (Italy, Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Croatia and Poland).

Two Creative Commons policy briefs

Two Creative Commons policy briefs stating the main issues arising from the regulatory alternatives identified and explaining the impact on journalistic professions will be published in the project’s website (according to the most suitable timing from the editorial point of view). These will be shared with the stakeholder panel for their eventual publication as op-eds in different media.The above mentioned guide will be first released for discussion and comment with the WP stakeholders. This will contribute both to the dissemination of the guide and to improve its user-friendliness and relevance for the final users.

Report: Foreign Policy in the Post-factual Age

The report will analyse strategies of selected external actors in relation to post-truth politics, assessing the role of disinformation and propaganda, as well as modalities of responding to disinformation campaigns/hybrid activities in their foreign policies and its effects on the EU and the legitimacy of liberal democracy more broadly. In line with the call, the report will analyse in depth the external challenges posed by non-liberalglobal powers (Russia, China), but also explore in details the fine lines between exercising malign influence in the conditions of post-truth politics on the one hand, and promoting favourable worldviews has been a part and parcel of foreign policies of great powers and small states alike on the other which. Methodologically, the research will be grounded in foreign policy analysis. Delivery: 28

Toolkit for skills training on media literacy

Toolkit for skills training on media literacy. The skills training module developed by TEPSA in WP10 will be translated into a tool kit and made public offering a model that can be replicated by other organisations wishing to organise trainings on media literacy (lead TEPSA, month 36).

Report of PPC panel 2022

This document will summarise the discussion at the panel organised at TEPSA’s Pre-Presidency Conference in 2022Organisation of 3 panels at TEPSA’s Pre-Presidency Conferences (PPC), a high-level forum of discussion on the challenges and priorities of the incoming Council Presidency. Taking place twice a year in the country that is about to take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU, PPCs are regularly attended by high-level national and EU policy makers and civil servants, in addition to academics, think tankers, media, civil society and students. The panels will discuss topics that are of direct relevance to the project’s research focus, such as liberal democracy, populism, disinformation, democratic participation, etc. (Lead: TEPSA)

Citizens‘ experiments data report

T4.2 - Demands and supply of quality news and journalism standards (Lead 4.2a: SNS; Lead 4.2b: ARENA)WP4.2a: Mapping of industry-led policies/measures to survive or preserve democratic principles of journalism (Journalism Resilience and Solidarity Index; constructed with contributions from select or all consortium members). These are actions taken by journalists and journalism institutions themselves as acts of self-preservation and acts of retaining or regaining their integrity and citizens’ trust against the fake news backlash effect of the past 10 years. WP4.2a focuses on the role of Public Service Media, on the one hand, and on forms of alternative for-profit quality journalism that have emerged in response to the last 10 years of crises, mapping these out and discussing them under the project’s theoretical framework. WP4.2a further investigates patterns of transnational cooperation or collaboration of journalists to tackle fake news or attacks on media pluralism or journalists. What defines such patterns? What are the underlying values or principles, where do they extend geographically and what role do transnational organisations (Journalists without Borders, the European Federation of Journalists) play in such transnational acts of solidarity?

Report of PPC panel 2024

Organisation of 3 panels at TEPSA’s Pre-Presidency Conferences (PPC), a high-level forum of discussion on the challenges and priorities of the incoming Council Presidency. Taking place twice a year in the country that is about to take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU, PPCs are regularly attended by high-level national and EU policy makers and civil servants, in addition to academics, think tankers, media, civil society and students. The panels will discuss topics that are of direct relevance to the project’s research focus, such as liberal democracy, populism, disinformation, democratic participation, etc. (Lead: TEPSA)

Policy paper on new and student-centred education tools for citizenship education

Policy paper on new and student-centred education tools for citizenship education, including recommendations for institutional stakeholders (Ministers, Ministries, Schools, Universities)

Report based on data collected in the European Union and Canada-US

Report based on data collected in the European Union and Canada US starts with focus on 6 case studies: Canada, EU – France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, United States (months 6-26) (lead: UVic and JU)

Policy briefs

Policy recommendations. Partners will work on preparing policy recommendations in cooperation with policy expert from the University of Victoria that will be distributed to relevant stakeholders and published on the project’s website

Journalists‘ responses: Case studies comparative report

WP4.2b: Government-led policies/measures to survive or preserve democratic principles of journalism:WP4.2b focuses on the EU’s Democracy Action Plan and entails, first, the normative assessment of the strategies and tools that are proposed to be used to counter fake news/misinformation (legal normative theory dimension). Secondly, we map how the EU’s Democracy Action Plan is transposed into national policy contexts. Are political positions on counter/misinformation strategies largely shaped by and in line with ideological positions rather than pragmatic considerations? Or are there also more political forces at play? Are governments composed of parties more likely to benefit from a post-truth turn in discourse less likely to implement policies that could safeguard fact-based journalism.The objectives of WP4.2 will be met through a combination of semi-structured interviews with journalists and policy-makers in six consortium countries, tracing of anti-misinformation and transnational journalism collaboration instances in the period 2010-2022, process tracing and qualitative content analysis of all available documentation related to the EU’s Democracy Action Plan at EU level and in six consortiummember countries (Italy, Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Croatia and Poland).

Monthly podcast on the politics of regulation

Monthly podcast on the politics of regulation (months 12 – 30) Once the stakeholder panel has been constituted (see milestone number 1), their members will be invited to participate in a monthly discussion with stakeholders of different environments and the members of the research team to discuss the politics and professional practices of regulating disinformation.Information on the stakeholder panel:Stakeholder-led Data Management Protocol for the QCA and network analysis (Month 6) This working package addresses models of regulation, both existing and hypothetical. In order to produce research that is grounded in existing debates and useful to stakeholders, the regulatory alternatives will be constructed from political theory and a participatory research where different stakeholders will be involved in designing the QCA and network questionnaires. This will form the basis of the DMP used for data collection, analysis and treatment. Because of the sensitive information obtained from a limited number of easily identifiable stakeholders then DMP will not be published.

Publications

How the EU Counters Disinformation: Journalistic and Regulatory Responses

Auteurs: Jorge Tuñón Navarro, Luis Bouza García, Alvaro Oleart
Publié dans: Media and Communication, Numéro 13, 2025, ISSN 2183-2439
Éditeur: Cogitatio
DOI: 10.17645/MAC.10551

Polarisation, News Consumption, and Beliefs in Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories: Early Signs of the Fragmentation of the Public Sphere in Iceland

Auteurs: Jón Gunnar Ólafsson, Valgerður Jóhannsdóttir
Publié dans: Javnost - The Public, Numéro 31, 2024, ISSN 1318-3222
Éditeur: Informa UK Limited
DOI: 10.1080/13183222.2024.2383905

Civic and Citizenship Education under scrutiny: a comparative analysis of case studies across EU and non-EU countries

Auteurs: Federico Castiglioni, Alessia Chiriatti
Publié dans: De Europa - European Global Studies Journal, 2025, ISSN 2611-853X
Éditeur: De Europa - European Global Studies Journal
DOI: 10.13135/2611-853X/13017

Defining Journalistic Autonomy in the Wake of Disinformation in Spain

Auteurs: Luis Bouza‐García, Rocío Sánchez‐del‐Vas, Jorge Tuñón‐Navarro
Publié dans: Media and Communication, Numéro 13, 2025, ISSN 2183-2439
Éditeur: Cogitatio
DOI: 10.17645/MAC.10651

Fragmented and Polarised? The German Public Sphere during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Auteurs: Maximilian Conrad
Publié dans: Javnost - The Public, Numéro 31, 2024, ISSN 1318-3222
Éditeur: Informa UK Limited
DOI: 10.1080/13183222.2024.2382648

Does the Centre Hold? Public Sphere Configuration, Democracy, and the Quality of Political Talk in Sweden

Auteurs: Peter Strandbrink
Publié dans: Javnost - The Public, Numéro 31, 2024, ISSN 1318-3222
Éditeur: Informa UK Limited
DOI: 10.1080/13183222.2024.2384008

The European approach to online disinformation: geopolitical and regulatory dissonance

Auteurs: Andreu Casero-Ripollés, Jorge Tuñón and Luis Bouza-Garcí
Publié dans: Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 2023, ISSN 2662-9992
Éditeur: Springer NAture
DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-02179-8

Doomscrollers by day, gamers by night: patching digital sovereignty in the Western Balkan states amid US-China technological rivalry

Auteurs: Anastas Vangeli, Ana Bojinović Fenko, Faris Kočan
Publié dans: Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Numéro 34, 2026, ISSN 1478-2804
Éditeur: Informa UK Limited
DOI: 10.1080/14782804.2025.2578698

What Is the EU’s Vision of Democracy in the Post-Truth Scenario? A Conceptual Analysis of the Institutional Narratives of the Public Sphere in the “Democracy Action Plan”

Auteurs: Elena García-Guitián, Luis Bouza, Taru Haapala
Publié dans: Javnost - The Public, Numéro 31, 2024, ISSN 1318-3222
Éditeur: Informa UK Limited
DOI: 10.1080/13183222.2024.2382662

Civil society coalitions in the EU media regulation: when field theory meets network analysis

Auteurs: Luis Bouza; Juan Roch; Álvaro Oleart
Publié dans: European Politics and Society, 2024, ISSN 2374-5126
Éditeur: Routledge
DOI: 10.1080/23745118.2024.2420229

Post-Truth Politics in Action? Representation of the Media in Spanish Radical Parties’ Electoral Campaigns

Auteurs: Taru Haapala, Juan Roch
Publié dans: Media and Communication, Numéro 13, 2025, ISSN 2183-2439
Éditeur: Cogitatio
DOI: 10.17645/MAC.9514

Not About Facts, but Emotions? Political Polarisation as a Problem of Redescription

Auteurs: Jeremias Schledorn
Publié dans: Javnost - The Public, Numéro 31, 2024, ISSN 1318-3222
Éditeur: Informa UK Limited
DOI: 10.1080/13183222.2024.2383906

Countering Post-Truth: A Comparative Study of Journalists’ Responses to Disinformation Challenges

Auteurs: Jacopo Custodi, Hans-Joerg Trenz, Martin Moland
Publié dans: Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2025, ISSN 1077-6990
Éditeur: SAGE Publications
DOI: 10.1177/10776990251393745

Reversing the Privatisation of the Public Sphere: Democratic Alternatives to the EU’s Regulation of Disinformation

Auteurs: Alvaro Oleart, Julia Rone
Publié dans: Media and Communication, Numéro 13, 2025, ISSN 2183-2439
Éditeur: Cogitatio
DOI: 10.17645/MAC.9496

Reinforcing or Rethinking? What do News Consumers Want from Journalism in the Post-Truth Era?

Auteurs: Martin Moland, Jacopo Custodi, Hans-Jörg Trenz
Publié dans: Media and Communication, Numéro 13, 2025, ISSN 2183-2439
Éditeur: Cogitatio
DOI: 10.17645/MAC.8823

The EU’s FIMI Turn: How the European Union External Action Service Reframed the Disinformation Fight

Auteurs: Lucas Proto, Paula Lamoso-González, Luis Bouza García
Publié dans: Media and Communication, Numéro 13, 2025, ISSN 2183-2439
Éditeur: Cogitatio
DOI: 10.17645/MAC.9474

Regulating Disinformation and Big Tech in the EU: A Research Agenda on the Institutional Strategies, Public Spheres and Analytical Challenges

Auteurs: Bouza Garcia, Luis; Oleart, Álvaro
Publié dans: Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS), ISSN 1468-5965
Éditeur: Wiley-Blackwell
DOI: 10.1111/JCMS.13548

Exploring affective Polarisation of the (Digital) Public Sphere in Slovenia: The Case of Marshal Twito

Auteurs: Melika Mahmutović, Marko Lovec
Publié dans: Javnost - The Public, Numéro 31, 2024, ISSN 1318-3222
Éditeur: Informa UK Limited
DOI: 10.1080/13183222.2024.2383903

Fugitive Truth: Renewing the Public Sphere in the Age of Post-Truth

Auteurs: Saul Newman
Publié dans: Javnost - The Public, Numéro 31, 2024, ISSN 1318-3222
Éditeur: Informa UK Limited
DOI: 10.1080/13183222.2024.2383904

Reimagining the International: Surveying Foreign Information Manipulation Landscapes of Power During the COVID-19 Pandemics

Auteurs: Ondřej Ditrych, Jakub Eberle, Linda Monsees, Petr Kratochvil
Publié dans: 2025
Éditeur: Institute of International Affairs - University of Iceland
DOI: 10.33112/NCWX5475

News Credibility in the Age of Misinformation: Writing style, ideology and beliefs about political misinformation

Auteurs: Martin Moland, Jacopo Custodi, Hans-Jörg Trenz, Asimina Michailidou
Publié dans: 2025
Éditeur: Institute of International Affairs - University of Iceland
DOI: 10.33112/OCQE3866

Reclaiming the Epistemic Basis of Liberal Democracy

Auteurs: Maximilian Conrad
Publié dans: 2025
Éditeur: Institute of International Affairs - University of Iceland
DOI: 10.33112/JFMQ7129

Post -Truth Populism

Auteurs: Saul Newman and Maximilian Conrad
Publié dans: Springer, 2024
Éditeur: Palgrave McMillan
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-64178-7

Post-Truth Politics, Migration and Border Security: Analysing Political Discourses in the EU

Auteurs: Karolina Czerska-Shaw, Maciej Stępka
Publié dans: Current Debates in European Integration, 2026, ISBN 9781041147398
Éditeur: Routledge

Journalism, Disinformation, and Europe’s Response: Truth Under Siege

Auteurs: Jacopo Custodi, Martin Moland, Hans-Jörg Trenz
Publié dans: Routledge Studies on Democratising Europe, 2026, ISBN 9781041230991
Éditeur: Routledge

Livrables

Publications

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