There is a lot of talks nowadays about disinformation and its dangers, and usually, analyses focus on methods and outcomes of disinformation attempts.
This CPD analysis focuses on our society’s resilience to disinformation, on the factors that increase democratic resilience and can be stimulated in order to safeguard democracy and fight back disinformation in Romania.
These factors are participation and trust in the Western model and the geopolitical actors (countries and institutions) that represent it.
The premise assumed by the authors of the study (Dan Sultănescu, Vlad Achimescu, Dana Sultănescu), inspired by the classic theories of political culture, is that participation is vital for the health of a democracy. Their underlying assumption is that disinformation can only be successful if people’s levels of participation are low, and if their trust in the countries and institutions representative for the Western model is starting to weaken.
Also, the CPD researchers analyze the patterns of media use being interested in how the consumption of media corroborates with participation, as well as with trust in Euro-Atlantic institutions.
The results of the research were presented at the 10th edition of the Romanian-American Workshop MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY LITERACY which took place at SNSPA, Bucharest, October 31 – November 1, 2019.
You can find here some of these results regarding the patterns of participation, media use and trust in various countries and organizations among the Romanian public.