The Illiberal Turn? News Consumption, Polarization and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe

Recent years have seen worrying political developments across both old and new democracies, ranging from the rise of populist leaders and dwindling support for democratic rule to the growing polarization of public opinion, evident in the stark divergence of political attitudes among both political elites and the general electorate. Many of these transformations have been linked to changes in information environments, and specifically to the growth of social media and digital platforms, which have given unprecedented visibility to populist rhetoric and hate speech, facilitated the spreading of misinformation, and allegedly encouraged the formation of ideological 'echo chambers'. According to many commentators, these developments contribute to the erosion of the public sphere, particularly in light of the gradual weakening of the role of professional, legacy news media organizations as primary providers of political information. With the proliferation of various "alternative", hyperpartisan online news sources whose content gets amplified via social media, unverified information, unchecked claims and fringe opinions spread virally and get exploited by populist actors and movements.
While these tendencies currently pose challenges to democracies across the world, their impact is particularly detrimental in countries that have a shorter history of democratic development and where democratic institutions are more fragile. This is the case in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), a region that has recently experienced an unprecedented decline in the quality of democracy, a resurgence of illiberal nationalism, and a shift towards authoritarian forms of government. These troublesome developments are arguably threatening to reverse the process of post-1989 transition following the fall of communism. This makes the research into the relationship between media use, political attitudes and behaviour, and popular support for democracy in CEE particularly topical - especially given the fact that systematic research into these issues has so far been limited largely to the U.S. and Western Europe.
The ambition of this project is therefore to fill this gap, and to carry out the first-ever systematic, comparative study of news consumption and political polarization in Central and Eastern Europe, at a key point in time when the region is undergoing dramatic changes. This will be achieved by means of a comparative study of news consumption an political attitudes, using a novel multi-method analytical framework that combines survey data, digital tracking of media consumption, as well as media diaries and qualitative interviews with audiences in four CEE countries. While empirically focused on CEE, the project will also make a key contribution to general debates on political polarization, populism, nationalism and related phenomena (a) by clarifying the role of the changing media environment in these phenomena, and (b) by pioneering a new multi-method comparative framework that can be adapted for similar research elsewhere in the world.
Given the urgent nature of developments in CEE, the project will also include a significant impact component. We have developed plans for collaboration with several CEE-based and pan-European organizations and associations representing media regulators and journalists, dedicated to the promotion of media literacy, media pluralism and freedom. Through designated activities with these partners we will seek to influence both professional and public debate concerning the political impact of the changing news environment in CEE, and contribute to the development of regulatory frameworks, professional standards and civil society activities designed to counter the growth of media partisanship and the spreading of disinformation and "fake news" via online media channels.

The project will be of benefit to three groups of non-academic stakeholders:
(1) Media policymakers and regulators: Project findings will be of direct relevance to debates on regulatory measures designed to manage the potential positive and negative impact of the changing information environment on the quality of public life in CEE. Given the focus on audiences, project findings will also inform media literacy initiatives, which are underdeveloped in CEE.
(2) Journalists will benefit from insights into patterns of news consumption when considering how best to respond to the fast-changing technological environment and how to produce and distribute news in a manner that is most conducive to an open public debate. This is particularly important in the context of growing political and economic pressures on the journalism profession in CEE.
(3) Civil society actors engaged in promoting civic values, media pluralism and democracy in the region will be able to use our findings to tailor their initiatives to the specific situation in each country.

To generate impact among these three groups of beneficiaries, three interrelated pathways to impact have been developed, each comprising dedicated activities including meetings with stakeholders, project report with targeted recommendations for each group of stakeholders, articles aimed at the general public, etc. These activities will be carried out in partnership with five key stakeholders, namely a) the Res Publica Foundation in Poland, b) the Centre for Media, Data and Society (CMDS, Central European University) in Budapest, c) the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (European University Institute) in Florence, d) the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA), and e) the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). Letters of support have been obtained from all these partners; in addition, representatives of some of these organisations have also agreed to join the project's Advisory Board.

The first impact pathway will focus on facilitating media policy and regulatory developments, including media literacy initiatives. The main project partner for this pathway will be the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA), comprising 52 regulatory authorities from 46 countries. EPRA agreed to help disseminate the project's final report with policy recommendations, as well as to help with reaching out to key policy media actors in the respective countries.
The second impact pathway will seek to inform journalistic practice by enhancing the knowledge of media practitioners about their audiences' news consumption habits, as well as by suggesting new opportunities and strategies for rebuilding trust and contribute to overcoming the adverse effects of polarization for democracy and the public sphere. This will be achieved via collaboration with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) as well with the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), European University in Florence. The EFJ has agreed to contribute to stakeholder meetings and to the development and dissemination of the Final Project Report, which will include best practice recommendations for journalists. The CMPF will include the project findings in its summer school for journalists in 2020 and 2021 and fill also facilitate the promotion of the project among other stakeholders.
Finally, the third impact pathway will support initiatives that strive to enhance the quality of democracy, media and civil society in the region. The project will team up with the Res Publica Foundation, to publish six articles in Visegrad Insight, the leading pan-regional magazine aimed at intellectuals, public officials and civil society actors. Furthermore, the CMPF as well as the Centre for Media, Data and Society, both of which have extensive range of contacts with civil society actors, have agreed to offer their newsletters and social media channels for publishing of content produced by the project.