Webinar: Strategies to Enhance Informed Trust and Institutional Trustworthiness

How can public communication contribute to institutional trustworthiness? What strategies ensure accountability and informed public judgment in democratic governance? Public trust in institutions depends not on blind faith, but on their demonstrated competence, impartiality, and integrity. In democratic societies, effective oversight mechanisms, independent monitoring bodies, investigative journalism play a vital role in ensuring accountability. However, in an era of misinformation and polarization, fostering informed public judgment—based on transparent and credible information rather than manipulation or skepticism—has become an urgent challenge. This webinar will critically examine the role of public communication in reinforcing institutional trustworthiness, rather than merely seeking to "build trust".

Join us on April 2 from 14:00 to 16:00 CET for a webinar where experts from political science, media studies, and public policy—alongside practitioners from agencies supporting public authorities—will discuss strategies to enhance informed trust and institutional trustworthiness. The webinar will specifically address the following topics:

• The risks of misinformation, propaganda, and performative trust-building efforts that can erode democratic credibility.
• How institutions can demonstrate trustworthiness through transparency and accountability.
• The role of public communication strategies in fostering informed engagement.
• How media and policymakers can navigate the balance between informing, scrutinizing, and engaging citizens.

The webinar will be moderated by Frédéric Gonthier (Sciences Po Grenoble - UGA), Aneta Vilagi (Comenius University, Bratislava) and Christian Haerpfer (University of Vienna). Our invited speakers are:

• Judith Ferrando (Co-Director of Missions Publiques, Board Member of the ICPC), who will discuss the insights from public engagement and citizen participation initiatives.
• Sarah Kups (Senior Economist, Public Governance Directorate, Governance Indicators and Performance Division, OECD), who will share key recommendations from OECD report on Building trust in a complex policy environment.
• Mario Scharfbillig (Science for Policy Analyst, European Commission), who will present the key recommendations from the Trustworthy Public Communication (Joint Research Center) report.
• Paschalia Spyridou (Assistant Professor, Cyprus University of Technology), who will analyzie the role of media in participatory budgeting (Demotec Project).

This webinar is part of the TRUEDEM project, led by Christian Haerpfer and Pippa Norris, and funded by Horizon Europe (2023-2025).

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