Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Welcome to the Politics & Media Blog

People seem to be losing faith in politics. Fewer people are voting, fewer people are joining political parties and levels of trust in political institutions are declining. Citizens doubt their politicians’ motives and are cynical about whether they genuinely represent voters’ concerns.

But do people trust journalists any more than they trust politicians? The public appear increasingly sceptical about their sources of news. And worries are growing about the reliability, independence and substance of many parts of the media.

The British Council project Politics & Media has been designed to stimulate debates about the role that media and politicians can play in strengthening democratic dialogue.

The projects aim is to address growing mistrust between politicians, media and citizens and to examine the influence of political spin vs political reporting on citizens’ perceptions of politics in six participating countries (UK, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Montenegro and Croatia).

This blog will cover the project activities that include debates and events in participating countries as well as the additional articles and views. Please be free to add your comments and share your views with the rest of the Politics & Media online community.

Note: We are keen to encourage lively and informed discussion on this blog but at the same time think that some comments may require a closer level of editorial oversight. Every submitted comment will be checked by a moderator before it is published on this blog.