Building Trust in Journalism

The Building Trust in Journalism project explores the conditions and needs of media communities in Central Eastern Europe. Its overarching aim is to raise awareness of the importance of ethical professional journalism in building trust in the media and in facilitating the crucial role journalism can play in fostering democracy.

Launched in 2019, the project is a partnership between the Evens Foundation, the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN) and the Fritt Ord Foundation. The project has now been running for three years, publishing a series of policy reports focusing on different countries, and continues to evolve.

Initially, plans for the project included a conference and dedicated workshop in each of the focus countries following the publication of each report. This was only possible in Poland before the Covid-19 pandemic forced a change in strategy.

Instead, in 2021, the series was expanded to include Georgia (published in October 2021) and Ukraine (scheduled for early 2022). New strategies were also explored for disseminating and creating dialogue around the project’s research outcomes.

Work also continued on delivering the policy reports that were already planned, covering the Czech Republic and Slovakia. An online panel conversation based on the project’s findings, titled “Exploring the crackdown on freedom of expression in Central Eastern Europe”, took place on 11 October 2021. An interview about the project with Chris Elliott – EJN trustee, former Readers’ editor at The Guardian and co-author of the report on Poland – was published online by Voxeurop.

An initial study visit to research the media landscape in Ukraine was conducted in the autumn of 2021.

The project has drawn the attention of several institutions and organisations working with Central and Eastern European media, who are interested in translating the findings into practice.