This study compares how three ideologically distinct Spanish newspapers— El País (centre-left), ABC (right-wing) and Público (left-wing, online)—framed the Western Sahara conflict before and after Spain's 18 March 2022 recognition of Morocco's autonomy plan. A two-year content analysis ( N = 221 articles) tracks shifts in frame use, primary sources and tone toward competing sovereignty claims. Across outlets the conflict frame dominated, while economic considerations were marginal; security and humanitarian emphases declined after the policy shift. El País and ABC partially converged, normalizing official narratives despite opposing editorial leanings. Público relied more on NGOs and Sahrawi actors and maintained the most consistently pro-Sahrawi tone. Findings lend support to concerns about elite cueing and overreliance on official narratives in the Spanish press, but show that meaningful disparities remain among newspapers with different ideological orientations.

Fact-checking is vital in combating misinformation, yet concerns persist regarding potential unintended effects on media trust. This study investigates causal dynamics between exposure to fact-checks and media trust over time, using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) with longitudinal panel data from Flanders (Belgium) across three waves in 6 months before the 2024 elections. Findings indicate that people who encounter more fact-checks are also more likely to have higher trust in media. However, we found no causal relationship, suggesting that fact-checking neither erodes nor enhances media trust over time. Amid growing scrutiny of fact-checking by political actors and technology platforms, these results challenge assumptions about negative spillover effects of fact-checking.

Very large online platforms shape public discourse, raising concerns about the impact of misinformation and disinformation on democratic stability. The European Union responded with the Digital Services Act framework. However, its enforcement remains limited, partly due to conceptual ambiguities surrounding the concepts of misinformation and disinformation. This article investigates how definitional inconsistencies undermine the Digital Services Act’s (DSA) implementation. We analyzed 79 documents—including EU legislation, platform policies, fact-checking codes, and academic publications—to examine how key actors define these terms. We identified four key definitional criteria: content quality, intent, associated risk, and creation and dissemination techniques. Our findings reveal that these criteria reflect divergent institutional interests and result in fragmented definitions. This fragmentation generates critical risks, affecting freedom of expression, research, countermeasure design, intervention effectiveness, and impact assessment. We conclude by offering recommendations to support criteria-based definitions, improve risk evaluation, and reinforce the DSA's effectiveness in countering information disorders.

This study investigates the types of mitigation strategies discussed in news reports about terrorist attacks (TAs) in German and Austrian newspapers, examining the differences between security- and surveillance-related (SSR) and restrictive migration-control strategies versus community-bonding and deradicalization strategies. A content analysis of N = 1514 articles on nine TAs in Western Europe since 2016 examines which characteristics of the attacks (rightwing TAs vs. Islamist TAs; death toll; and number of injured victims), the media environment, and the article (tabloid vs. broadsheet; country of reporting; article type; time frame; and article length) predicted the mitigation strategies presented in the articles. Results revealed that media coverage of TAs disproportionately emphasizes SSR and migration-control strategies, while largely neglecting deradicalization measures. This focus may contribute to shaping negative out-group perceptions, highlighting the need for increased awareness among journalists regarding the implications of their reporting.

This contribution introduces the comprehensive framework of epistemic welfare to discuss how public service media (PSM) can engage with algorithmic recommender systems in a manner in keeping with PSM's foundational principles. We contextualize PSM algorithmic recommenders in their tradition of content curation and discuss the challenges PSM face in implementing these systems. We introduce epistemic welfare, a framework based in social epistemology and welfare studies, defined as concerned with creating and maintaining conditions and capabilities for epistemic agency of citizens in the public sphere. We discuss the epistemic standards of reliability, power, fecundity, speed, and efficiency and illustrate the framework's operationalization for the design and implementation of recommenders and its relevance for governance by and of PSM's algorithms. Ensuring that algorithmic recommender systems fit epistemic welfare, we argue, allows PSM to help tackle the epistemic disruptions in the digitalized public sphere.

The heightened concern about political polarization, and the growth of radical parties in many national contexts have had various effects, such as eroding trust in democratic political systems. This article aims to study political polarization exploring one of its main causes, the polarizing communication of political elites. By coding the various components of polarizing strategies identified in the literature (partisan identity and issues, attacks against others, incivility), we analyze the polarizing strategies used in the campaign for the 2024 European parliamentary elections by all Italian leaders and parties. We consider parties and leaders’ messages on Facebook and Instagram, also looking at followers’ engagement. This study tackles a simple research question: which parties and leaders choose to polarize? The results show that challenger parties tend to polarize more than dominant parties.

Regional broadcast media comprises a substantial sector across Europe, encompassing thousands of players and drawing on considerable public funds. Yet, as the media landscape becomes an increasingly crowded field and the competitive heat from tech giants ratchets up, the need for media companies to sharpen their edge will only intensify. Gaining that competitive vantage requires embracing innovative practices and business models—especially as the relentless wave of innovation, often bankrolled by large tech corporations, continues to wash over the industry. Drawing on insights from interviews with representatives of member organizations under CIRCOM-Regional, Europe's largest association of regional broadcasters, this article sheds light on how regional public service media grapple with innovation. Despite widespread awareness of its significance, the findings suggest that many regional broadcasters lag behind in fully embracing the concept. Only a rare few boast dedicated teams or resources for innovation. In most cases, progress is driven through technological enhancements and organizational openness, while strategic policies and long-term investment plans often fall by the wayside.