The Horizon Europe research project Resilient Media for Democracy in the Digital Age (ReMeD) identified structural challenges and proposed solutions to promote a more pluralistic, sustainable, and reliable media system during its final conference in Brussels, on 12 and 13 February 2026.
After three years of research in eight European countries, the project presented a shared understanding of the challenges facing the European media system and, above all, a roadmap with concrete proposals to strengthen its contribution to democracy.
The project findings show that the fragmentation of the European information ecosystem, loss of trust in the media, and the growing dependence on large tech platforms are weakening democratic resilience. The researchers highlighted that the European media sector is experiencing multiple pressures: precarious jobs, the concentration of media power, and the proliferation of disinformation and hate speech, among others.
“ReMeD shows that democratic health depends on a pluralistic, sustainable media ecosystem that is capable of generating trust. European cooperation and research are essential for understanding the challenges and building common solutions”, said Mercedes Medina Laverón, professor at the School of Communication at the University of Navarra and scientific coordinator of the project.
Comparative analysis showed that digitalisation has expanded opportunities for citizen participation and diversified the media ecosystem, but has also introduced new challenges: audience fragmentation, funding pressures on journalism, concentration of power in large technology platforms, and tensions surrounding the regulation of the digital environment.
“One key issue among the journalists, alternative content creators and citizens we interviewed is that they hold a wide range of views of what democracy is all about, and how fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and the right to non-discrimination should be translated into effective regulation”, noted Vito Laterza, associate professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Agder, and head of the project’s Methodology Coordination Group, which led a pan-European study of key media actors in eight European countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom).
This was not interpreted as a weakness. Rather, this plurality of views reflects the vibrancy of European debate and underscores the need to create spaces for dialogue and shared frameworks. To improve resilience in the media system, the project researchers recommended a combination of professional responsibility, innovation in business models, media literacy, and effective implementation of European policies.
“These two final days full of exchange between leaders of journalists’ organisations, policy-makers, journalists and the academic partners showed the thirst for solutions, the need to think out of the box, to embrace new content creators where possible, to find new business models, and to fight the skepticism around the crucial EU digital rule book”, said Renate Schroeder, director of the European Federation of Journalists, which joined the project consortium. Schroeder also added that “the final conference showed that the research done by the ReMeD consortium was relevant for journalistic actors at national level, who, all within their different national and regional environments, want to save journalism, in whatever form it may exist tomorrow”.
Over the course of three years, the consortium has engaged with journalists, content creators, citizens, media executives, and fact-checkers, who participated in multiple qualitative and quantitative substudies. The project paid particular attention to some of the key societal issues affecting Europe today: the erosion of trust in democratic institutions, the climate crisis, socio-economic inequality, gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights, immigration and integration, and war and violent conflict.
“Developing tools that harness the democratic potential of new technologies is going to be a key frontier for engaging citizens and keeping them connected to an increasingly digital media landscape”, said Abit Hoxha, assistant professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the University of Agder. Hoxha led the creation of the Resilient Media for Democracy Observatory, which produces AI-generated reports from reliable journalistic media on ReMeD’s key focus areas. All content is verified by human experts.
University of Navarra (Spain) was the coordinating partner, joined by University of Agder (Norway), Charles University (Czech Republic), Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Belgium), LMU Munich (Germany), Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (Austria), Oxford University (UK), Dublin City University (Ireland), and the European Federation of Journalists.