DIACOMET’s final policy recommendations published
We have published DIACOMET’s final policy recommendations on civic accountability mechanisms, setting out concrete steps to strengthen democratic communication, transparency, participation, and trust in digital public spheres.
The recommendations build on extensive cross-country research conducted in eight European countries. They draw on the analysis of ethical codes and guidelines, focus groups, a Delphi study with experts, Q-sorting exercises, comparative country analysis, and EU-level policy analysis.
In the recommendations, we address key challenges affecting public communication today, including platformisation, algorithmic governance, the economic fragility of journalism, political polarisation, online harassment, self-censorship, and the marginalisation of low-visibility voices. We identify five main policy directions: strengthening civic resilience and communication security; improving transparency in public communication; expanding inclusive civic participation; ensuring access to public dialogue for marginalised groups; and fostering constructive engagement between media professionals and the public.
The publication includes both EU-level recommendations and national recommendations for the countries involved in the DIACOMET project. The national reports translate the overarching recommendations into specific media-system contexts and highlight how they can be implemented in practice.
Alongside the recommendations, we present practical tools developed within the project, including the Principles for Dialogue-Supportive Communication, the Inclusive Accountability Toolbox, Dialogue Lab, the Discussion Forum, and the European NGO Network. Together, these outputs help policymakers, regulators, media organisations, digital platforms, civil society actors, and educators move beyond regulation alone and support more inclusive, dialogic, and learning-oriented approaches to democratic communication across Europe.
You can access the recommendations on this link.