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Working Papers

Vox populi? Citizen alienation and the political and media elite

Politicians and journalists rank at the bottom of public confidence surveys.

This working paper attempts an explanation, and examines the potential consequences of such citizen distrust in the public institutions that - de jure or de facto - are supposed to represent them. Though there is, of course, no easy fix to the problem, this paper also presents several partial solutions.

Meet the authors

Elisabeth Braw

Elisabeth Braw’s research at the Reuters Institute looks at the alienation among citizens in their attitudes towards the elite in politics and media. Lawmakers are elected to represent their fellow citizens, and the role of media is to be a messenger... Read more about Elisabeth Braw