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Universidade Lusófona

How to Protect Democracy? Fact-checking, Accountability and Participation

How to Protect Democracy? Fact-checking, Accountability and Participation

MEDEMAP – Mapping Media for Future Democracies (HE 101094984) and aPEaSE – Checking the Fact-Checkers (2023.12581.PEX) Seminar

The media play a crucial role in contemporary democracies, informing citizens and promoting public and political debate. The media – in the fullness of their functions – can only exist in a democratic society, in which manipulation and disinformation have no place. However, the pressure, dizzying speed and "platformisation" of communication threaten, unprecedentedly, democracy and its main institutions, which value truth and transparency.

It is from this context that the inspiration arises for the organisation of this seminar, which results from the collaboration between two research projects: aPEaSE – Checking the Fact-Checkers (2023.12581.PEX) and MEDEMAP – Mapping Media for Future Democracies (HE 101094984), funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology and the European Union. These projects analyse, from complementary perspectives, the role of the media in the construction and preservation of a democratic system.

From this common framework, the seminar aims to discuss how, under what conditions and for which audiences the media — including fact-checking — perform democratic functions, and what the implications of these processes are for the quality of democracy.

OBJECTIVE

The seminar aims to present and discuss the main results of the aPEaSE and MEDEMAP projects, whilst simultaneously promoting a broader academic dialogue space on the role of the media in contemporary democracy.

TOPICS OF INTEREST

  • Media, democracy and accountability
  • Democratic functions of the media
  • Transparency, trust and media accountability
  • Fact-checking as a professional practice and journalistic movement
  • Strategies to combat disinformation
  • Media consumption, political participation and civic engagement
  • Participatory and inclusive communication models
  • Digital platforms, algorithmic logic and democracy
  • Diversity, inclusion and representation in the media

The seminar will take place in person on 20 February 2026, at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, between 10:00 and 17:30. The Organising Committee invites all researchers interested in this debate to submit, by 2 February 2026, abstracts of up to 300 words, in Portuguese, English or Spanish, through the event form:

EVENT FORM

Participation in the event is free.

Authors with accepted papers are invited to submit the complete text for a special edition of UTAD’s Revista de Letras. Complete texts should be submitted by 29 May 2026, with the special issue expected to be published by October 2026. The publication formatting guidelines are available here.

The seminar will also feature the presentation of the book "How to Protect Democracy. The Rise to Power of the Radical Right and the Challenge of Caring for Portugal's Future", by David Dinis, deputy director of Expresso and commentator on SIC Notícias.

Important Dates

  • Submission of proposals - 2 February 2026
  • Communication of results - 6 February 2026
  • Registration (free) for the event - until 9 February 2026
  • Publication of the programme - 13 February 2026
  • Submission of complete texts - 29 May 2026
  • Publication of the special edition - October 2026

Abstract Submission

INVITED SPEAKERS

  • David Dinis

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

  • Ana Filipa Oliveira
  • Ana Miguel Lamy
  • Fábio Ribeiro
  • Francisco Conrado
  • João Pedro Baptista
  • Nuno Cintra Torres
  • Tatiana Chervyakova
  • Margaryta Kulichova

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

  • Ana Filipa Oliveira
  • Fábio Ribeiro
  • Francisco Conrado
  • João Pedro Baptista
  • Nuno Cintra Torres
  • Tatiana Chervyakova
  • Margaryta Kulichova
  • published 08 October 2024
  • modified 12 January 2026