Reinventing trust
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The world is suffering from a second worrying pandemic - not COVID-19, but a major outbreak of distrust: Accusations of fake news and lies, general disregard for the facts, and freely circulating conspiracy theories. All this doubt makes it difficult to implement policies for the common good needed, for example, in the fight against COVID-19. Here the Nordic countries are faring better than most, something experts put down to the high levels of trust found in Nordic societies.
In this episode, we look at how the Nordics managed to build up this social trust and we investigate what's needed for countries to break and reverse the vicious circle of distrust and denial.
“We live in turbulent times – leading to more denialism and less trust. This must be reversed.”
Brigitte Alfter, director of Arena for Journalism in Europe
This podcast episode features the following speakers
Hilde Sandvik (Norway)
Hilde Sandvik is a Norwegian journalist who currently leads the "Norsken, svensken og dansken" ("The Norwegian, the Swede and the Dane") talk show, which is broadcasted on Norwegian, Danish and Swedish public radio. Hilde was the culture and opinion editor at the Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende for ten years. She also created Broen.xyz, a media platform that aims to bring Nordic societies together through shared Nordic journalism and debate.
Peter Thisted Dinesen (Denmark)
Peter Thisted Dinesen is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen and University College London. His research focuses on the formation of social and political attitudes, especially social trust – meaning trust in unknown others. Peter is currently working on two research projects examining the social and political consequences of local income inequality and identity politics.
Brigitte Alfter (Germany)
Brigitte Alfter is an experienced German-Danish journalist, a lecturer at the University of Gothenburg and the director of Arena for Journalism in Europe, a non-profit organization supporting cross-border journalism. Having worked in journalism at the local, national and European levels, she realized there was a need for structures to enable cross-border collaborative journalism and has been working towards this since 2008, combining journalism, entrepreneurial activities, teaching/training and academic research.