Media, politics and the tyranny of the opinion poll. The crisis of the euro indicates not only a threat to European integration, but also a crisis of European democracy characterized by a surge in "anti-politics". Many analysts have identified the media as the single most important factor in this development, as the marketization of the media combines with digital technology to create a political order determined by public opinion. In political decision-making, the question whether this opinion is right or wrong becomes secondary to its value as a form of feedback. British journalist Judith Vidal-Hall met Bulgarian cultural anthropologist Ivaylo Ditchev in Sofia to discuss what this means for citizens' trust in the political system and for democracy as such. Moderated by Carl-Henrik Fredriksson, editor of Eurozine.

Is Belgium the test-bench for democracy 2.0? (Eurozine, 10 maart 2011)