“Old-fashioned billboards” and traditional media – newspapers, radio and television – remain the most effective means of raising awareness of cohesion policy, according to a study presented at a conference organised by Cohesify on Thursday 26 April.
The Horizon 2020-financed study, presented by Heinz Brandenburg of the University of Strathclyde, is based on a large-scale survey (8,500 people in 12 member states) and shows that the traditional means of communication, including good old-fashioned billboards are most effective in communicating cohesion policy. Social networks play only a minor role in informing the public of these funds, Brandenburg said, the reason being that social networks affect an audience or community centred on the same interest.
The study reveals that European funds, including cohesion funds, are generally better known in those regions where investment is highest (three times better known in the regions of beneficiary member states than in those of net contributors).
Taking a separate study, on media treatment, as his basis, Vasiliki Triga of the Cyprus University of Technology showed that regional media frame the effects of cohesion policy more positively than national and international media, though with wide variations depending on the regions and member states. While there is evidence of public interest and engagement in cohesion policy-related news through user comments, the topics usually related to politicised EU issues where the tone is negative.
Cohesify, then, provides a raft of recommendations to improve communication on cohesion policy. These include: - involving citizens in the planning of funding; - communicating throughout the whole of the funding implementation process, with a percentage of the budget explicitly devoted to communication; - introducing communication benchmarks in the programme selection process; - taking account of communication quality in the evaluation criteria.
At the Cohesion Council, the Commission presented its report on the communication action plan brought forward in 2017 (see EUROPE 11999). According to the report, the most effective initiative has been the movement for a Cohesion Alliance (see EUROPE 11987).
The findings of the studies can be consulted at: https://bit.ly/2HuZdps (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)