This proposal is based on the CITREP survey that was conducted in France and Germany at the end of the year 2009. Many scholars have focused their researches on the effects of (political) information on citizens (Gerstlé, 2004). Nevertheless if this field is well documented outside Europe (for example Hedlund and Friesema, 1972), this is not the case for Germany and, especially, France with some noticeable exceptions (Hubé, 2005). A comparative perspective with in-depths insights resulting from a long and precise survey like the CITREP program is rarely possible which gives us an opportunity to understand the effects of information in two different national context. Indeed, The French and German cases provide interesting contexts of similarities and differences regarding the characteristics of the political system but also vis-à-vis their cultural traditions (Gabriel, Keil, Kerrouche 2011).
Taking into account the results of the CITREP survey (2200 interviews in France and Germany), with a large part of it dedicated to media, we would like to properly and systematically assess the role of information on citizens perceptions of representative democracy and, eventually, on their level of trust towards their political system. These results will be compare to the ones we already have regarding MP’s to relate the views of representatives and citizens.
The paper will focus on the differential effects of media, on the level of knowledge of MP’s by citizens (to indirectly evaluate the notion of personal vote) and the outcomes of incomplete information on political choices and orientations.
