We are inundated with information. Against this backdrop, it’s not always easy to sort out what’s true from what’s false. Fact-checkers are constantly analysing and verifying information that may be misleading. But the constant stream of false information we are faced with makes it impossible to rely on fact-checking alone.
To combat disinformation, we need to promote media literacy, i.e. the ability to access and evaluate information and develop critical thinking skills. To be media literate involves critically approaching information, which begins with the curiosity to engage with media. It includes understanding and producing media thoughtfully, as well as pausing and reflecting before acting on received information. For example, media literacy helps individuals resist polarizing content and encourages them to be curious about interacting with a diverse range of people and perspectives. This way Media literacy promotes an approach for both younger people and adults.
This is why EDMO BELUX 2.0 aims to support those active in education, as well as information professionals (journalists), in deploying a media literacy approach at the heart of their professions.
In concrete terms, EDMO BELUX 2.0 proposes:
- to raise awareness and train multiplier audiences: teachers, youth workers, librarians, adult educators, media professionals, etc. Ongoing training in media education for these professionals enables them to become aware of these methods and themes and also to update their knowledge of disinformation.
- to make the fight against disinformation part of a civic dynamic that promotes a critical and ethical approach to the criticism of information in the broadest sense. Media production with groups of adults, including vulnerable groups, is a method that strengthens resilience in the face of disinformation.
- to provide contemporary teaching resources on the ever-ch anging themes and methods of disinformation. The regular publication of examples of disinformation and its teaching methods is necessary to support an up-to-date education policy. Particular attention will be paid to the links between artificial intelligence and disinformation.
- to closely involve information practitioners (journalists) and media institutions through an educational approach that vulgarize their professions. Encounters between journalists and students, or between media industries and young people, should be supported in order to help build trust between them through a methodology that promotes critical thinking among young people.
- to implement an evaluation methodology for initiatives involving encounters between media professionals and young people. This methodology is not geared towards analysing impact, but rather young people’s perceptions of journalism and the treatment of information in a context of disinformation. This initiative takes the form of action research.
- to encourage synergies between the public media in producing editorial content and developing campaigns aimed at everyone.