‘WE NEED TO STRENGTHEN CHILDREN’S AND STUDENTS’ CRITICAL THINKING AND MEDIA LITERACY, SO THEY CAN JUDGE AND OVERCOME THE EVER-PRESENT THREATS OF FAKE NEWS, CYBER BULLYING, RADICALISATION, CYBERSECURITY THREATS AND FRAUD’. (COM2018)

What does that mean?

Today, most information is provided through an interwoven system of media technologies. The ability to read many types of media has become an essential skill in the 21st Century. Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. Media-literate citizens are better able to understand the complex messages we receive from television, radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines, video games, music, and all other forms of media. Media literacy empowers citizens with knowledge, skills and attitude to critically access information and media, to critically analyze information and media content and to engage with media and other information providers for social, civic and creative purposes. Certain media literacy topics help particularly with promoting active digital citizenship, critical thinking and democratic values. MeLDE will focus on some of these, e.g.:

  • Cyberbullying
  • Online safety
  • Understanding media content –
  • Social media use, fake news
  • Online information gathering
  • Online political engagement and digital democracy (risks and benefits)
  • Citizen and mobile journalism
  • Digital divide (equal access to media)