INFODEMIC

Media literacy, our capacity to access, have a critical understanding of, and interact with the media has never been as important as in today's society. It enables citizens of all ages to navigate the modern news environment and take informed decisions.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced us to take a step back from our daily routines. As we spend more and more time at home, we increasingly rely on the internet, be that for working remotely or video calling relatives and friends. During times of uncertainty, like the ones we are experiencing, engaging with information that is trustworthy is more important than ever.

This infodemic highlights the important role media literacy plays in all aspects of life, including during moments of crisis. Media literacy education is key in ensuring that individuals can find the real facts among all of the half-truths being shared online and beyond, especially when it can literally be a matter of life or death. As we are seeing now, media literacy is not only a matter of education — it can also be a matter of public safety.

We aim to develop critical thinking skills of youth workers and raise the organisations’ capacity in the field of new media literacy in 5 EU partner countries to contribute to the quality of life of young people, emergence of new approaches and development of a more inclusive, tolerant, peaceful society and develop the quality and potential of digital youth work.

The project is built on the rationale that by becoming media literate, youth are able to critically and skeptically analyze media messages they encounter every day, become wiser consumers of media who are capable of evaluating online information and are able to protect themselves from deceptive media messages.

During the project life-cycle, the partners will develop a guide of best practices for teachers / youth workers in the field of Media Literacy Education.