The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) recognized media literacy as an educational and cultural area that needed to be addressed, particularly when aiming at building bridges of better understanding between individuals of different religious and cultural backgrounds. UNAOC sees the field of media literacy as an opportunity for the development of peace building initiatives, addressing polarization that too often provokes identity-based violent confrontations.
The constant exposure of populations to media presents an educational challenge, which has increased in the current electronic and digital age. Evaluating information sources requires skills and critical thinking. Separating fact from opinion, evaluating text and image for bias, and constructing and deconstructing a text based on principles of logic are teachable skills. Media literacy instruction is not widely recognized for its importance as an aspect of civic and peace education and therefore few instructional programmes have been developed as part of basic modern education.
The Report of the High-level Group of the Alliance of Civilizations recommends that “media literacy programmes should be implemented in schools, particularly at the secondary level, to help develop a discerning and critical approach to news coverage by media consumers” and “to promote media awareness and development of Internet literacy to combat misperceptions, prejudices and hate speech.”
Objectives:
The Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), an inter-governmental international organization aims to create awareness on the issues and impact of Media Literacy and disinformation among the younger generations who are IT savvy and mostly consuming information online via social media platforms. Partnering with its founding father – ITU and its stakeholder like NBT besides Mahidol University, Bangkok to discuss these issues which is rampant and dangerous with the advent of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT). The training session aims to highlight and address the challenges faced by the younger generations due to various forms of misinformation, disinformation and mal-information particularly during the period of COVID-19 pandemic.
The training session is parts of the activities to mark the 3-month long ITU’s Girls in ICT Day Thailand 2022 which was launched on 28th April in Bangkok. It is to bridge the digital gender divide and encouraging girls and young women to pursue academic and professional careers in STEM, particularly ICTs with an enhanced knowledge on Media Literacy and how to counter and address disinformation etc.
Agenda Day 1 – 28 June 2022
08:45-09:00 – Registration for all participants (Mahidol University students)
09:00-09:03 – Welcoming remarks by Mahidol University
09:03-09:05 – Special remarks by AIBD Director
09:05-09:08 – Opening remarks by ITU Regional Director
09:08-09:10 – Introduction of first Mahidol Uni & NBT Consultants by MC
09:10-10:30 – Session 1: Understanding Media & Information Literacy By Mahidol University
- Why Media Literacy is important & needed in current times?
- How media literacy can be inculcated in schools and universities
10:30-11:00 – Morning Coffee Break
11:00-13:00 – Session 2 By Mahidol & NBT
- Case studies of countries/organisations advocating media literacy – Benefits and Learning curve
13:00-14:00 – Lunch Break
14:00-16:00 – Session 3: By NBT Consultant
- How Media Literacy can enhance our knowledge – Challenge of newsrooms in traditional media
16:00-16:30 – Afternoon Tea Break
Agenda Day 2 – 29 June 2022
09:00-09:05 – Recap of Day 1 by MC
09:05-09:08 – Introduction of Second NBT Consultant by MC
09:08-10:30 – Session 4: Understanding Disinformation:
- How Disinformation comes about & from what sources or platform?
10:30-11:00 Morning Coffee Break
11:00-13:00 – Session 5: Challenge of newsrooms in traditional media:
- News sources from netizens, social media and NBT Policy
13:00-14:00 – Lunch Break
14:00-16:00 – Session 6: Strategies to address ‘Fake News’
- Ways & tools in tackling & verifying Disinformation
- Case studies by NBT
16:00-16:30 – Closing ceremony with certificate presentation
16:30-17:00 – Afternoon Tea Break