This year, the growing threats to our right to freedom of expression have been made all too clear. With billions of people going to the polls against a backdrop of increasing propaganda and disinformation, it has never been more important to evaluate the information we receive and understand how it impacts our lives.
These concerns are high on the agenda as we mark the UN’s Global Media and Information Literacy Week (24-31 October).
When people are equipped with digital, media, and information literacy skills, they can critically assess news, information, and all forms of content, and participate in the public exchange of news and ideas.
Our media and information literacy projects have been wide-ranging: we have worked with marginalised young people in Tunisia to create a guide on how to tackle hate speech, highlighting the dangers of discriminatory, abusive language and promoting tolerance and respect for diversity. Our #CheckItFirst campaign urged journalists and young people in Western Balkan countries to be proactive about combating disinformation. We worked with TikTok to help voters in Kenya identify the disinformation that proliferated online during the country’s election, and we supported 30 grassroots groups in Brazil’s Amazon region to share accurate health information about Covid-19 among Indigenous communities in 2020-2021.
Greater literacy helps us all be better equipped to identify credible, unbiased and fact-based content, but also to demand that our media is protected, remains independent, and reflects diverse voices.
It’s crucial that media and information literacy builds an understanding of the importance of media freedom, and states’ obligations under international human rights law – so that we can all, collectively, call on governments to meet those obligations and create an enabling environment for the exercise of free expression.
With growing mistrust in the media, and journalists around the world under constant threats of attack and harassment, we need greater protection for those who play a critical role in exposing wrongdoings and bringing information to the public.
Media and information literacy is one of the key responses to disinformation, hate speech, and poor transparency – among the most significant information challenges of our time.
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