Building media literacy in the age of Zuck and Musk

Credit: Vadim Bogulov on Unsplash

More than two-thirds of the world’s population today use the internet, spending on average over six hours daily online. The vast quantity of information available online — some real and helpful, other content manipulated and/or harmful — has made media literacy, or the ability to critically consume information, more important than ever.

To help audiences vulnerable to mis- and disinformation better navigate the information landscape, ICFJ has partnered with the Poynter Institute's MediaWise on a training of trainers initiative through which community leaders globally are equipped with essential fact-checking and media literacy training tools and techniques. These leaders, in turn, are tasked with training at least 60 people each from their own communities.

During an IJNet Crisis Reporting Forum session, three trainees-turned-trainers — Kenyan radio journalist and community leader, Harriet Atyang, Oman-based Indian media educator, Dr. Tamilselvi Natarajan, and Sri Lankan technologist and digital journalist, Arzath Areeff — discussed their experiences organising media literacy trainings in their respective regions. Brittani Kollar, deputy director of MediaWise, moderated the discussion.

The panellists shared how they created and executed workshops in their communities. Here are their tips for running a media literacy program:

Read more: News media must change tactics when fighting false information to protect democracy

Tailor programs to diverse audiences

Effective media literacy initiatives take into consideration participants’ backgrounds and existing knowledge.

For example, when Natarajan initially reached out to university students at Bayan College in Oman, where she taught, she received a lukewarm response as many did not know much about disinformation.

To address this, Natarajan shifted her strategy. Instead of opening the training to all students at the college, she conducted her first workshop with students of a class she was teaching at the time. She began the session by defining key terms such as misinformation, disinformation and mal-information in a brief two-minute video to familiarise students with concepts.

As interest in the workshops grew, Natarajan extended her training to other students and their parents, and subsequently to other audiences of diverse ages and educational backgrounds.

In Sri Lanka, Areeff emphasised meeting audiences in the languages they speak. Ahead of his first session, he surveyed his audience but received few responses. The reason? His survey was in English, while the target audience was predominantly Tamil-speaking. When he translated the form he received more responses.

Similarly, Natarajan, who does not speak Arabic herself, brought in a co-presenter fluent in the language for her training. "It is actually very nice when people listen in their own language to have a better impact," she noted.

Building trust

Natarajan said her greatest challenge was convincing her participants that mis- and disinformation existed in Oman, where news is regulated by the country’s Ministry of Information. Her participants told her that they believed the Ministry "filtered news for us," Natarajan said.

"When I go and tell students and colleagues that there is [mis- and disinformation], they were like, 'Are you questioning how the ministry is functioning here?'"

Natarajan did not blame the authorities for the spread of disinformation. Instead, she said she shared concrete examples of how old news was disseminated as new information, and how misinformation about Oman and Saudi Arabia circulated on social media and was spread in other countries.

To make participants more comfortable, she replaced traditional classroom lectures with discussions and hands-on activities.

"I made them sit in circles, have many icebreaker discussions, and then started with the training," Natarajan explained.

Make the sessions engaging

Areeff conducted four workshops, of which the first was a lecture that failed to engage his trainees.

"I tried to give out a lot of information and I prepared 83 slides [...] Don’t do that," he said.

"I didn’t need an audience feedback form because I got the feedback from the audience’s faces." Areef made his later sessions more interactive and practical, teaching fact-checking methods such as reverse image search.

Tailoring training to how different generations absorb information is important, too. To keep the attention of his young trainees, Areef used false information spread about Tamil actors as the subject of his workshop.

Interactive icebreakers and activities are effective ways to engage participants. Atyang used a game of "broken telephone" to illustrate how misinformation spreads, finding it "more impactful than even the slides I had prepared."

Atyang highlighted how trainers can use group discussions to form a relationship with their participants. This is also an effective way for the trainer to bolster their own knowledge.

"Do not go there to enjoy a monopoly of knowledge; no one has a monopoly of knowledge. When you teach, you are also learning because [you] don't know 100%," she said.

Training preparation tips

• Mental prep: Preparing yourself psychologically before starting any training is key, urged Atyang. Trainers should make sure to get rest, she said, adding that giving oneself positive affirmation can also help. Preparing clean and professional presentation slides can boost confidence, too. "When you present something visually appealing, it shows you know what you’re doing, and your audience believes in you more," Atyang said.

• Pre-workshop surveys: All three trainers sent out pre-workshop surveys to gather demographic information about their participants and gauge their existing knowledge. The surveys can help trainers identify what topics to focus on. "It helps me to know what my trainees know and what they don’t know," said Atyang.

• Include specific information: Incorporate specific seasonal and regional information to better engage trainees. Atyang held her workshop during Kenya’s rainy season, which she took advantage of by highlighting how fake images of flooding are spread. Using tools like reverse image search, participants saw how some images were decades old or from different locations.

• Logistics: Simplify the logistical considerations, such as location, of training when possible. For instance, Atyang held her workshops at a central marketplace. "When I told them we were meeting at the market, some women came even before me because they already knew the place," she said. Offering reimbursement for transportation and meals also ensures participants can attend without financial strain, she added.

This article was originally published on IJNet and is republished here with permission.

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