Media and Information Literacy workshop at ULIM. Journalism students are determined to fight disinformation and manipulation
On 30 October 20 students from the Faculty of International Relations, Political Science and Journalism of the Free International University of Moldova (ULIM) participated in a Media and Information Literacy (MIL) workshop. The participants analysed examples of fake news, learned to recognise disinformation and manipulation through photo and video, combated anti-referendum and anti-European Union narratives that circulate extensively in the online space, especially lately. The event was organised by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC).
“The reality of the last period has shown us that the citizens of Moldova have been exposed to lots of distorted messages, fake news, orchestrated disinformation campaigns, the purpose of which was to mislead, cause chaos, disinform and manipulate public opinion. Critical thinking helps us, in such situations, to remain vigilant and make conscious decisions. As future journalists, your responsibility is to ensure the public’s right to receive truthful, verified, and complete information,” Victoria Tataru, programme coordinator at the IJC, said in the workshop’s opening.
Trainer Ana Sârbu offered various tasks to the participants. “We will analyse some examples from traditional and online media, to find out the signs of a fair and balanced news story and to recognise fake news, which are spread so easily on social networks, the public being tempted to believe them rather than the truth,” the journalist said.
The examples presented brought up other topics, known to all for the reason that they had a wide circulation in the online environment.
“Fake news never appears by chance. Its purpose is to mislead, damage the reputation of an institution or person, but also to have financial or political gain. It is very important to understand this. And now let’s also think about the first emotions and thoughts that we get after reading such news. As a rule, these are panic, instability, restlessness, the desire to avoid discussions on such topics (about the EU), suspicions about what is about to happen, fear, anxiety, insecurity, worry, and a combination of many other, which you can overcome/control if you activate your critical thinking,” said Ana Sârbu.
Deep-fake, artificial intelligence, manipulation techniques, propaganda, and other potential dangers to which we are currently exposed were the topics of discussion for the second part of the workshop.
The journalist also presented examples of manipulation through images, headlines, but also traditional techniques well known in journalism, such as labeling, omission, selective presentation of facts, mixing facts with personal opinions, and so on. “As future journalists, you have to understand how one manipulates and why. Some things in our country happen this way precisely because we are victims of manipulation. The techniques are subtle, but the effects sometimes end up being dramatic.”
During the activity, the participants were urged to be guided by the Journalist’s Code of Conduct and to maintain their integrity in any situation to be a bastion of ethical and responsible journalism. At the end of the workshop, the young people from the Faculty of International Relations, Political Science and Journalism shared some opinions.
Viorica Costașcu, third-year student: “I have acquired a lot of useful information that will help me fight disinformation and falsehoods. I live in a rural locality and encounter various fake news daily. When I hear such information, I try to explain to those who tell it to me that they should not believe everything they hear, they should consult 2-3 sources, seek information from credible sources, be careful and vigilant to what they transmit to others. I am currently doing an internship at the Center for Journalistic Investigations, and the topic I want to work on is related to combating myths about the EU. I want to find out their etymology – where they come from and why people believe in them. Also, I would like to teach media education to students in the school of my locality.”
Galina Guțu, first year student: “What I heard today is very important, and I agree that we need a lot of critical thinking. When we suspect that we are reading a fake news story, we must do everything in our power to stop its spread: bring arguments, write comments that would attract the attention of other people not to distribute fake news online, report to different authorities. Media education and critical thinking is what our society lacks most.”
Mihaela Zaim, first year student: “It was a great pleasure to participate in this training. Even though I am part of a generation that questions everything and does not receive the information they find online as a certain fact, unlike my parents and grandparents, I realise that we still have to learn and try things out. It is necessary to know these things well and help others in our environment not to fall prey to disinformation, be responsible creators and consumers of media.”
MIL workshop was organized within the project “Responding, Expanding and Acting on Disinformation” (READ), implemented jointly by International Media Support (IMS) from Denmark and the Independent Journalism Center (IJC), with the financial support of the European Union.
