Media Literacy for Democracy focuses on the promotion of an effective media literacy strategy based on the multidisciplinary approach and on the cross-sector cooperation with the aim to tackle disinformation, empower citizens to make informed decisions and protect democratic values. To do this, the consortium brings together 6 partners from 5 EU countries (IT, IE, ES, BG, PL), which will implement 10 events, in collaboration with different stakeholders across the participating partners’ countries. Such events are structured around 3 phases:
- P1: Awareness campaign. It includes a project launch conference and distribution of a booklet aimed at informing citizens about the negative impact of disinformation on democratic societies and the importance of media literacy to build civil society capacity to adapt to the digital era and to protect democratic values.
- P2: Context analysis and stimulation of the debate among citizens. It includes 5 local focus groups with the aim to understand how young citizens perceive the mis- and disinformation phenomena and how they deal with them while using traditional and new media.
- P3: Empowerment of communities through a targeted media education for a more conscious and active participation in the public debate. It includes 3 international workshops where participants will interact with journalists, expert lecturers and CSOs representatives with the aim to empower them to become more informed digital citizens and able to transfer the acquired knowledge to their local communities. With the goal to help define an effective European strategy to promote media literacy in the Member States, a set of policy recommendations addressed to civil society, media workers and local and international institutions will be drafted and presented to a wide audience during the project’s final conference.
Project partners:
FIDU (Lead partner, Italy)
Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Culture and Education (Bulgaria)
TASC (Ireland)
Fundacion Alternativas (Spain)
Universidad de Jaén (Spain)
Uniwersytet Szczecinski (Poland)
Project duration: 01/10/2022 – 30/04/2024
The project is funded by the European Commission under the CERV Programme. Reference number: CERV-2022-CITIZENS-CIV-101081475.
Media Literacy for Democracy – Launch Conference
The project’s launch conference was held online on January 20 and gathered the MLFD’s identified target groups, specifically representatives of CSOs, institutions, media, universities, as well as students and European citizens from different backgrounds with a total of 123 participants from 9 countries (Ireland, Poland, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece, France and Slovenia). The event had an educational, awareness-raising and dissemination function and was an opportunity for interested parties to exchange ideas and compare initiatives and situations across different EU countries. Topics covered included disinformation around migrants and asylum seekers and pedagogical approaches to addressing disinformation.
The video-recording of the conference is available here
The Event Description Sheet is available here
MLFD Booklet
Media Literacy for Democracy (MLFD) project focuses on promoting an effective media literacy strategy based on a multidisciplinary approach and cross-sector cooperation to tackle disinformation and empower citizens to make informed decisions and protect democratic values.
As the objectives of the MLFD project have been identified taking into consideration the results of a previous EU funded project led by FIDU, CommEUnication, this booklet summarizes the outcomes from the concluded project, and set the base for elaborating further the discussion about disinformation, by integration of desk researches made in preparation of the MLFD proposed actions.
The content of the booklet aims, in fact, at informing citizens of the negative impact of disinformation on democratic societies and the importance of media literacy to build the capacity of civil society to adapt to the digital era. The content will be used as part of the training materials for the Focus Groups, which will dig deeper into the effects of disinformation on the rule of law and democracy.
Download the MLFD Booklet Here
Focus Groups
The MLFD Consortium delivered 3-day focus groups to be held from January to May 2023 in Italy, Ireland, Spain, Bulgaria and Poland. Each training was addressed to a minimum of 25 participants aged between 18 and 35 years.
The objectives of these activities are:
- Context analysis at local level of the mis- and disinformation phenomena and stimulation of the debate among groups of citizens from different backgrounds;
- Inclusion of marginalized groups in media literacy strategy;
- Exchange of ideas and best practices and engage young citizens in the public debate on disinformation in the EU;
- Guidelines for the subsequent international workshops.
The training offered participants the chance to exchange ideas and stimulate discussions in different breakout sessions, equip them with knowledge about mis- and disinformation, and increase their ability to detect them in both traditional and new media. The results of the focus groups will be used to gather all possible ideas and suggestions that will serve for formulating guidelines for the subsequent international workshops.
Download the results of the Focus Groups here
Focus Group in Rome – 17, 20 and 21 February 2023
The Event Description Sheet of the Focus Group in Italy is available here
Focus Group in Dublin – 15, 22 and 23 March 2023
The Event Description Sheet of the Focus Group in Ireland is available here
Focus Group in Jaén – 16 February, 2 and 16 March 2023
The Event Description Sheet of the Focus Group in Spain is available here
Focus Group in Sofia – 27, 29 and 30 March 2023
The Event Description Sheet of the Focus Group in Bulgaria is available here
Focus Group in Szczecin – 8, 9 and 10 May, 2023
The Event Description Sheet of the Focus Group in Poland is available here
International Workshops
The MLFD Consortium is launching 1-day international workshops to be held from June to November 2023 in Italy, Spain and Poland.
The workshops are addressed to students, media workers and young professionals resident in the EU.
The objective of the activity is:
- Empower young citizens to become more informed digital citizens and encourage them to transfer the acquired knowledge to their communities
- Promote a more inclusive dialogue on media literacy
- Enhance the cross sector cooperation for a more effective media literacy strategy at the EU level
Workshop in Rome – 26 June, 2023
Read the result of the Workshop in Rome here
The Event Description Sheet of workshop in Italy is available here
Workshop in Madrid – 14 November, 2023
Read the results of the Workshop in Madrid here
The Event Description Sheet of workshop in Madrid is available here
Workshop in Szczecin – 18 October, 2023
Read the results of the Workshop in Szczecin here
The Event Description Sheet of workshop in Szczecin is available here
MLFD Final Conference
Read the report of the Final Conference here
The MLFD Final Conference was held online on March 19 and gathered representatives of civil society organisations, institutions, media, universities, as well as students and young professionals from different backgrounds. More than 120 citizens from 10 different countries across the EU have engaged in discussion on media literacy and the fight against disinformation.
The event had an educational and dissemination function and was an opportunity for interested parties to exchange ideas and compare initiatives and best practices across different EU countries.
During the project’s final conference, the MLFD Consortium presented its contribution to defining an inclusive European strategy to promote media literacy in the Member States, through a set of policy recommendations addressed to civil society, media workers and local and international institutions.
The program of the event is available here
The Event Description Sheet of the Final Conference is available here
Download here the MLFD Policy Recommendations in all the participating countries’ languages