by Irene Andriopoulou, Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center – Creative Greece, Greece.
Global research on media literacy is constantly evolving and transforming towards digital, meta-media pathways. New issues under analysis, such as human and machine interaction through Generative AI, ethics and copyright under public commons, digital content and e-safety, as well as innovative e-learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom, place media literacy under a novel, enlarged prism of capacity building, where multiple media literacy realities meet, deconstruct and intersect. This new “media intelligence” calls for reformed media literacy national infrastructures that (ought to) consider the abundant opportunities and numerous challenges.
Reaffirming the need for Media and Information Literacy Regulation
The online survey State of Play of Media Literacy at National Level (AUTH, 2023), presented at the 5th International Media Literacy Research Symposium 2024, explores media literacy policies and practices from an interdisciplinary point of view to gauge global mobility. The outcomes of the survey may provide the baseline for articulating a core national media literacy policy model, towards sustainable, all-inclusive, democratic Knowledge Societies that serve the public good.
We begin on the premise that media literacy is a polyprismatic concept that goes beyond a silver bullet shield, against mal-consumption of information, towards a macro-creative and self-empowerment approach for qualifying citizens with broad critical “media autonomy” (Masterman,1990). It is also aligned with the UN SDG by 2030 Agenda towards improving life quality and social well-being, namely SDG 3 on good health, SDG 4 on quality education, SDG 8 on reduced inequalities in terms of knowledge societies, SDG 11 for sustainable cities & communities and SDG 16 for peace, justice & strong institutions.
Fig. 1: The mechanisms of Media and Information Literacy – MIL
Source: Andriopoulou (2019).
These were all important parameters to consider towards designing the online survey and placing it into a pragmatical approach. The scope of the survey was twofold:
a) to explore existing policy agendas per country in an institutional development level
b) to set the baseline for articulating a core structure of a monitoring national media literacy policy model, evidence-based, metrics-based and indicator-specific, to depict national infrastructures on media and information literacy, linking policies to strategies, bridging theory with practice, towards enriching public dialogue and ensuring sustainable Knowledge Societies.
The results were quite enticing, sometimes contradictory and certainly open to multiple analysis and interpretation.
The survey addressed a global target group of MIL experts and stakeholders, policy makers and researchers, members of distinguished networks and leading institutions with significant action in the field. The responses were anonymous.
Fig. 2. AUTH 2023 Survey ID
The survey was designed to explore the articulation of MIL policies in nine distinct sections. It received input from 33 countries from five continents.
Fig.3: Nine Sections of AUTH (2023) Survey
Key Findings and Media Literacy Semantics
- MIL per Policy Development Field
An interesting matrix of MIL policies came out based on the participants’ input, with direct or indirect references. MIL policies are present (75.34%), mainly related to Education & Pedagogy (54.79%) in school curriculum and non-formal education. Moreover, 53.42% mentioned the operation of national/institutional bodies with a remit on MIL whereas 46.58% within the independent media regulatory authorities.
However, the “usual suspect” appeared again: no monitoring and assessment mechanisms were reported, either within the aforementioned bodies or operating within other national contexts, indicating a gap between policy strategies and evaluation mechanisms. Policy assessment is crucial for open and sustainable action plans and needs certain metric systems such as indicators, which, by definition, are quantitative metric units that provide information to monitor performance, measure achievement, and determine accountability.
- MIL in School Education
The presence of MIL policies in school education has as its main objective the introduction of a flexible multimodal educational scheme. In this context, we discovered that 56.16% replied positively on the presence of media literacy in schools, whereas 44.84% replied negatively or did not know. What is more interesting is the education level where it is present, with Secondary School Education being the prime oneof reference at 38.89% and pre-school and primary education level to follow at 26.39%. The most common model used is the spiral curriculum model (Bruner, 1960), which is used to teach media literacy in a mixed content and cross-level format. The lead of Secondary Education level is interpreted in light of the advanced capacity building among the students: mature learning skills and advanced experience in the use of media being thus able to understand more complex concepts about media identity, critical information use and sharing, disinformation, active digital citizenship and democratic values.
In more detail, MIL was found as:
- a separate course / autonomous cognitive unit, 31.51%.
- an interdisciplinary approach / optional course / cross-curricular, taught though other modules/courses, 42.47%.
- a separate, educational activity/school project/program for teachers and/or students, 32.88%.
Special reference needs to be made to two distinct subcategories where media literacy educational programswere detected: a) thematic weeks and b) thematic school networks, which contribute significantly to the progress of the educational process and the school flow in non-traditional school narratives.
However, no evaluation mechanisms were traced to capture the cognitive impact on media in formal education among teachers and students: neither group mentioned any mechanisms present for evaluating media literacy skills in schools. The presence of media literacy metrics is crucial for evaluating the level of knowledge and skills that could function as a quality socio-cognitive barometer.
Conclusion: Reflecting on the pseudo dilemma between choosing the path of Wisdom or the path of Evil
Key findings of the survey indicate augmented international mobility on media literacy discipline, driven by global key stakeholders such as UNESCO, the European Commission and CoE alongside civic society action. As a result, the need to strengthen and prioritize policies in the field is more urgent than ever, given the ever-changing mediated environment, the new digital challenges, and further interaction with Artificial Intelligence, which indicate new norms, yet to be defined. Ethical dilemmas and moral panics arise from the need for multiliteracies however, the axis remains the same: the need to build strong Knowledge Societies with an open voice, democratic cohesion, and multilateralism with MIL as key “life skills” for the years to come.
Going beyond the dilemma for choosing the path of Wisdom or the path of Evil, it is imperative to stress MIL skills as an ultimate own defense mechanism against information pathogeny and information chaos.
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