A conference on how EU tech regulation affects democratic discourse and media policy was held on 23–24 January in Stockholm within the framework of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Among discussions about the impact of the Digital Services Act and the European Media Freedom Act, and the role of media regulators, a session chaired by the Swedish Film Institute’s Anette Novak focused on media literacy and the role of resilient and active citizenship.
The session included three presentations:
- Emma Goodman from the European Digital Media Observatory (in which MLA is a key partner) explained why improving digital media literacy is a crucial part of EDMO’s fight against disinformation, and outlined EDMO’s goals to map the complex media literacy landscape, increase knowledge exchange among practitioners and other experts, and raise standards throughout the sector.
- Jigsaw’s Beth Goldberg presented the Google think tank’s research (in conjunction with the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol) into the concept of pre-bunking, which showed that techniques aiming to pre-empt misinformation can be effective in teaching people to recognise attempts at online manipulation that they encounter on social media.
- The Norwegian Media Authority’s Mari Velsand detailed the progress of a joint Nordic project to develop media literacy indicators, which would allow the participating countries to measure and track public media literacy levels, draw comparisons and develop future projects. A feasibility study has already been conducted and a full study will be carried out in 2023/4.
The presenters were then joined by Niklas Cserhalmi from Sweden’s Museum of Work, who discussed the role of museums in media literacy work, given their high levels of public trust. Sofia Karttunen from the European Commission gave an overview of the media literacy obligations envisaged by the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, and an update on how these are being reported.
The conference sessions are available to watch here.
