This autumn, journalists of the German regional broadcaster
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) are teaming up with the award-winning European
news literacy project “Lie Detectors” to launch an initiative about
digital disinformation and the workings of professional journalism for students
in Bonn and Düsseldorf.
To kick off, WDR journalists will attend a train-the-trainer workshop
run by the non-profit organization Lie Detectors. They will be trained to
deliver interactive sessions about exposing digital hoaxes and understanding
the workings of quality journalism to children and adolescents aged 10-15.
From November 2019 to Easter 2020, journalists will be connected to and
deployed in schools. If required, teachers and students will also be provided
with educational material for follow-up. There is no cost to the schools.
“We are extremely keen to engage in a conversation about what fake news
is, how it comes about and how falsehoods can be deciphered,” WDR
editor-in-chief Ellen Ehni said about the joint project with Lie Detectors. “It
is important to let viewers and users know early on how easily they can be
duped, but also that in-depth and serious journalism counters such manipulation
and makes a valuable contribution to our democracy.”
WDR has already been involved in school visits raising awareness about
disinformation since the beginning of the year. These are now to be continued
with Lie Detectors in a more intensive form.
Lie Detectors works in three countries. It is active in Germany, Austria
and Belgium, in German, English and French. The project was awarded with the
Digital Skills Award 2018 in the field of education by a jury appointed by the
European Commission – a distinction highlighting the fact that the project can
operate in different languages and schools across Europe.
“Above all, it is important to arouse interest and curiosity in the
classroom, to teach children and adolescents why disinformation plays a role in
their lives, and that there are tools to deal with it,” says Lie Detectors
founder Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, an award-winning journalist who runs the
project from its headquarters in Brussels.
“The cooperation with the WDR is a wonderful opportunity to send
journalists in North Rhine-Westphalia to classrooms outside of the media city
of Cologne,” says Charlotte Carnehl, who heads the organization’s German
programme.
The majority of students are already surfing on the internet and on
social media and take on a lot of what circulates as “information“. With the
help of participating journalists, the Lie Detectors project encourages
10-15-year-olds to develop their own media literacy skills in times of
information overload. This will allow them to examine information independently
and also to get an overview of how professional journalists collect, select and
present facts.
Lie Detectors is a non-profit organization that is philanthropically
funded and accredited by the Belgian King Baudouin Foundation. As an advisory
member of European expert groups, the organisation is also committed to the
systematic inclusion and uptake of news literacy in curricula at schools and
pedagogical colleges.
If you are interested in a school visit: Teachers and school social workers are welcome to contact Lie Detectors: just write to Charlotte Carnehl charlotte@lie-detectors.org or Margit Langenbein margit@lie-detectors.org. Teachers only need the following for a Lie Detectors visit: 90 minutes, a beamer, a blackboard, ideally Internet access and, of course, bright students of the 5th/6th grade and 8th/9th grade. In addition, one or more desired dates, and you must be present during the visit.
More information about Lie Detectors
More information about WDR at michael.strempel@wdr.de