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Рy23 March 2016
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How should we behave as media consumers and what should we do with the information we find daily in the media? It was the topic of discussion with students from the “Stefan Holban” lyceum in Carpineni village of Hancesti district at a media literacy lesson organized by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) on Tuesday, March 23. The event was moderated by media expert Viorica Zaharia.
To better understand how news stories are created, students had the task to write news stories about their village, identifying the sources they would use to obtain as ample and true information as possible on this topic. Thus, together with the moderator they identified the elements of a neutral news story and the answers this type of materials should answer: Who? What? When? Where? How? Why?
Students learned about manipulation by means of another exercise. Journalist Viorica Zaharia explained that one event can be told from several points of view, so journalists should be very careful with details in order to ensure that the information they transmit to the public is correct and objective, and compliance with deontological rules helps them in this. Due to this exercise, young people learned the elements that tell about the manipulating nature of a news story: presence of one single source; the language used; use of half-truths; hiding of facts.
In conclusion, students answered the question about how to protect ourselves from manipulation: they said that the solution is to seek information from several sources.
At the lesson students also watched three videos produced by the IJC, which helped them better understand how to assimilate information that they find in the media. We asked young people to share their opinions about what they learned at the lesson. Aliona Caldararu, student of the 11th grade, said that “such lessons are necessary, because we learn how to correctly choose sources of information and how to see the difference between neutral news stories and those that aim to manipulate the public.” Her classmate Laurentiu Cristal said that “due to such events we learn how to use the information we receive and how to better understand news. As the phrase goes, if you are informed, you are protected!” Laurentiu underlined.
The goal of media literacy lessons is to cultivate the critical thinking of young media consumers, so that they can identify manipulation and diversify their sources of information.
To better understand how news stories are created, students had the task to write news stories about their village, identifying the sources they would use to obtain as ample and true information as possible on this topic. Thus, together with the moderator they identified the elements of a neutral news story and the answers this type of materials should answer: Who? What? When? Where? How? Why?
Students learned about manipulation by means of another exercise. Journalist Viorica Zaharia explained that one event can be told from several points of view, so journalists should be very careful with details in order to ensure that the information they transmit to the public is correct and objective, and compliance with deontological rules helps them in this. Due to this exercise, young people learned the elements that tell about the manipulating nature of a news story: presence of one single source; the language used; use of half-truths; hiding of facts.
In conclusion, students answered the question about how to protect ourselves from manipulation: they said that the solution is to seek information from several sources.
At the lesson students also watched three videos produced by the IJC, which helped them better understand how to assimilate information that they find in the media. We asked young people to share their opinions about what they learned at the lesson. Aliona Caldararu, student of the 11th grade, said that “such lessons are necessary, because we learn how to correctly choose sources of information and how to see the difference between neutral news stories and those that aim to manipulate the public.” Her classmate Laurentiu Cristal said that “due to such events we learn how to use the information we receive and how to better understand news. As the phrase goes, if you are informed, you are protected!” Laurentiu underlined.
The goal of media literacy lessons is to cultivate the critical thinking of young media consumers, so that they can identify manipulation and diversify their sources of information.
The “Promoting media literacy and ethical standards in the press for informed citizens” project is being implemented by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) in the period of March-September 2016 with the financial support of Civil Rights Defenders (Sweden), partner of the IJC.
