Lessons of media literacy continue

23 school students from various regions of the country attended the media literacy lesson organized by the Independent Journalism Center on July, 11. Information, readers, media agenda, news – these were the terms discussed at the lesson moderated by Diana Raileanu, journalist for Radio Free Europe, who encouraged students to correctly consume information, be vigilant and read journalists’ materials between the lines.

“When you read an article or watch news on TV, you should ask yourself questions, and if you feel that the information offered by journalists is not complete or is affected by the author’s biased opinion, you should access 3-4 additional sources so as not to let yourselves be manipulated, but to form your own opinions and to learn to critically thinking,” Diana Raileanu said.

Participants found the media literacy lesson useful, as it let everyone share and participate in interactive discussions, in a manner different than during their school lessons.

“Such activities help us ‘open our eyes’ and learn how to analyze the information that we obtain from news daily, how to form our own point of view and how to distinguish correctly written materials from the ones that manipulate,” said Claudia Ghincul, 11th grade student.

“People watch news and are being informed without having their own opinion about events and facts. The media literacy lessons are truly useful, as they give us the possibility to understand what critical thinking is and how we can make our own opinions based on media materials,” said Ivan Moroianu, 9th grade student.

The event took place as part of the project “Promoting media literacy among Moldovan citizens”, implemented by the IJC between March 2013 and April 2014 with the financial support of the US Embassy in Moldova.