Students from Ungheni are more informed after a media literacy lesson

Students of the Theoretical High-School “Vasile Alecsandri” from Ungheni have benefited from a new media literacy lesson, organized by the IJC on January 21. They learned about the manipulation phenomena, misinformation, propaganda, and correct news. The activity was moderated by Diana Railean, Radio Free Europe journalist, who encouraged the young people to be active citizens and responsible media consumers.
 
The lesson started on the base of a few samples of journalists materials, from the national press, that were analyzed by the participants. “Avoid the news that cites only anonymous sources, most probably it is based on rumors! Better, wait for the official sources. Also, avoid the news where the reporter gives his own opinion. All the information in the news should come from actual sources”, mentioned Diana Railean.

In this context, the journalist presented the questions to which a piece of news should answer: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?. “If the news doesn’t answer all these questions, than you may question the veracity of this news”, highlighted Diana Railean.  

Ionela Deris, participant, student in the XIIth grade said: “This activity is a new step for me towards becoming an independent citizen, able to select the right information. I discovered that being a journalist is not so simple, and media institutions own a lot of influence power. I think that this kind of activities should be organized in other schools as well, so that more young people learn to make the difference between true and manipulative news”.

Victoria Glodeanu, also a student in the XIIth grade added: “Any activity that aims to inform the young people on the subject of media consumption is welcome. Today we gained new knowledge that I will use later, whenever reading the news”.

At the end of the activity, participants watched two videos, produced by the IJC: „Ştii ce media consumi?” (“Do you know what kind of media you consume?”) and „Despre stire pe înţelesul tuturor” (“About the news, for everybody”).

The event took place as part of the project “Promoting media literacy among Moldovan citizens”, implemented by the IJC between March 2014 and April 2015 with the financial support of the US Embassy in Moldova.