UNESCO Role in Rationalizing Use of

Media through Media Information Literacy

Introduction :

Media and information literacy is simply related to acquisition of

certain skills related to access and use of media in such a positive
manner. Therefore, people may become active citizens. Media and
information literacy is also related to critical thinking, creativity and
critical analysis of media content. Media and information literacy is
needed for everyone in society, young and old, males and females.

UNESCO is the major international supporter for media and

information literacy as it was the global pioneer to call for the
integration of media and information literacy in the educational
system. The UNESCO efforts started during the late 1980s with the
training of teachers and young people on media and information
literacy. These efforts are still in evidence till the present time. Ever
since the 1980s, UNESCO has led the global efforts to raise awareness
about media and information literacy. These efforts were initiated in
the Euro-Mediterranean area during the late 1980s and early 1990s
and then to the rest of the world.

UNESCO’s initiatives in this respect targeted young people,

teachers, policy makers as well as media professionals.

Importance of Media and Information Literacy :

Media are increasingly accessible at home and in public spaces

providing different types of information and entertainment that attract
young people everywhere. As a matter of fact, media have become an
important part and parcel of the upbringing and socialization
processes of all girls and boys and therefore need to be considered by
parents, educators, and media professionals as seriously as formal
education.

1
 Information providers and media in general and the new media in
particular are among the most important tools which affect cultural
identities of any society. While ever-flow information, media and
technologies offer more opportunities for youth education and
sustainable development than challenges, the potential risks are also
real for young people who are more vulnerable than others. This also
necessitates the empowerment of students on how they deal with the
media and information in general. This can be addressed globally
through the Media and Information literacy, which became the tool to
empower and protect children from the potential negative effects of
excessive use of media and other information providers. MIL also helps
children and youth to be more engaged with information and media
and think critically of whatever information they receive. It also helps
them to acquire digital and life skills to become active citizens and also
to be global citizens.

When discussing issues regarding democracy and development we

often forget that media literate citizens are a precondition. An
important prerequisite for the empowerment of citizens is a concerted
effort to improve media and information literacy – skills that help to
strengthen the critical abilities and communicative skills that enable
the individual to use media and communication both as tools and as a
way of articulating processes of development and social change,
improving everyday lives and empowering people to influence their
own lives. Media and information literacy is needed for all citizens, but
is of decisive importance to the younger generation – in both their role
as citizens and their participation in society, and their learning,
cultural expression and personal fulfillment. A fundamental element of
efforts to realize a media and information literate society is media
education

Media and information literacy has become a global trend and tool
to upgrade the educational systems in different countries. It has
become an important tool for encouraging creativity and the feeling of
loyalty, belonging and citizenship. It has also become an important

2
mechanism for democratic participation of people in general and
young people in particular. It has also become a way to bring our
young people and children from the virtual world to the real world.
Media and information literacy also helps to empower young people
and help them to be active users of media and not merely passive
receivers. In brief, it helps to create an active audience which we may
call “prosumers”, i.e., producers of media producers and consumers at
the same time. Media and information literate can also encounter “fake
news” and “hate speech” which became very common especially in the
new media. This leads to better global understanding and the “global
citizen” who shares and interacts with people from other races and
cultures.

It is suggested that developments in the educational system may

take into consideration the integration of MIL in the formal school
system. Students will also reinvigorate the feeling of belonging to their
country, their environment and culture.

Students’ acquisition of MIL competencies facilitates intercultural

dialogue and developing mutual understanding, through passing on
tradition and cultures in new ways and through recognizing new
cultural practices. It also enables students to be more tolerant of the
other, fostering intercultural and interreligious dialogue. Nations
never develop without thinking, critical and creative minds and
qualified teachers who can contribute to the building of these minds by
teaching them MIL competencies and skills which my help them in the
teaching process.

MIL has been integrated in educational system in several countries.

In Canada for instance, it is a formal curriculum for all students from 6-
years till 18 years old. In Finland it is a cross-cutting curriculum in
many subjects. In the USA and Britain it is integrated as an activity for
students and this also applies to countries like India, the Philippines
and some Asian countries. MIL has become a global tool for upgrading
educational systems and empowering students.

3
UNESCO Initiatives and Rationalization of Media Use :

With the introduction of the new media and the emergence of wide
use of the internet, educationalists and other officials in Europe were
worried about the negative effects which this may have on children
and young people. Under the umbrella of UNESCO, Ministers of
Education in the European Union (13 at that time) met in 1982 in
Grunwald in West Germany (at the time) and in the end they issued
Grunewald deceleration which stresses on the importance of
integration of media education in the school curriculum in all the
European Union countries.

The Grunwald meeting was followed by other meetings in

Toulouse (1990), Vienna (1999) and Seville (2002). All these meetings
were led and supported by UNESCO. The main objective was always to
raise awareness about the importance of media and information
literacy and professional ethics.

During the 1990s UNESCO initiated “Mentor Project” which

included an important programme for teachers training on media and
information literacy. This Programme was supported by the European
Commission. This project was limited to the Euro-Mediterranean area.
Within this project, a few teachers were trained on MIL in Spain,
Tunisia, Turkey, Greece and Egypt. At the same time, challenges for
media and information literacy were also spotted.

When Mentor project was ended, by the turn of the 21st century, a
group of experts was formed by UNESCO and this group was doing a
lot of activities in different countries including the establishment of
Mentor Association with the headquarters in the Autonomous
University of Barcelona (Spain) which implement different activities
related to media and information literacy in different parts of the
world.

Mentor International Media Education Association collaborated

with UNESCO to organize the first international conference on Media
Education in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2007). This conference was

4
sponsored and launched by the last Saudi King. One important
outcome of this conference was raising awareness about MIL in the
Gulf area and many initiatives were implemented ever since for the
integration of the MIL in the educational system in some of the Gulf
States.

In 2009 an important collaboration agreement was signed by a

group of universities from different geographical areas in Fez,
Morocco. Within this agreement a yearly gathering is organized and
attended by professors and scholars from these universities in what is
called the “Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue”
(MILID Week). In the MILD week a lot of activities take place including
the interactive and healthy dialogue among people from different
corner of the globe. This kind of meeting helps to spread more
understanding among people from different cultures. UNESCO plays an
active and important role in sustaining these yearly meeting which
took place before in Barcelona (2012), Cairo (2013), China (2014), the
United States (2015), Brazil (2016) and Jamaica (2017). The next
meeting will be in October 2018 in Riga (Latvia).

In 2013 a Global Alliance of Partnership on Media and Information

Literacy (GAPMIL) was created. The main objective of this alliance was
to seek more collaboration among organizations, academies and other
firms which work in the area of media and information literacy.
Regional GAPMIL chapters were founded in Europe, the Arab World,
South Asia and Latin America to conduct regional activities.

In addition to the above, UNESCO has sponsored and supported

many activities and workshops related to MIL in different geographical
regions. A few training workshops for media professionals were also
organized in different regions. Security of journalists was among the
important issue to which UNESCO gives a lot of attention.