On October 27th, 2022, in the framework of the UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week, the EUMEPLAT project organised an online workshop on “Media and Information Literacy: the Role of Academia and Media Experts”.

The speakers – professionals from the academic and media sector – discussed on how these actors have to join forces in providing citizens, and notably students, with the appropriate skills to understand the evolving media sector, its opportunities and its threats.

In his opening remarks, Marcello Scalisi, Director of UNIMED – Mediterranean Universities Union, highlighted the fundamental role academia plays in training students, media professionals and the society at large, thus contributing to a more reliable information system, to more responsible media users and to a new storytelling, notably for the Mediterranean region.

Andrea Miconi from IULM University, EUMEPLAT special investigator, offered an overview of some cooperation projects in the field of media and journalism that IULM University, along with UNIMED, has been carrying out in the recent years (such as eMedia, PAgES and CLIP), all responding to the need to have a common narrative acting from different perspectives.

Miguel Crespo from ISCTE-IUL presented the methodology and main outcomes of the research conducted in the framework of EUMEPLAT, focusing on citizen journalism and aiming at understanding how citizens produce, share and remix journalistic contents in Europe.

Mohammed El Hawary, Editor of Al-Fanar Media, described the work and initiatives that the news organisation is implementing in terms of training for students and people to empower their skills in using and dealing with media and social media.

Materials

The agenda of the webinar is available here.

Presentations by the speakers:

Research and Academic Cooperation in the field of Journalism and Media Studies: an Overview, Andrea Miconi, IULM University

From Crowdsourcing Journalism to Platformization of News: a Framework for the Analysis of Citizens’ Collaboration, Emulation and Remix Practices in Social Media, Miguel Crespo, ISCTE-IUL

How to train Students to recognize Fake News, Mohammad El Hawary, Al-Fanar Media