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The Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week, commemorated annually by UNESCO worldwide, is a major occasion for stakeholders to review and celebrate the progress achieved towards “MIL for All”. 

This year, UNESCO Headquarters organized a morning-long special programme on 30 October, with the aim to forge strategic partnerships around MIL on 30 October. One of the sessions, moderated by Eric Falt, UNESCO New Delhi Director, and entitled “Networking, Synergies and Awareness Raising”, debated the nature of partner organizations’ engagement with UNESCO on MIL.

 
The panelists included:  Ms Martina Wagner, Senior Advisor, expert on MIL, Swedish Media Council; Mr Ronan Costello, Public Policy Manager, Twitter; Mr José Manuel Tornero, Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona, UNESCO UNITWIN Cooperation Programme on MIL Intercultural Dialogue (MILID); and Ms Carolyn Wilson, Senior Lecturer, Western University, Canada.

A recent evaluation of the media and information literacy programme at UNESCO established that countries worldwide recognize the importance of MIL and that they are demanding an increase in MIL-related interventions. The evaluation also confirmed that UNESCO has mobilized an engaged network of stakeholders working on MIL at the national and international levels.

-- Eric Falt, UNESCO New Delhi Director underlined at the beginning of the session

The hour-long panel discussion discussed the power of forming synergies between various stakeholders and their potential to become active creators of digital solutions to tackle misinformation and disinformation, which has become prevalent during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
 

It is essential for the social media to step up its efforts towards media and information literacy, especially now as we consume content from a very wide range of sources. Our partnership with UNESCO is a step towards amplifying healthier messaging practices in online spaces.

-- Ronan Costello, Public Policy Manager, Twitter.

He also shared examples of recent policy reforms implemented by the social media to combat misinformation with the panel. Twitter, who has been an official partner of UNESCO in the field of MIL since 2018, and has developed the second edition of the “Teaching and Learning with Twitter” guide for educators with a focus on MIL.

For her part, Carolyn Wilson called for international organizations to recognize MIL as one of the most important areas to invest, and urged to step up funding in related research areas. Ms Wilson is former Chair of the UNESCO MIL Alliance that aims to facilitate and promote international multi-stakeholder partnerships around MIL.

URL:

https://en.unesco.org/news/resisting-disinfodemic-through-media-and-information-literacy