Central European Journal of Communication

Editor’s introduction. Media and information literacy research in countries around the Baltic Sea

Maarit Jaakkola — 2020-05-18

Ulla Carlsson (Ed.) (2019). Understanding Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in the Digital Age: A Question of Democracy. Gothenburg: Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG), University of Gothenburg, 266 pp., ISBN: 978-91-88212-89-4.

Auksė Balčytienė — 2020-05-18

David Buckingham (2019). The Media Education Manifesto. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 128 pp., ISBN: 978-1-509-53587-3.

Katrin Saks — 2020-05-18

Douglas Kellner & Jeff Share (2019). The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education. Leiden: Brill Sense, 125 pp., ISBN: 978-90-04-40452-6.

Michael Forsman — 2020-05-18

Media literacy as a cross-sectoral phenomenon: Media education in Finnish ministerial-level policies

Lauri Palsa — 2020-05-18

In international comparisons, Finland has often appeared as a frontrunner in promoting media literacy, especially from the perspective of national-level policies and structures. In this study, our aim is to broaden knowledge about the meaning of media education in the Finnish ministerial-level policy framework by examining in which administrative sectors policy documents concerning media education have been published and how the concepts of media education and media literacy have been framed. The results suggest that media education and media literacy are addressed widely across the different administrative sectors in Finland, but mostly by the Ministry of Education and Culture. There is also variance in the ways in which the concepts are presented in the policies. In the article, eight identified frames of media literacy are discussed, including protectionism, cultural participation, future working competences, inclusion, broad media education, democracy, national security, and cosmopolitanism. The article highlights the importance of nuanced understanding of the meanings and limits of media education and research-based policy development.

Information literacy on the political agenda: An analysis of Estonian national strategic documents

Kertti Merimaa — 2020-05-18

There is a controversy: while information literacy (IL) has been recognized to have a central role in operating efficiently in the information society, previous studies have noted that in the European political agenda, the actual wording of IL is rarely used. This study pays a close visit to 15 Estonian information policy–related national strategic documents from 1998 to 2014 to understand the emerging role of IL in these documents. Qualitative text analysis and critical discourse analysis are employed to analyse both explicit representations and implicit conceptualizations of IL, linked to social determinants, ideologies, and effects from the dominating discourse. Considering the differ-ent “faces” of IL (Bruce, 1997), one can see that while the dominant approach to IL is technologically oriented, few other concepts of IL can be detected. Discursively, the information society is defined through economic and technological fields, on the wave of technological determinism and neoliberal-ism, with some social equality.

Media education in the common interest: Public perceptions of media literacy policy in Latvia

Anda Rožukalne — 2020-05-18

Although the academic interest in media and information literacy (MIL) is ever increasing, there are not many studies that analyze the public perception of media literacy. This article analyses the interrelations between encouragement measures implemented by media policy and the perception of media literacy in society. The research employs data from a national representative survey (May 2019; N=1,017 respondents). The study explores the respondents’ media literacy perceptions; opinions on risks potentially caused by insufficient media literacy skills; and respondents’ experience with MIL activities. The survey results are compared with survey data on media literacy encouragement measures, aims and target audiences obtained from the Media Policy Unit at the Ministry of Culture media literacy partners. The theoretical background is supported by the media literacy ideological model, which explains media literacy within relationships with the social institutions in which it is practiced, as well as social processes. The data results are controversial. Even though more than half of Latvia’s population view their media literacy knowledge as insufficient, 52% of the respondents are not interested in MIL issues. Concerning the consequences of insufficient media literacy skills within society, the respondents focused mostly on threats to children (40%) and general public safety (28%), decrease in welfare (28%), societal regress (25%), fewer opportunities for high-quality education (26%) and Latvia being behind other EU countries (24%). Even though the media literacy encouragement measures in Latvia include activities aimed at various audiences, they have been noticed by only a slight number of respondents (7–10%).

The importance of media literacy education: How Lithuanian students evaluate online news content credibility

Andrius Šuminas — 2020-05-18

Nowadays, when the flow of fake news in traditional media and on social media plat-forms has increased dramatically, media and information literacy (MIL) skills are more important than ever. MIL promotes the critical thinking skills that enable people to make independent choices, in particular how to evaluate and choose different information sources and channels, as well as how to interpret the news and information received through those channels. This article explores how young people in Lithuania evaluate the trustworthiness of news. Two groups of students were selected for the experiment: young people who had participated in a basic course in MIL, and young people whose learning was minimally related to MIL. The study was conducted using a survey and eye-tracking device that enabled researchers to record and analyse readers’ real behaviour and to identify the dis-tribution of attention, i.e. the concentration of sight and time spent on particular news elements. The research results show a clear difference between these two groups and thus confirm the importance of media literacy education.

Fact-checking initiatives as promoters of media and information literacy: The case of Poland

Michał Kuś — 2020-05-18

The main purpose of the article is to present the role and importance of Polish fact-checking initiatives in context of their educational dimension. The central question that the authors will try to answer is: To what extent and in which way do the Polish fact-checking initiatives provide education as part of their activities? To answer this question, the authors implemented a two-step research design – starting from desk research concerning the development of Polish fact-checking scene and its social, political, economic and cultural background. The second step included in-depth, semi-structured interviews with five representatives of different types of Polish fact-checking initia-tives. Considering a limited number of fact-checking organizations in Poland, the authors can assume a certain level of generalizability of the results of such qualitative research. The study shows that stud-ied initiatives are occasionally active in the field of media and information literacy, and only some of them (i.e. mostly those related to civil society groups) treat their educational activities as a priority.

Meme literacy in Russia: Perceptions of internet memes by a student audience and issues of critical thinking

Svetlana Shomova — 2020-05-18

Internet memes, which constitute a significant portion of social-media content and an important vector of users’ communicative exchange, have by now turned from mere entertainment to a news source. However, they are still approached rather uncritically by young audiences. A survey was conducted among Russian students (N = 138) at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, and it identified not only the “problem spots” of the Russian memosphere but also a number of skills in decoding information, which are necessary today as part of “Meme Literacy.” These skills range from an adequate assessment of the type of message and verification of the news topic to the fact-checking of the verbal and visual content the meme is based on.

Media re-education and the need to be constantly updated

Maarit Jaakkola — 2020-05-18