European Federation of Journalists

European Federation of Journalists

Past project

European Media Literacy Toolkit for Newsrooms

Combating misinformation and disintermediation by restoring trust in journalism

The lack of media literacy in the newsrooms is growing, especially when it comes to disinformation in the news ecosystem, and the debate about the role of journalists is missing from the debate. The attempts to restore trust in media would often fail if publishers, editors, and journalists are not placed at the core of the debate. Moreover, the majority of media literacy toolkits that are available today were produced outside Europe, by US universities or major IT companies, thus creating a gap for European mindset and European legal frame. Recognizing the situation, the Global Editors Network (GEN), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Publishers’ Association of Portugal (APImpressa) and FJUM is launching a project for developing the European Media Literacy Toolkit for Newsrooms around Europe.

Overview:

The Global Editors Network (GEN) with partner organisations will invite publishers, editors, and influencers journalists from five European countries to a series of unconferences and a region-wide hackathon with the aim of collaboratively producing a digital European Media Literacy Toolkit offered to all European newsrooms in order to combat misinformation and amplify quality content to the wider public.

Objectives:

  • Producing the first European Media Literacy Toolkit specially designed for initiating a dialogue between users and journalists and rebuild trust in the media
  • Toolkit used by at least 4 newsrooms per country (national, regional and digital-only), total of more than 100 newsrooms across European Union
  • Connecting journalists with the users of news websites in a better way in all European countries

Partners:

The Global Editors Network (GEN), European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), APImpressa and FJUM

 

 

 

 

Activities for 2018:

  • Four unconferences for publishers, editors, and the civil society – to define the guidelines of the prototype toolkit, outlining the goal, analyzing the needs and ways to restore the the link between citizens and journalists, finding the best ways to debunk misinformation and most suitable technologies for it. The conferences will result in drafted four whitepapers and a final report. The format of unconference is different from speaker-lead conferences, because the agenda and topics of debates are decided by the participants themselves at the beginning of the event, with smaller discussions and final plenary session
  • Two-day hackathon – a special event gathering developers and journalists together to produce digital prototypes of products or services in the project’s framework
  • Development phase – period of time to finalize and produce the European Media Literacy Toolkit, which would consist of two or three digital tools offered to European newsrooms
  • Marketing and promotion phase –  promoting of the European Media Literacy Toolkit, with the goal to convince the maximum number of European newsrooms to adopt the toolkit

This project receives the financial support of the European Commission. All responsibilities regarding the contents and the actions belong to the authors only and should not be considered as reflecting the views of the European Union.

 

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