Project

Media and Digital Empowerment

22 July 2023

Media and Information Literacy

Cooperation with the Agency of Information and Mass Communication (AIMC) to develop a Media and Information Literacy Strategy. In spring 2023 the Agency of Information and Mass Communications under the President’s administration opened a new department on Media and Information Literacy. UNESCO was asked to support the AIMC to develop a national MIL strategy for 5-7 years period.

Trainings for journalists and media workers on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) and development of educational tools

UNESCO Tashkent provided support to equip media professionals at both state and non-state media with skills to ensure that Uzbek citizens receive more objective, fact-based and useful information. This also entailed efforts to increase an understanding among media practitioners and future journalists of media and information literacy principles, leading to greater awareness of the roles and responsibilities of the media.

Concretely, the following outputs were created:

Over 100 journalists and journalism students increased their understanding about MIL during a series of master classes
A new online course on MIL for Journalists in Uzbek and Russian language was developed by experts on MIL and is available on the MOOC portal. The authors of the course conducted several presentations of the portal in the regions of Uzbekistan to promote and raise awareness of the MOOC portal and MIL course; 1,250 participants (65% women and 35% men) attended these presentations.
A new online course on data journalism, disinformation and ethical issues was developed for journalists, journalism students and a wider public concerned with access and use of information. It is available on the MOOC portal. Over 200 journalists from eight regions of Uzbekistan (Bukhara, Fergana, Jizzak, Karakalpakstan, Kashkadarya, Khorezm, Samarkand and Surkhandarya) were trained in Data Journalism, which is a new area of journalism in Uzbekistan, and learned how to use data journalism skills in their practice.
UNESCO Tashkent advised the management of the National Television and Radio Company (NTRC) of Uzbekistan on strengthening planning and coordination processes and built capacity of NTRC staff to produce news content on key issues in the public interest.
One of the highlights of the program was the development of the global handbook on “Media and Information Literacy in Journalism: a handbook for journalists and journalism educators” (in Uzbek, Russian and English). Most tools and guides developed for media , journalists, and journalism focus on how media professionals can improve the quality of their content. They focus on the supply side. This handbook, however, encourages media professionals to venture more into the domain of the demand side of media. The handbook aims to equip journalism educators and journalist practitioners with practical guidelines and resources i) about media and information literacy for critical civic empowerment and engagement, ii) how to integrate MIL in journalism education and news reporting, and iii) how to stimulate dialogue between media and citizens/users to build trust in media.The publication is widely used and became such a success that it was even translated into Korean.

Here is the link to the handbook

Other outputs were:

Master classes on MIL for in-service journalists and pre-service journalism students
The launch of the MOOC portal with the online course on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) for Journalists in Uzbek and Russian languages. In the meantime this portal has grown into an important platform for offering free of charge courses in Uzbekistan.
Various presentations in the regions promoted and raised awareness about the MOOC portal.

Training of teachers on MIL

UNESCO believes that an efficient means of countering disinformation is the empowerment of people through Media and Information Literacy (MIL). UNESCO trained teachers on MIL so that they started considering media as a source of information for class preparation. Also, teachers understood the importance of media analysis and using several media sources in order to obtain unbiased and reliable information.

Outcomes of the project activities were:

94% of supported teachers applied obtained knowledge and skills in practice during the classes.
26,551 students received knowledge on MIL from the trained teachers.
The MOOC on MIL was promoted