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Journalism and media sources are important in every society. Without journalists and the news media, there would be no ‘window on the world’— we would have little way of knowing what was happening in our communities or in the world beyond our immediate experience. There are several key factors that journalistic practices should respect, and that citizens have come to expect of journalism:

• Organizing knowledge – making chaotic information organized and comprehensible, and going behind public relations and official positions to uncover special interests
• Truthfulness – in the media, sources of information should be clearly stated so that citizens can judge relevance, reliability and potential biases; important unanswered questions should be noted with an expectation of a follow-up if controversy exists
• Public interest – in the work they do, journalists can do much to further the public interest by equipping citizens with the information they need to take part in public affairs
• Independence – it should be clear that public interest in citizens’ debate should take place over and above personal biases; commentators must examine 'both sides of the coin' (discuss ideas they both agree and disagree with); and journalists must show independent thinking in their work
• Forum for public criticism and problem solving - the news media should offer several channels for public interaction (letters, e-mail, phone contact or public forum); citizens also expect that the media give them access to space or airtime to allow conversations in their own 'language' with fellow citizens; further, they expect that a broad representation of views and values is visible in news coverage
• Accountability – the media should monitor all those who exercise power, not only governments, but also important public and private bodies; by holding the powerful to account, the media can inform community thinking. Media should also have systems whereby journalists and their principals can be held accountable
• Proportional and relevant news – citizens have a need for timely knowledge of important issues and trends; reports should not overstate or understate the true nature of threats and risks
• Balancing privacy and the right to know – citizens expect media professionals to balance the public right to know with the personal right to privacy (cf. Fackson Banda, UNESCO, 2009).

Right to information, freedom of information and access to information are often used to mean the same thing. Some experts argue that access to information is a more generalized and wider concept than the other two. Right to information is essential for both democracy and development. Citizens have the right to free speech and the right of access to public information as basic human rights. UNESCO defines freedom of information as the right to access information held by public bodies or by private bodies performing public functions or performing functions with public interest. Public domain information is equally the property of citizens. Content providers such as libraries, archives, museums, media, digital communications companies should help to ensure the right to freedom of information for each citizen.

The role of content providers is changing with the rapid spread of digital technologies, such as information and communication technologies (ICTs), social media, and artificial intelligence. ICTs provide access to information and knowledge almost instantaneously. Content providers, including public authorities holding official records, are able to provide new services. These offer new opportunities for effectively and efficiently meeting the needs of citizens for life-long learning, research and entertainment, and for connecting communities. In this context, access to data and algorithms organizing data into information is becoming an important issue.

Providers have several key functions, which include:

• Providing open access to information resources without any racial, gender, occupational and religious restrictions; public libraries, in particular, provide access free of charge
• Protecting readers' privacy and confidentiality in terms of content consulted on the premises or online
• Providing access to diverse and plural information resources, based on professionalism and without political, religious or moral bias
• Collecting and preserving information for future generations
• Contributing to ensuring the authenticity, reliability and truthfulness of information
• Responding to requests for information and data
• Developing, implementing and ensuring people’s engagement with right to information or access to information policies

In summary: as discussed earlier in this Curriculum (Part 1) various pedagogical approaches are possible. Please review the list in Part 1 and decide which approach to apply to the suggested activities below and others that you may formulate.

• Guide learners to investigate whether their country of residence has a right to information law or national access to information policies. Guide them to access the law or policy - to what extent they address issues such as health, education, agriculture, elections, government entities, private sector, and other development priorities. If there is no access to information law in the country, organize a discussion about what could be done to peacefully advocate for such laws and policies. A good place to start is to explore how one could engage with the ministry dealing with information issues, parliamentarians, local government authority or related entities in the country
• Guide learners to explore if existing right to information laws in their countries have clauses that address public education on access to information laws or policies. Are these public education programmes being implemented? Promoting MIL is one way to help people to understand more about how to use access to information laws and how these laws relate to their daily lives. Please search for reputable resources that can help to teach about right to information.
• Divide learners into three to five groups. Guide them to select one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that is of priority importance to them. Then help them to become familiar with the official Ask them to focus for a moment on the offcial list of indicators and data being collected to report on these Goals. You can have them discuss and write 5-10 bullet points as to why the right to information or an absence of this right can accelerate or hinder the achievement of the SDGs. They should also answer questions such as how can MIL help citizens to search for, understand and monitor the progress of the SDGs as shown by data collected through these indicators? What can they do as individuals, groups and communities to educate their peers about the SDGs and how can MlL help their efforts?

• Organize a discussion around this process to request access to certain documents. The process is generalized from an actual example from Australia (): 

  1) make request in writing, 

  2) state under which Freedom of Information Act provision the request is being made, 

  3) be very clear about what document is being sought providing as much information as possible, 

  4) provide a contact telephone number and/or email address, 

  5) provide a postal address to which the response to the request may be sent to. 

  Some countries or authorities may have an online form to complete. Do online research to ensure the data you are asking for is not already online as part of the proactive transparency of the government.

• Using relevant library and Internet resources, research between 5 and 10 news stories of the past year on a national or global level. Identify which of the expectations listed above are met in each of the stories. What are the key elements in these stories that make them effective examples? For any of the stories that did not meet these expectations, suggest changes that could have been made to improve them.
• Write a short essay arguing that readers have an obligation to approach the news with an open mind and not just with a desire that the news reinforce existing opinions.
• Select coverage of a local issue or story and examine it closely. Part of being media and information literate is having the awareness of, and the ability, to apply the above criteria to the coverage that various issues receive. To what extent were citizens’ expectations being met in the local example? What potential impact did the coverage have on the local community? Where citizens’ expectations were not being met, what recourse did citizens have to address problems? What roles can media and information literacy play in supporting citizens?
• Do you agree that the well-informed citizen is better equipped to make decisions and to participate in a democratic society? Why? Write an editorial expressing your opinion.
• Discuss: How is the role of information viewed and valued in your society? What do you think is the relationship between information and knowledge, and between information and power?

In summary: as discussed earlier in this Curriculum (Part 1) various pedagogical approaches are possible. Please review the list in Part 1 and decide which approach to apply to the suggested Activities below and others that you may formulate.

• Using the Internet and library resources, research the ownership and control of today’s major media companies and state-owned media operations, including how authorities allocate their advertising spending across different outlets. List their major holdings. What impact might this ownership and control have on access, choice and freedom of expression? Research the laws that are in place in your country or community to regulate media ownership and control. 
• See Modules 11 and 13 for related activities about ownership and use of AI, social media, and related ethics. 
• Assess the role of alternative or independent media in your community. Select one example, and describe the key elements that make it independent. In what ways does it allow people to participate in the democratic process? In what ways is it different from mainstream media? 
• Assess the status of community media in the country. Are communities really involved in the governance and programming? Is the outlet a forum for the geographic community or communities of interest? Is the medium operating indistinguishably from commercial or state-owned outlets, or is it making a distinctive contribution? 
• Research the work of organizations that promote freedom of expression or protect journalists, such as Article 19, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders or regional and national NGOs. Focus on the work of journalists supported by these organizations and identify the key elements of their work that makes them worthy of support. 
• Discuss why the government and private media owners should respect the right of media to editorial independence and, in particular, should refrain from putting pressure on the media with respect to their news and current affairs coverage. 
• Expand the discussion to other potential influences over editorial independence and suggest how such undue influences could be prevented. 
• Discuss what is meant by a narrowly defined law where citizens are able to know clearly when they fall within its remit, as distinct from vague and broad laws which allow for selective interpretation.