Nicoleta Fotiade, President of Mediawise Society Romania and co-funder of IAME, delivered a keynote speech at the University of Kaunas in Lithuania, at the invitation of Meno Avilys, a Lithuanian media literacy organization in Vilnius, and their partners, British Council and Education Development Center.
«I have been asked to answer a very particular question: ‘Should media literacy be an integral part of national security strategy?’
I have to tell you, I had a bit of a raised-eyebrow moment as I was surprised to see ‘media literacy’ and ‘national security’ – such a serious issue – mentioned in the same sentence.
Historically, media education has been marginalized in the curriculum; and treated as an easy and unimportant subject. In Romania, the utility of media education is still something to be discussed in the meetings with the policy makers.
Perhaps the question could be rephrased this way: should media education be about national security alone or should it be about media literacy for citizenship and democracy?
Breach of privacy, data mining, disinformation and propaganda are perceived as real threats in this digital age. They are worrisome and considered to target against the people’s well-being and security. This is how they became topics of national security.
And there is this idea that media literacy education can make a difference. And I also believe it can. To some degree, at least. (…)»