The project aims at first, to improve media and literacy skills among 410 students through implementation of workshops in Media, Information and Literacy provided in 6 schools and 5 public libraries, thanks to 23 teachers trained (additionally to partners’ trainers) and 10 librarians. Workshops will enhance their critical mind and give them the ability to identify the reliability of information. Students become informed and inspired “cyber-citizens” who are able to use the media independently. The project also responds to the need to reduce the vulnerability to hateful content and disinformation online by learning about social networks and how to deconstruct conspiracy theories in creating their own educational and interactive materials, mainly articles, videos and podcasts. This practical approach will bring them additional soft skills: speaking out, trust and confidence in itself, to build and defend a point of view, etc. All the produced contents will be gathered in a digital platform with an open access to all MLE practitioners in Europe which will contribute to increase the access to Media, Information and Literacy materials. The methodology and materials developed will be disseminated especially through the transnational event. IO2 aims to enhance the ability to teach MLE for practitioners by implementing robust and sustainable MLE practitioner training models in each delivery country. They will learn to identify, analyse and respond effectively to hate speech; understand the issues of digital identity for students and the media world as well as their use by students; learn Media, Information and Literacy basis and how to develop critical mind of students. A handbook will be co-create by MLE expert partners (IO1). Additional trainings materials will be created to support the delivery of Training of Trainers. To achieve these objectives, the project partners will pool their collective expertise in this area to produce, or support students to produce, a range of unique, scalable resources. Moreover, to ensure these resources are tuned to their beneficiaries’ needs and best cater for their intended target audience, we will involve students and their educators in their production. These resources will include: A cutting-edge media literacy handbook (IO1) that uses impactful pedagogical principles to underpin engaging activities. The handbook will gather pedagogical support to facilitate Trainings of Trainers (ToT) sessions (IO2) and workshops for students in Media and Information Literacy (IO3) as well as a list of the best pedagogical resources on media education, available in open source (handbook, podcasts, mini-series, fact sheets, etc.). With the insights of trainers and students, the material will be improved for dissemination purpose. Digital outputs, in particular web-magazines produced by students during the workshops (IO3), based on their media literacy knowledge and skills including: video content; written articles and podcasts. Indeed, the best pedagogical approach to media education is for learners to practise the journalistic approach (checking sources, expressing facts and not opinions, arranging ideas). This is why ReNews will invite the students to produce web-magazines by themselves; during this "journalistic adventure", students will be led to understand how to decipher and report information with impartiality. In addition a website (IO4) will offer free access to these resources allowing their dissemination to all teachers and more broadly professionals in the socio-educational field.
The overall objective of ReNews is to help young people become informed and independent citizens in the digital world through Media Information Literacy (MIL). In addition, the project seeks to train professionals who work with young people in the field of MIL and provide them with the necessary educational resources. In line with the actions carried out by the European Union since 2018 to combat disinformation, ReNews supports the fourth area of the Action Plan against disinformation. In this regard, the project promotes media education through innovative programs that directly engage the new generation of citizens by providing them with the necessary tools to better detect and denounce disinformation and hate speech in social networks. The ultimate goal of ReNews is to ensure that young students (14-18 years old) in France, Turkey and Poland receive effective and stimulating information media education as part of their national education system.
In summary, the ReNews project responds to the need to improve information media skills among young people after having detected the vulnerability of this collective in the face of the proliferation of hate content, disinformation and conspiracy theories present in the social networks and on the internet in general. Today, Europeans youngsters lead their social, political and cultural life, primarily, online. While the ubiquity of the internet has brought many benefits to our daily lives, online content has also caused harm such as the spread of disinformation, highly biased content, intimidating posts, hate messages, and extremist material potentially dangerous. This activity endangers the democratic exercise by blurring the distinction between fact, fiction and opinion. As a result, citizens may be required to develop views or make decisions based on limited or imprecise information