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Let's write a story 2

2021-1-LV02-KA152-YOU-0000124542021Mobility of young peopleongoingGood practice
Countries: LV|PL|ES|RO|IE|HU|IT · Grant: €35,434
Media literacy and tackling disinformation

Objectives

During the pandemic, different media outlets presented the current global situation in various ways. Social media posts varied widely and there was censorship on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. User accounts got blocked without warning or for sharing content inconsistent with the media owners' principles. It was challenging to distinguish between falsehoods, manipulation, and slander. By organizing the project "Let's Write a Story 2" we aimed to learn more about fake news, its creation, and how to differentiate it from other media messages. Before applying for the project. all teams agreed that we wanted to enhance our journalism skills, learn to select information, promote our organizations and activities, and share this knowledge with our friends who regularly use online newspapers and magazines. Media shapes our reality, and not everyone is aware of this. Through this project, we aimed to raise awareness of this issue. Television, the internet, and newspapers were the most commonly used media tools among young people. Newspapers allowed young individuals to explore, question, research, and engage in discussions. However, young people often lacked access to specific guidelines for constructing engaging and informative publications. Our goal was to help them develop these skills during the project. The knowledge gained in the project allowed participants to orient themselves independently in the field of information available on a daily basis and to supplement their journalistic skills. Project participants previously worked on article works and publications. As an example, Polish members regularly posted articles on the organization's website (echoczerska.pl). But not only the Polish team needed to learn about this topic. The Hungarian group was directly involved in organizing school events that needed to be promoted. They cooperated with the media and worked on the best way to attract the students to take part in the events. Participants had shown a necessity to improve their skills in terms of writing articles and cooperating with the media, wanted to improve their knowledge in the media topic, and were willing to use their skills and experience to make this project more interesting. Participants wanted to raise their creative thinking on how to be successful in contact with the media. Even working on Erasmus+ projects required certain skills (promotion of the project in the local media, dissemination of the results through brochures, posters, etc.) that this project improved. The main objectives of the project "Let's Write a Story 2" were as follows: 1. Addressing Media Challenges: We tackled the varying ways media presented information during the pandemic, including challenges with social media and censorship; 2. Focusing on Fake News: We concentrated on fake news, teaching participants to discern it from legitimate media messages; 3. Enhancing Journalism Skills: Our goal was to improve journalism skills, including selecting and sharing information; 4. Raising Media Awareness: We aimed to increase awareness of media's impact on shaping reality and the difficulties in discerning the truth; 5. Developing Media Skills: We recognized the importance of developing media-related skills, such as writing engaging articles and cooperating with the media; 6. Improving Promotion: Participants, including the Hungarian group, learned effective event promotion, especially for school activities through media cooperation; 7. Encouraging Creative Thinking: We encouraged creative thinking for success in media interactions; 8. Cultural Exchange and Promotion: We aimed to foster cultural exchange and promote diversity among youth from Spain, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Italy, and Ireland while sharing their own cultures with the Latvian community.

Project partners (7)