FATOS2U promotes critical thinking enhancement and media & news literacy among young people to strengthen democracy and fight manipulation, propaganda and fake news. The recent social challenges and the urgent health and economical situations – with the covid 19 pandemic- creating multiple public and individual behaviors, continuous information and progressive changes, have set this concrete need for further media and news literacy among young citizens, who may be more affected (as frequent also users of the media) than the rest of the citizens regarding reactions and right behaviors towards the huge amounts of news/information In this context, the FATOS2U objectives to be met are: a) To enable youth to properly and ‘ethically’ navigate the modern news environment and take informed decisions b) To empower young people and to raise their awareness on countering the effects of disinformation campaigns and fake news spreading through digital media on issues of major and dominant interest of our society c) To foster youth’s critical appreciation and understanding of the mass media inside a changing and increasingly complex media & news landscape d) To define a clear and comprehensive training approach for tackling the spread and impact of online fake news in Europe, protecting European values and democratic systems and the right of youth to diverse and reliable information in regards with current situations e) To set users-youth responsibilities according to a number of principles & in response with the specific roles of different actors (social platforms, news media and users, language used, etc) Furthermore, FATOS2U is implemented to practically contribute to the ERASMUS+ 2021 priorities: a) Common values, civic engagement and participation In general, FATOS2U through the targeted training (and dissemination) activities will provide young citizens for strengthening their sense against Fake News and will support them with the media skills building, enhancing in this way participation of young people in civic life, right news reflections and reactions. The project due to this priority supports active citizenship, critical thinking, media literacy, manipulation, propaganda & fake news fight knowledge as well as understanding of the complex media landscape; it attempts also to enable EU young citizens to make informed decisions and understand what is real and what not b) Increasing quality, innovation and recognition of youth work FATOS2U also targets youth workers, youth educators, who are called to contribute through their work, teaching practices, and guidance to their youth-audience empowerment for the risks and implications the digital media/news media may have
FATOS2U aims at enabling young people with critical thinking enhancement and media literacy among them to strengthen democracy and fight manipulation, propaganda and fake news, as well as civic and responsible participation through fake news combat on issues of major social interest (e.g. such as COVID-19) Fake News and disinformation have been spotted as a recent societal challenge- as declared in Wikipedia, it is a term just mentioned in 2017- putting at risk the personal perceptions and social reflections of the society members concerning also a high number of issues, such as democracy and human rights, attitudes and reactions towards migration and diversity, EU active citizenship, etc. As a phenomenon, it is having a bigger impact than ever before as it is easier for anyone to post and share any news or information online, since social media and online platforms play an important role in speeding up the spread of such news by enabling a global reach without much effort from the author (Buckingham 2014, Potter 2013). In this context, the exposure of young citizens to large scale disinformation, including misleading or outright false information, is a major challenge for Europe. On the one, we have the undoubted need for looking into the challenges the online platforms create for our societies with the spreading of fake information and initiate a reflection on what would be needed at EU level to protect our citizens; on the other, fake news as a serious problem, can be confronted via media literacy and awareness for key principles as vital tools to address the spread of fake news online. Specifically, nowadays, with the major challenges and adversities our societies are confronted with (corona virus, social cohesion issues, etc), such initiatives are more necessary than before. FATOS2U is built and contextualized on the following premises: -Media & news literacy, as the youth’s capacity to access, to have a critical understanding of, and to interact with the media, has never been as important as in today's society -Media & news literacy is the channel or even the presupposition for right decisions and perceptions in regards with major and serious societal challenges, social situations, mass problems in the local or worldwide community, such as the recent COVID 19 pandemic, international tensions, etc -Media & news literacy is a tool and at the same time a pre-requisite for a vibrant, modern democracy perpetrated by human rights values -A high level of media literacy is a key factor to enable young citizens to make informed decisions in the digital age and the subsequent measurement for the development of relative skills contributes in the youth empowerment against Fake news reception and implications FATOS2U addresses in a meaningful approach the enablement of young people against fake news reception & implications through media education & news literacy, and subsequently their needs: a) the young persons- youth aged 18-25- who are brought up and belong to this generation and era of digital and technological boom- who will be educated on the proper use of media, and thus, social media, too and the anti-Fake news approaches FATOS2U corresponding to the needs for more media literacy & news literacy due also to the contemporary speed of news and information with cases of dis-information and fake news, provides them with effective, youth-centered training and materials b) accordingly, the youth leaders/workers who will undertake the role/ responsibilities of trainings: FATOS2U meets their needs for enhanced youth work, youth guidance and training activities offer; they are called to contribute through their work, teaching practices, and guidance to their youth-audience empowerment for the risks and implications the digital media/news media may have