Media and Information Literacy in Journalism: a handbook for journalists and Journalism educators

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2019 | UNESCO

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PREFACE

MIL FOR CRITICAL AND QUALITY JOURNALISM

Without language, there is no humanity. Without journalism, there is no democracy. Without Media and Information Literacy (MIL), there is no democratic human conversation.

For these reasons, when we enter a new global era — in which mediatisation has become deep and intensive, and information keeps growing — the fusion between journalism and MIL is the best guarantee of a democratic public conver- sation. A conversation that can contribute, decisively, to human beings achieving the realisation of their rights.

Hence, the co-operation between MIL and the journalistic work is a funda- mental issue for assuring the quality of journalism in the immediate future. And this is the central theme of this handbook: how to integrate MIL into journalistic practice and learning. A theme that is the key for the necessary reinvention of today’s journalism.

The co-operation between quality journalism and MIL is possible, because their values and objectives are equivalent. Both must respect people’s autonomy and critical sense. Both pursue truth and verification of information. Both promote public conversation, dialogue, and seek understanding among people; and defend pluralism and diversity, without censorship of any kind.

However, traditionally, journalism has ignored MIL. Until very recently, journalists were only concerned about reporting – and critically guiding the creation of people’s opinion. They believed that this was their only function. And they felt that they were mediators between the reality of the world and its audiences. In fact, they remained comfortably installed in the paradigm of broadcasting; broadcasters (journalists) were active, and the audiences (citizens) were just passive spectators.

But, today, the situation has changed radically. The intensive mediatisation of human life — produced by digitisation — has allowed traditionally passive audiences to become active participants; to interact with the media; to produce their own information; and to debate with relative freedom, often without the mediation of conventional journalism.

In this new context, the role of journalism must change; it must be reinvented. Its new mission is no longer to maintain the exclusivity of access to information, but to become a reliable reference, a guarantor of truth. Therefore, it is crucial to build and maintain credibility. (…)

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