Press release, Bratislava, 24 October 2022
To create a platform for sharing experiences in developing and promoting media literacy in Slovakia and to stimulate cooperation in this field across different institutions and organisations, the Council for Media Services organised an online roundtable on Monday, 24 October 2022.
It provided representatives of the state and non-profit sector from more than ten institutions and initiatives that have long been working on the issues of media education, information and digital literacy, critical thinking development, or child safety in the online environment with a space for a comprehensive presentation of media literacy activities, but also for mutual discussion. The ambition of the Council for Media Services was to get an answer from the presenters to the key question, what are the biggest challenges for developing and promoting media literacy in Slovakia, which would be a prerequisite for their fulfilment.
The roundtable, organised on the occasion of the World Information and Media Literacy Week, was opened by the Director of the Council for Media Services, Ľuboš Kukliš, whose competence to initiate and carry out activities promoting media literacy, as well as research and analytical activities in this area, was entrusted by the new Media Services Act, and by a member of the Council for Media Services, Pavel Izrael, who has been working on the issue for many years in the academic sphere and sees the roundtable as a necessary impetus for the development of media literacy activities in Slovakia.
Discussants agreed that there are many such projects in our country. Still, there needs to be more interconnection, coordination and, last but not least, systematic funding necessary to implement long-term projects that bring the most significant effect. In particular, the lack of appropriate formal training for future teachers, who should pass on their knowledge to pupils and students, is perceived as problematic by several stakeholders, as well as the limitations caused by the constant development of technologies, which is difficult to reflect quickly enough in projects aimed at eliminating the negative consequences of their use.
The round table held, which several members of the Council attended, is considered by the regulator as an initiation meeting, the first of a series of activities whose ambition is to create a network for the effective coordination of projects carried out in the field of media literacy development and the assessment of the state of the media environment in this regard, which is expected of the Council by the Media Services Act. In doing so, it will also draw on its numerous experiences from its long-standing involvement in the European groups of regulators merged in EPRA and ERGA, where it has paid considerable attention to tools for combating the spread of hoaxes and misinformation, which are part of the theme. The Council is planning another meeting with the stakeholders who participated in the roundtable before the end of this year.
Next year, the Council also plans to organise events for the public, where it will once again provide an opportunity for relevant actors such as , the Department of Media Education of the Faculty of Mass Media Communication of the University of Trnava, Gerulata Technologies, OZ Zmudri.sk, Vĺčatá.sk, Zvol si info, Digital Intelligence – DigiQ, the Representation of the European Commission in Slovakia, the National Coordination Centre for Addressing Violence against Children, the National Institute for Education and Youth, and the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic, to present their tools, projects, and initiatives.
MEDIA CONTACT
Mgr. Lucia Michelčíková, PhD.
HEAD OF COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
+421 918 696 286
lucia.michelcikova@rpms.sk