‘Be Media Smart’ campaign launched to coincide with European Media Literacy Week

A new public awareness campaign launched to coincide with European Media Literacy Week (18-22 March) has been unveiled which will encourage people of all ages to Stop, Think, and Check that information they see, read or hear across any media platform is reliable.

The ‘Be Media Smart’ campaign is designed to help people identify sources of information that may be unreliable, as well as deliberately false or misleading information.
It will enhance people’s understanding of, and engagement with media, while also empowering them with the skills to evaluate content across all platforms. Evidence supports the necessity for a media literate population:
83% of Europeans think ‘Fake News’ is a threat to democracy* and 73% of European internet users are concerned about disinformation in the pre-election period. **
68% of Europeans say they come across fake news at least once a week. ***
The ‘Be Media Smart’ campaign comprises a dedicated website www.bemediasmart.ie, TV and radio ads, a social media campaign and a nationwide PR campaign. A consumer leaflet with tips and advice will also be made available through libraries. The TV ad campaign will be launched by TG4 at half time in Croke Park during the All-Ireland Senior Club hurling and football finals on St Patrick’s Day.
‘Be Media Smart’ has been devised by Media Literacy Ireland (MLI), a network of volunteer members working together to empower people to make informed media choices about the media content and services that they consume, create, and disseminate across all platforms.
The MLI network is a unique collaboration between a variety of organisations, including media (broadcast, news publishers, digital organisations), online providers, libraries, academia, and the community and voluntary sector. The formation of the network was facilitated by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI).
Speaking about the Be Media Smart campaign, Professor Brian O’Neill, TU Dublin and Chair of the MLI Steering Group, said - “Media literacy – our capacity to access, have a critical understanding of, and interact with the media – has never been as important as it is today. In a time when we are faced with a huge volume of information from a variety of sources, this campaign is a timely reminder of how important it is that people are aware of where their information comes from, and how to recognise information that might not be reliable. The Be Media Smart awareness campaign is built around bringing the same level of care to one’s information sources as one would of their food provenance or car history.”
“When the call went out to MLI members to support this campaign we were thrilled by the response - demonstrating the importance that MLI members place on helping people to Be Media Smart. We are very grateful to everyone involved in making this unique initiative a reality.” Professor O’ Neill continued.

Be Media Smart - Top tips
Information is everywhere and sometimes it can be difficult to judge how accurate or reliable information is.
Always try to STOP, THINK, CHECK that what you are seeing, reading or hearing is accurate and reliable.
Go to Bemediasmart.ie for more information
STOP
Read more than the headline. Headlines are designed to catch your eye but a headline can’t give the full story, and neither can a short social media post. If it sounds unbelievable, it probably is.
Don’t assume that a picture or photo is giving you the whole story
Sometimes pictures lie. If a picture has been altered or ‘photoshopped’, or simply used out of context, then it can be easy to draw the wrong conclusions. You can search for the photo or image to verify where it came from. Tools like Google Reverse Image Search can help to fact-check images.
Just because information goes viral or is trending, doesn’t mean it’s accurate.
Disinformation can be designed to provoke a strong emotional reaction and prompt instant sharing or ‘liking’ in a moment of outrage, excitement, disbelief, and so on. Social media and messaging applications make it really easy to share information quickly to wide groups of people.

THINK
Think carefully about what the information is for
That means asking yourself some questions. Information is created to:
tell us something (news)
entertain us (satire, cartoon strips, funny videos)
persuade us (advertising)
Look at the style, tone and source of the information to help you to judge how reliable or accurate it is.
Consider your own biases
Ask yourself whether the information challenges you or does it match your own views. We are more likely to believe information that supports our own views – even if it seems a bit dubious.
Formulas like algorithms can track what you read, see and hear online and generate recommendations for you based on your previous choices. So the information that you get can be highly personalised and not necessarily reflect broader views or opinions.
See if the information is being reported anywhere else
If you can’t find the same information elsewhere, it could be because it is inaccurate, unreliable or out of date. This is especially true if the information appears to very topical or newsworthy.

CHECK
Look closely at the web address
Sometimes disinformation is found on websites with a web address (URL) that looks very similar to a well-known news or media site. There might only be a small change in the spelling of the URL. If in doubt, go to the real site and compare the URLs.
If the information comes from a website that you are not familiar with, look for an "About" section to learn more about who is behind the website and why they might have this information.
Find out who the author, producer or publisher is
Knowing who created the information will help you judge what their motivation is. Are they trying to sell something, a product, an idea or something else? If so, why? Is the author or publisher a supporter of a particular political idea or figure? Is the author an online "influencer" like some Youtubers? Are they likely to be paid to say this?
Look at the detail to check for accuracy
Do any dates mentioned make sense? Are there references to unnamed experts? Are the links to the author’s sources clearly visible? Information that comes from reliable and trustworthy sources is usually well written. So, watch out for typos and strange sounding sentences.
Ask the experts
Get a second opinion. If you have doubts about a piece of information, you can use a free fact-checking service to help decide how reliable the information is. For a list of fact-checking sites across the world go to the fact-checking database created by Duke University’s Reporter’s Lab.