This paper was presented at the  Rio 3rd Global Forum of the UNAoC as part of  the thematic session addressing the issue of  the social impact of media literacy.   Media Literacy was conceptualised  as a transversal socio-cultural development encompassing the contemporary convergence of multi-platform media with formal and informal education.

By Irene Andriopoulou

Media literacy field in Greece is quite segmented as it draws interest from various research grounds and therefore requires a multi-faceted approach. The Hellenic Audiovisual Institute, the national research organization on audiovisual media in Greece, is the main public service actor in the field of media literacy for children and youth, through the development of media literacy initiatives with the aim to protect, directly or indirectly, children and young people from their exposure to the media.

Conclusiones de las jornadas celebradas por el Observatorio de Contenidos Televisivos Audiovisuales (OCTA), tituladas CÓMO COMO (Madrid, 2 marzo 2010)

Octa es una iniciativa de la sociedad civil cuyo objetivo fundamental se centra en garantizar los derechos de la infancia y de la juventud en su relación con los diferentes medios y sistemas de comunicación.

On June 22, 2010 in Singapore, the International Communication Association hosts a preconference session on media literacy education in Asia, which will be held at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, a school which trains more than 900 students in School of Film & Media Studies, offering diplomas in mass communication, film, sound and video, advertising, and other programs.

Popular culture is one of the sites where youth make sense of themselves and others. Popular culture tells children and young people who they are and what societies are about. The importance of media education lies then, in the way it teaches how knowledge and social identities are produced in a variety of sites in addition to schools. Media education explores how texts can be deconstructed to understand and question the relationship between knowledge, representation, values and identities.

Students should not only analyze media representations. They must also be able to produce knowledge. Students should become the subjects and not simply the objects of the pedagogical work. They should be considered culture producers, who can read different media texts and create them. This is why Media education is education for democracy. Because when students become culture producers, they learn how to generate their own meanings, to act on their own histories and to oppose any reduction of the public sphere.

Helping Palestinian Children Become "Media-Smart"!

A new media literacy toolkit is being launched in Palestinian schools in September, to help children become “media smart”. The purpose is to make children aware of how the media functions and operates, enable them to critically analyze what they read, watch and hear, and encourage young people to produce their own media.
  The toolkit is the result of a joint project between the Birzeit University Media Development Center MDC, in Ramallah, and FOJO, the Institute for Further Education of Journalists, in Sweden. It is produced by MDC's award-winning Palestinian journalist Naela Khalil, and Fojo's Carmilla Floyd and Johanna Hallin.
   Some of the activities were tested in a pilot workshop for Palestinian schoolchildren in the Ramallah area – 21 children aged 9-14 and three teachers spent a day at the BZU Media Center, discussing what makes media tick and how it influences our lives. The children analyzed all kinds of media, from newspapers to Internet to graffiti. After a lively discussion session the workshop ended with the children producing their own "fanzine". 
   

Participating children's comments were enthusiastic:

This report describes the outcome of research conducted between January and December 2008.  It draws on research done in 2006, which sought to investigate media teaching developments in the secondary sector (NCEA Media Studies, in particular), and the possible consequences for media teaching (Media Studies, in particular) in the tertiary sector.  The 2008 research exercise was designed to extend and expand the information gathered in the 2006 research exercise, by focusing more closely on what is happening in New Zealand classrooms, in respect of NCEA Media Studies.  The emphasis in the 2008 research is on the content and delivery  of Media Studies Achievement Studies, and the consequences for students, with such prior knowledge, when they encounter first year Media Studies courses in New Zealand tertiary institutions.