MEDIA LITERACY SECTOR MAPPING IN GEORGIA, LATVIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE - Georgia Country Report, 2021

Media literacy is a core element of information consumption in a rapidly changing media environment. In such an environment, high media literacy within the audience also generates a demand for quality journalism and helps quality media to survive and develop, as well as to remain trusted. Critical thinking and responsible media use are among the most essential elements in order to strengthen the cognitive dimension of societal resilience to stand up against disinformation and other types of aggressive information. To a different degree, the selected countries are facing multiple challenges connected to the information environment. However, in all these countries, media literacy is seen as a tool for facilitating and saving democratic processes.

Although the term "media literacy” does not have a single definition, and could be interpreted in different ways (for example, to fit in with a donor’s agenda), the definition used for the purposes of this analysis is put forward by the European Commission: "Media literacy refers to all the technical, cognitive, social, civic and creative capacities that allow us to access and have a critical understanding of and interact with media. These capacities allow us to exercise critical thinking, while participating in the economic, social and cultural aspects of society and playing an active role in the democratic process”.

By using this umbrella definition, the research team introduced and designed the A-A-A approach on mapping media literacy developments, which means focusing on A - actors; A - audiences and A - activities. Given the dynamics of developing the media literacy sphere, the team focused on a set of country specific recommendations in the following dimensions: cross-sectoral cooperation and networking; evaluation of media literacy activities; sustainability and funding; media involvement. The executive summary starts by providingbackground information. The  general findings are listed afterwards. Selected threats and strengths are followed by general recommendations. 

Tamar Kintsurashvili, Executive Director, Media Development Foundation (MDF), Associate Professor at Ilia State University 
Maiko Ratiani, Media Literacy Project Manager, Media Development Foundation (MDF) 
Sandro Gigauri, English Content Editor, Media Development Foundation (MDF) 
Nino Narimanishvili, Project Coordinator, Media Development Foundation (MDF) 
Giorgi Rizhvadze, Researcher, Media Development Foundation (MDF)

Link: MEDIA LITERACY SECTOR MAPPING IN GEORGIA, LATVIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE - Georgia Country Report, 2021