Welcome to the MLI Monthly Update!
Have something you want to share with the membership? Tell us about it by emailing us at info@medialiteracyireland.ie. We are particularly interested in including your resources in the Training and Development section of the MLI website.
This Month in Media Literacy
April has been another busy month of announcements and publications. The National Counter Disinformation Strategy was published, which is significant news for the promotion of media literacy in Ireland. We have details of interesting media literacy events and conferences coming up, as well as calls for consultation, feedback and a short survey on evaluating the effectiveness of disinformation countermeasures. We also have a bumper resource of the month this month!
Announcements
Publication of National Counter Disinformation Strategy
The Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD, welcomed the publication of the National Counter Disinformation Strategy on 18 April. The strategy was developed by a cross-sector working group including industry, academia, civil society and Government departments. It sets out nine overarching commitments and 36 specific, achievable actions including a commitment to adopting a lifelong approach to empowering all citizens with media literacy.
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Safer Internet Day 2025: Ireland’s Biggest Campaign Yet
The 2025 Safer Internet Day Campaign was the biggest to date with a reach of 2.2 million people. The campaign saw the launch of a national media awareness campaign supported by Department of Education; Prepare/ Protect / Thrive and the publication of new research in partnership with DCU Anti-Bullying Centre; Exploring How Young People Navigate the Evolving Online World in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Misinformation.
More
Mobile Stories Educational Newsroom
The Mobile Stories educational newsroom tool helps students aged 12–19 develop media literacy and democratic skills by creating and publishing their own stories. This tool can be integrated into any subject, supports cross-curricular learning, and could be especially suitable for use in Transition Year. If you want to try Mobile Stories you can get access by emailing info@mobilestories.se.
More
Survey: Evaluating the effectiveness of disinformation countermeasures
Project ATHENA is inviting MLI members to take a five-minute survey designed to gather stakeholder perspectives on the effectiveness, speed, cost and trustworthiness of various countermeasures against disinformation and Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). The responses will help shape policy recommendations, platform strategies, and public initiatives.
Complete the survey here
Call for best practice projects that demonstrate the EDMO Guidelines
EDMO (European Digital Media Observatory) is looking for best practices examples of their guidelines. If you have a project that you think demonstrates the EDMO Guidelines you can submit details of your project for consideration as a best practice example.
The input form is here
Call for content contributors: Tactical Tech
Are you passionate about investigative journalism, socially engaged research, or OSINT (open-source intelligence)? Do you have strong writing skills and experience in crafting insightful, accessible content? Tactical Tech is looking for paid contributors to develop articles, guides or training materials focused on investigative methods, data exploration, and research techniques. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. on 6 May.
Apply here
Call for applicants: Funded participation in training on ‘AI for Non-Profit Newsrooms’
Tactical Tech is providing travel and subsistence support of a maximum of €1,000 per person for this in-person training, taking place on 7–8 July in Berlin, Germany. This training is for Europe-based journalists and other media professionals from independent newsrooms and non-profit media interested in enhancing their skills, knowledge and ethical considerations for leveraging AI in journalism. The deadline for applications is midnight on Sunday, 25 May.
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Consultation on European Commission’s Democracy Shield initiative
The Democracy Sheild aims to address the most severe risks to democracy in the EU and build on work already done under the European Democracy Action Plan and the Defence of Democracy Package. The European Commission is inviting feedback on its call for evidence in order to further develop and fine-tune this initiative. The deadline for feedback is midnight on Monday, 26 May.
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European Commission’s AI Continent Action Plan
The AI Continent action plan brings together a set of initiatives aimed at accelerating policy action that is needed to position Europe at the forefront of innovation in tech sectors. Initiatives include investing in large-scale AI computing infrastructures, improving access to data, accelerating AI adoption in strategic EU sectors, strengthening AI skills and talent, and fostering regulatory compliance and simplification.
More
Call for feedback: A safer life online for women and girls
Ofcom is consulting on draft guidance, which sets out nine areas where technology firms should do more to improve women and girls’ online safety by taking responsibility, designing their services to prevent harm and supporting their users. The deadline for feedback on their consultation is 5 p.m. on Friday, 23 May.
More
Building Democratic Resilience through Media Literacy
Media Literacy Consultant Ricardo Castellini da Silva reflects on the ‘Media Literacy for Democracy Skills Training Lab’ training programme that he developed and delivered in Brussels recently. Over five days, Ricardo guided participants through a programme designed to enhance critical thinking, tackle disinformation and foster democratic resilience.
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Training the Trainers: Strengthening Media Literacy in the Irish Radio Sector
Commissioned by Learning Waves, and in partnership with MLI, Ricardo Castellini da Silva developed a training programme specifically tailored for the independent radio sector. The aim was to foster a group of informed, confident media professionals who could act as ambassadors and informal trainers, embedding ML principles and practices into their daily work on air, online and behind the scenes.
More
Events
World Press Freedom Day – 3 May
This year the World Press Freedom Day global commemoration will focus on the profound influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on journalism and media under the theme: ‘Reporting in the Brave New World – The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Press Freedom and the Media’.
More
Ofcom’s Adults’ and Children’s Media Literacy Research Event – 7 May
This virtual event will publicise findings from Ofcom’s Adults’ and Children’s Media Use & Attitudes reports, and will provide an opportunity for Q&A. Topics will include children’s experiences of and attitudes towards the online world, the extent to which adults and children evaluate and trust the information they see online, and their use of and attitudes towards AI.
Register here
Palestine Digital Activism Forum 2025 – 20–21 May
The theme of this year’s online forum is ‘Disconnected: The Impact of War on Internet access and Palestinian Digital Rights’. The forum aims to protect Palestinian digital rights by providing a platform to discuss the challenges faced by Palestinian civil society and digital activists working on the Palestinian cause in a positive and constructive way around the world.
Register for this free event here
Digital Citizenship Education Forum – 27–28 May
‘Let’s Act Now!’ is the key message and title of the upcoming Digital Citizenship Education Forum, taking place in Strasbourg, France, within the framework of the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025. The forum will gather international experts, policymakers, educators, practitioners, government representatives, members of academia, public sector and civil society organisations, as well as parents, carers and youth to discuss innovative initiatives in the field of digital citizenship education.
More
CONUL Conference 2025 – 28–29 May
The programme is now available for the CONUL (Consortium of National and University Libraries) Conference on the theme ‘Shaping Tomorrow – Reflections and New Directions’.
Register for this event here
Disinfo 2025 Conference – 15–16 October
This in-person conference will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where the counter-disinformation community will gather to exchanging ideas, learn and collaborate. #Disinfo2025 will gather leading specialists from varied backgrounds, tackling the most pressing issues in the disinformation landscape.
Register for this event here
In Case You Missed It
ADAPT’s Age-Friendly AI Initiative launch – 27 March
Age-Friendly AI: Ireland’s National Artificial Intelligence Literacy Initiative was launched on 27 March in Grangegorman in TU Dublin, featuring special guest speaker Francis Brennan, Age Friendly Ireland Ambassador for Kerry.
More
Webinar: Clickbait cures: How Meta & Google fail to stop fake meds ads – 27 March
This webinar explores the findings from a Reset Tech investigation which uncovered a long-running campaign that uses fake endorsements from actual doctors to sell unverified supplements. The investigation looked at how platforms dealt with these ads.
Watch the webinar here
MLI gives evidence to House of Lords Committee – 1 April
MLI National Coordinator, Martina Chapman, was invited to participate in the second evidence session of the UK House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee inquiry into media literacy. Exploring international approaches to media literacy, Canada, Finland, the Republic of Ireland and Belgium (Flanders) were invited to give evidence.
More
Webinar: Safeguarding Information Integrity – The DSA in Action – 3 April
This webinar from EU DisinfoLab explores how the DSA addresses the risks to information integrity, the role of the Commission in overseeing its implementation during elections, and how the Code of Practice on Disinformation is evolving into the DSA’s formal code of conduct.
Watch the webinar here
Seminar: Celebrating World Health Day – 7 April
NCYI celebrated World Health Day with their seminar on navigating the online world with young people and how to help them to stay safe online, featuring Jane McGarrigle, National Coordinator of Webwise. This is an addition to their nine-part video series, Building Blocks for Wellbeing.
See all the videos here
Earth Day 2025 – 22 April
To mark Earth Day, which took place on 22 April, we’re sharing an article from The Conversation which discusses the importance of digital literacy to help reduce climate and disaster conspiracy theories. It outlines ways in which mis- and disinformation can create harmful conspiracy theories and climate change scepticism, and the need for initiatives that encourage digital literacy to combat this.
Read the article here
Radio Kerry’s The Hidden Light Project
The Hidden Light Project is a fairytale created by Kerry College/Radio Kerry students from the Digital Journalism, Podcasting and Radio course. With the help of child and adolescence psychotherapist Edel Lawlor, and input from some courageous local children, this project was created to help children who might be going through something challenging in their lives.
More
Resource of the Month
The Yo-Media Project
The Yo-Media Project aims to train education and media professionals to promote media literacy among young people in times of crisis, particularly health crises and wars. To achieve this, the project has created three games for a young audience, as well as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) for media professionals and formal and informal educators. You can find the games and the course at the links below:
- Data Defenders digital game
- Board games for printing
- MOOC
Thanks for reading!
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Kind regards,
The MLI Team
