by Martina Chapman, National Coordinator of MLI
The National Counter Disinformation Strategy was published on 17 April. Developed by a cross-sector working group, this strategy outlines the complexity of the problem and sets out nine over-arching commitments along with 36 specific actions to help counter disinformation.
The Strategy outlines the complex, global nature of the issue of disinformation and how the deception of citizens, distortion of evidence and erosion of trust by disinformation threatens human rights and democratic values.
At the same time, the Strategy recognises that disinformation can be subjective and a matter of debate. In a free society, people are entitled to express and believe things that are contrary to existing evidence, to question received opinion, or offend others, within legal boundaries. Some issues are fundamentally matters of ideology, opinion and culture. It is not always possible to establish clear-cut facts and information can be taken out of context, making it difficult to ascertain whether a piece of information is true or false, or whether it was created with the intention of misleading the public.
Acknowledging that no single organisation, body or Government department can effectively counter disinformation in isolation, the Strategy focuses on cross-sector cooperation, collaboration and coordination in order to achieve better outcomes all round.
Five fundamental principles anchor the strategy in a rights-based approach to countering disinformation.
- Principle A: Counter Disinformation, and Protect Freedom of Speech using a Rights-Based Approach
- Principle B: Counter Disinformation by Building Resilience and Trust at Individual and Societal Levels
- Principle C: Counter Disinformation through Increased Cooperation, Collaboration and Coordination
- Principle D: Counter Disinformation through Corporate Accountability and Regulatory Enforcement
- Principle E: Counter Disinformation through Enhanced Information Sharing and Development of Evidence-Based Countermeasures and Interventions
To support these principles, the Working Group agreed to nine commitments.
One of the nine commitments specifically relates to media literacy.
While highlighting the important role that media literacy has in the fight against disinformation, the Strategy also accepts that empowering people with the media literacy skills and knowledge to interrogate content does not guarantee that people will become immune to disinformation, or that media literacy will correct systemic issues in the media environment.
But the prominence of media literacy in the Strategy is recognition that media literacy has a role, along with other interventions, in building long-term resilience to disinformation.
Noting that media literacy needs will vary across the population and across the life course, Commitment 4, and its associated actions, focuses on adopting a lifelong approach to empowering all citizens with media literacy. Specific actions under Commitment 4 include:
- Develop bi-annual ‘Countering disinformation via media literacy’ summits. These summits, to include participation by a range of key stakeholders, would be aimed at identifying gaps in existing media literacy provision and provide a platform for knowledge and evidence exchange to support effective counter disinformation media literacy interventions, as well as opportunities for further collaboration.
Lead organisation: MLI with support from Coimisiún na Meán and relevant stakeholders - Embed media literacy training into existing training programmes and networks to advance a life-long learning approach. MLI will expand phase two of its community media literacy training programme to include bespoke media literacy training for trainers embedded within existing sector-specific training networks, and supported with annual training follow-ups.
Lead organisation: MLI with support from Coimisiún na Meán, EDMO Ireland and other relevant partners - Increase public awareness of how to improve media literacy skills to counter disinformation. The existing Be Media Smart campaign will be further developed to target specific groups, and the existing media literacy network will be used to promote additional counter disinformation campaigns led by other organisations. In addition, three publicly accessible events will be delivered annually to help raise awareness of how to develop media literacy skills that may help to counter disinformation.
Lead organisation: MLI in partnership with EDMO Ireland and the MLI network, supported by Coimisiún na Meán - Implement Ireland’s national public library strategy for 2023–2027 ‘The Library is the Place’. This national strategy aims, as part of the national Skills for Life umbrella programme, to develop and deliver media literacy and basic digital skills resources and activities through all library authorities by the end of 2024.
Lead organisation: Libraries Development, Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) - Implement Ireland’s Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy 2024–2033: Every Learner from Birth to Young Adulthood. The Strategy recognises that an increased focus on the development of digital literacy skills is needed to enable primary and post-primary learners/teachers to navigate the digital landscape responsibly and critically including recognising and counteracting misinformation/disinformation. It aims to help learners and teachers become more media literate, and includes improving teacher awareness of supports in recognising and countering disinformation in primary and post-primary schools. In addition, the Strategy aims to encourage and support youth services to provide training in digital literacy to their members, in particular in the identification of disinformation and misinformation online.
Lead organisation: Department of Education - Implement a Digital Citizenship Champions primary-school programme. This programme aims to provide professional development in Digital Citizenship to about 90 primary school teachers from the six regions of the Education Support Centre Network. As a result of their engagement with this professional development programme, these teachers will provide professional supports to schools and teachers in their local regions.
Lead organisation: Oide Technology in Education, specifically Webwise, and the primary digital technology team.
As independent Chair of the Working Group tasked with developing this Strategy, I would like to thank all the Working Group members, Sub-Group members and everyone who contributed to the consultation process, as well as the secretariat for their hard work collating the important contributions of so many stakeholders.
The end result is a solid framework against which good progress can be made in the fight against disinformation now, and into the future.
Disinformation is a dynamic and ever-evolving problem, and our response to it must also be dynamic and ever-evolving. This Strategy should be viewed as the first part of a long-term process, and I hope the spirit of collaboration and cooperation on which this Strategy was built will endure and evolve in response to global, national and local developments.
