by Ayesha Syeddah, Programme and Community Manager at GORM
In an age of information overload, polarisation and increasing diversity, the need for media literacy has never been more urgent. Digital conversations shape public opinion and community cohesion, and media literacy isn’t only about decoding misinformation or protecting against digital harms. It’s also about understanding – each other, our stories and the systems that shape them. That’s where GORM comes in.
GORM is a multi-award-winning social enterprise and intercultural consultancy that works to unify across differences. Through the power of creative media and education, we help young people, educators and organisations engage across cultural, political and social lines – building empathy and stronger communities in the process.
Our approach is grounded in three core pillars:
Elevating Voices
We support communities in telling their own stories through creative media, challenging stereotypes and broadening representation. Our video series, This Is Them, explores identity and belonging through the lens of lived experience – platforming voices that are rarely heard in mainstream discourse.
Enabling Communities
We run programmes such as The Wideshot Programme, which offers young people, especially from migrant and marginalised backgrounds, the tools to create and critique media with cultural awareness and purpose.
Equipping Leaders
We train leaders, be it educators, managers, youth workers and teams, to engage more meaningfully across lines of difference, using evidence-based frameworks rooted in social psychology. Through our newly launched Unified Business Programme, we work with organisations to embed intercultural competence into their DNA – supporting long-term, structural change in how inclusion is lived and led.
Media literacy must centre the voices of those too often excluded from mainstream narratives. And that means not just teaching people how to read the media but how to write themselves into it.
Through projects like The Wideshot Programme, we support young people from ethnically diverse and migrant backgrounds to become media creators and critical thinkers. By teaching them how to tell their stories through film, podcasts and digital content, we’re not just building technical skills – we’re also fostering agency, representation and critical engagement with the media landscape.
For those working with young people, families, schools or communities, intercultural media literacy offers a unique way to build bridges, deepen empathy and foster active citizenship. It empowers people not just to consume media thoughtfully but to shape it with care and conscience.
GORM offers a practical, compassionate approach to media literacy. We believe media should reflect the full complexity of who we are. That’s why we’re committed to creating spaces – both online and in person – where people can explore, express and engage with difference safely and creatively.
The digital world can divide us. But with the right tools and the right support, it can also bring us together.
Learn more about our work at gormmedia.com
Follow @gormmedia for updates and inspiration.
AUTHOR BIO
Ayesha, an adopted Dubliner of Pakistani-Swiss roots, is a writer, creative director and multidisciplinary artivist. As a third culture kid and polyglot, the themes of identity, belonging, migration and decolonisation are central to her professional and artistic practice. Her education in Sociology and Sufi lineage serve as her compass. Ayesha is passionate about crafting and capturing identities. Through her work, she honours community building and examines intersectionality in non-conformist ways. She has successfully done so for over 10 years in Pakistan, Switzerland, the UK, USA and Ireland. She is the Programme and Community Manager at GORM, managing GORM’s community-driven initiatives.
