Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) education plays a crucial role in combating misinformation and disinformation in the digital era. This study explores an innovative pedagogical approach by integrating Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) into non-digital game-based learning to bridge gaps in MIL knowledge and skills among Malaysian secondary and tertiary students, while also addressing the digital divide. Given that current MIL interventions often rely solely on self-assessment, this study emphasises the need for more objective assessment methods to measure actual learning outcomes

The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) commissioned this study of media literacy programs for the general public as part of a three-part series looking at media literacy trends around the world. The purpose of this report is to examine efforts to promote public understanding of the role of media in a democracy, as well as give the public the skills they need to analyze and participate in the news process. The other reports in this series—Media Literacy: Citizen Journalists and Media Literacy: Empowering Youth Worldwide—are available for download at http://cima.ned.org/reports.

This article looks back on digital storytelling and collaborative media practices as important resources to reconsider memory, challenge identity discourses, and reveal the cultural diversity of modern societies. The digital eramakes possible an incessant re-reading and re-mediation of cultural archives on the part of ordinary citizens, i.e., younger generations, and the creation and diffusion of counter narratives regarding the present. They are key chances for post-colonial communities to break silences over painful memories that bar collective reappropriation of the past, to face some of the issues of ethnical diversity, and discrimination today and to reimagine a more united identity. But seizing this moment means fully acknowledging the function of media technology in constructing memory, social individuation and building networks, so that media literacy and media education become essential dimensions of cultural dialogue. Drawing on the experience of a citizenship project on the post-colonial condition and Afro-European inter culturality, this essay discusses digital storytelling, and co-creative practices as useful literacy and education strategies to advance interculturality in today’s societies. Media literacy includes other literacies like reading literacy, writing literacy, computer literacy, and information literacy but uses them for the analysis of media in a targeted manner. This research hopes to demonstrate the impact of media literacy on students’ critical thinking of current events in a high school government class. Students engaged in a four- lesson unit on various facets of media literacy as they pertain to current event media sources. The data were triangulated using three kinds of data: pre-test and post-test current event assignment, lesson activities, and informal conversation and observations.

A survey of college students showed those who had taken a news literacy course had significantly higher levels of news media literacy, greater knowledge of current events, and higher motivation to consume news, compared with students who had not taken the course. The effect of taking the course did not diminish over time. Results validate the News Media Literacy Scale and suggest the course is effective in helping equip students to understand and interpret news.

The global digital transformation has created unprecedented opportunities for economic growth, social connectivity, and public service innovation, yet marginalized communities in the Global South remain disproportionately excluded from these benefits. This study focuses on low-income groups, persons with disabilities, rural populations, and women in 8 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, exploring the unique barriers to digital inclusion in resource-constrained contexts and evaluating the effectiveness of context-adaptive governance strategies. Drawing on 65 stakeholder interviews, policy analysis, and household surveys with 1,200 participants, the research identifies four interconnected barriers: inadequate infrastructure access, limited digital literacy tailored to local needs, cultural and gender-based exclusion, and institutional fragility. It further proposes a “context-centric inclusion governance model” that integrates bottom-up community engagement, flexible regulatory frameworks, and innovative public-private-community partnerships (PPCPs). Findings indicate that initiatives grounded in local cultural norms, leveraging low-cost technological adaptations, and strengthening community-led institutions achieve 38% higher rates of sustained digital inclusion compared to top-down, one-size-fits-all approaches. The study contributes to global debates on digital equity by highlighting the need to center the lived experiences of marginalized communities in governance design, offering actionable insights for policymakers, civil society, and development partners seeking to bridge the digital divide in the Global South.

In today’s digital age, media literacy has become an essential skill for students. The rise of social media, fake news, and information overload necessitates that students critically evaluate and understand media messages. Media literacy involves the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and communicate using various forms of media. It is not merely about learning to use digital tools, but about understanding how media influences perceptions and behavior. The growing role of media in shaping political, social, and cultural realities makes it essential to adopt methodologies that strengthen students' media literacy skills. This article explores key methodologies that educators can implement to enhance media literacy in students.

Literacy in the twenty-first-century extends beyond symbolic representations of letters grouped together to signify words or concepts on a piece of paper. Twenty-first-century literacy involves the ability to compose and interpret imagery using visual and spatial reasoning through signs and symbolism in a contemporary format, such as video games (Gee, 2003; Johnson, 2005). How do video games support or even relate to literacy development? This paper will discuss the relationships between literacy in video games, Gee’s (2003) learning principles related to semiotics, critical thinking, play, and the application of games, such as SimCity in the classroom, an interdisciplinary project-based approach to learning.

The intersection of globalization and digital literacy offers unprecedented opportunities for women’s empowerment, enabling them to overcome socio-economic barriers and achieve agency in a digitally evolving world. Framed by Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Social Capital, this study explores how digital literacy serves as a critical tool for enhancing women’s access to resources, networks, and opportunities within a globalized context. The research emphasizes the cultural and systemic factors that influence women's digital inclusion and empowerment. Employing a qualitative research methodology, the study relies on an extensive review of literature, policy documents, and case studies from both developed and developing countries. The analysis focuses on identifying patterns in digital literacy programs, cultural barriers, and their impact on women’s ability to build and leverage social capital. The data interpretation utilizes thematic analysis, critically examining narratives and trends in digital empowerment initiatives. The findings underscore that while globalization provides a platform for expanding women's participation in the digital economy, structural inequalities persist. These include limited access to technology, patriarchal norms, and inadequate digital education. However, the study highlights the transformative potential of targeted digital literacy initiatives, which enable women to acquire valuable skills, engage with broader social networks, and access economic opportunities previously beyond their reach. The study’s implications suggest that governments, NGOs, and global organizations should collaborate to design culturally sensitive and inclusive digital literacy programs. These initiatives must address systemic challenges, integrate community-based approaches, and promote long-term sustainability.

Interest in news literacy inside and outside the academy has grown alongside related concerns about the quality of news and information available. Attempts to fully define, explicate, and operationalize news literacy, however, are scattered. Drawing on literature across journalism and mass communication, we propose a definition of news literacy that combines knowledge of news production, distribution and consumption with skills that help audiences assert control over their relationship with news. We propose that knowledge and skills should be conceptualized across five domains: context, creation, content, circulation and consumption. This explication offers a clear, concise and cohesive path for research about news literacy, especially empirical testing to evaluate news literacy and its effectiveness in contributing to relevant behaviours.

Media literacy is one of the most important twenty-first century skills considering the role of the rapidly developing information and communication technologies and media in individuals’ lives. To have people get prepared for requirements of the new century, it is needed to provide media literacy education for them at elementary, secondary and tertiary levels. Attempts to provide this education have been in progress around the world for a long time though these efforts have recently started in Turkey. One significant aspect of media literacy education is that it should focus on students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills as they are also accepted as among the twenty first century skills. To this end, learning and teaching experiences of media literacy education should rest on these skills. Problem based learning can serve for this purpose. This chapter provides insights as to how problem-based learning activities can be used in media literacy education. Therefore, a body of knowledge on media literacy and problem based learning is provided which is followed by ways to integrate problem based learning into media literacy education.

The present study attempts to examine the intersection of media literacy, digital inclusion, and women’s empowerment in India. It tries to understand how media literacy contributes to strengthening women’s agency and participation in social, economic, and political domains. In the present scenario, digital technologies play a vital role in shaping access to information, opportunities, and avenues for expression. Consequently, women’s capacity to navigate digital spaces safely and effectively has emerged as a crucial factor of their empowerment. This study explore the role of digital inclusion as a transformative tool that enables women to access information, opportunities, and platforms for self-expression and collective action. The study reveals that media literacy is a compulsory prerequisite for women’s empowerment and highlights the persistent challenges that hinder women’s digital participation, such as online harassment, misinformation, structural inequalities, and the gendered digital divide which disproportionately affect women to limit their potential for empowerment. Further the findings of the study emphasises that achieve gender equality, social justice, and inclusive development requires the implementation of targeted interventions which strengthen women’s digital competencies, expand women-led digital initiatives, and ensure the creation of safe and inclusive online environments across India. The study recommends that government, non-governmental organizations, and educational institutions should prioritise the promotion of media literacy and digital inclusion to bridge the gendered digital divide and to advance the broader goals of gender equality, social justice, and inclusive development.

The advent of social media has led to the emergence of new forms of community building, information sharing, and participation; however, not all parts of the Global South have responded to these opportunities in the same way. Slum dwellers and other economically and socially marginalized groups in Bangladesh are increasingly using social media, yet little is known about their level of social media literacy, which is essential for safe and meaningful engagement on these platforms. This study examines the social media literacy of Dhaka's slum inhabitants through three focus groups and twenty-four in-depth interviews with young men and women from two major urban slums, aged 18 to 35, using purposive sampling. Thematic analysis, framed by Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital and the sociology of digital inequality (Braun & Clarke, 2006), revealed that critical aspects such as misinformation, privacy, and online risks are often overlooked, while participants’ literacy remains largely functional-limited to basic navigation and messaging despite frequent mobile social media use. Four themes emerged: the use of social media for entertainment and connection; ignorance of underlying digital risks; informal learning related to digital platforms; and a desire for self-empowerment constrained by poverty, gender, and education. Overall, slum dwellers’ social media use and literacy reflect profound social inequalities, and from a sociological perspective, these findings suggest that, without structural change, digital technologies are more likely to amplify rather than mitigate social marginalization.

Social media is an important tool for people to interact and communicate. It is widely used in project-based learning (PjBL) and is of great significance in promoting sustainable education. However, although research on the relationship between social media and PjBL has been conducted for many years, no relevant research has been found to summarize their relationship. This study aims to explore the background, impact and challenges of using social media for PjBL learning. This study adopts a structured systematic review process, through detailed searches of WOS, Scopus, EBSCO and ERIC, and selects research samples according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 23 studies that meet the criteria were included in this review. The results analyzed the impact of social media on PjBL and its influencing factors, revealing that social media effectively supports PjBL by facilitating real-time collaboration, resource sharing, and reflective discussions, thereby enriching the PjBL experience. Students reported increased motivation, improved teamwork, and enhanced digital literacy. However, challenges such as distraction, uneven participation, and privacy concerns were noted, highlighting the need for careful planning and clear guidelines. The study concludes that when strategically integrated, social media can be a powerful enabler of student-centered learning in PjBL and provide important support for sustainable education.

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) education can combat online misinformation by enhancing users’ fact-checking skills. This action research study designed and implemented a problem-based learning MIL project for journalism undergraduates. The objectives are (a) to design a MIL project by using a problem-based learning methodology; (b) to implement the MIL project and to assess its effectiveness in improving students’ fact-checking skills; and (c) to identify the challenges and limitations of implementing the project. Analysis shows that the MIL project successfully improved students’ MIL skills, including critical analysis, media production, and personal growth. Despite facing challenges like time constraint and limited generalizability, the study suggests that the MIL project could be replicated in other journalism programs to enhance MIL skills and cultivate critical thinking to fight misinformation.

Focus groups with teenagers (ages 15–18) were conducted to understand how they define news; what motivates them to consume news; what news sources they use; and how much knowledge about the news media industry, content, and effects they bring to the task of consuming and thinking critically about the news. Findings suggested exposure to news came largely incidentally via social media and/or parents; participants expressed the sense that news would find them. These teens saw news as depressing, conflict-ridden, and something that, although important, was of less value to them than to adults. Considered in light of a media literacy model adapted for news, these focus group participants exhibited a basic sense of news literacy but lacked the kind of knowledge about news industries, content, and effects that could better direct their own exposure, understanding, and subsequent civic engagement.

Cyber troops are government, military or political party teams committed to manipulating public opinion over social media. In this working paper, we report on specific organizations created, often with public money, to help define and manage what is in the best interest of the public. We compare such organizations across 28 countries, and inventory them according to the kinds of messages, valences and communication strategies used. We catalogue their organizational forms and evaluate their capacities in terms of budgets and staffing. This working paper summarizes the findings of the first comprehensive inventory of the major organizations behind social media manipulation. We find that cyber troops are a pervasive and global phenomenon. Many different countries employ significant numbers of people and resources to manage and manipulate public opinion online, sometimes targeting domestic audiences and sometimes targeting foreign publics. ·The earliest reports of organized social media manipulation emerged in 2010, and by 2017 there are details on such organizations in 28 countries. ·Looking across the 28 countries, every authoritarian regime has social media campaigns targeting their own populations, while only a few of them target foreign publics. In contrast, almost every democracy in this sample has organized social media campaigns that target foreign publics, while political-party-supported campaigns target domestic voters. ·Authoritarian regimes are not the only or even the best at organized social media manipulation. The earliest reports of government involvement in nudging public opinion involve democracies, and new innovations in political communication technologies often come from political parties and arise during high-profile elections. ·Over time, the primary mode for organizing cyber troops has gone from involving military units that experiment with manipulating public opinion over social media networks to strategic communication firms that take contracts from governments for social media campaigns.

In the context of global sustainability agendas and the rapid transformation of the media industry, cultivating new media professionals equipped with language proficiency, cross-cultural communication skills, and sustainability awareness has become a crucial educational imperative. This study implemented a pedagogical framework integrating Content-Based Instruction (CBI) and Project-Based Learning (PBL) at Communication University of Shanxi, centering on authentic media projects. A mixed-methods approach (questionnaires, N = 204; semi-structured interviews, n = 50) was employed to evaluate its effectiveness. Under this model, students demonstrated positive gains in linguistic knowledge and skills, media literacy, self-directed learning, critical thinking, and teamwork. Positive outcomes were also observed in intercultural competence and innovative thinking. Comparative analysis of pre- and post-test academic performance indicated significant improvement across all participating majors. The integrated CBI-PBL model provides a promising teaching pathway for sustainability-oriented foreign language education within similar instructional contexts. It contributes to achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) and offers theoretical and practical insights for aligning media education with the evolving sustainable demands of the industry

Social media have been extensively praised for increasing democratic discussion on social issues related to policy and politics. However, what happens when this powerful communication tools are exploited to manipulate online discussion, to change the public perception of political entities, or even to try affecting the outcome of political elections? In this study we investigated how the presence of social media bots, algorithmically driven entities that on the surface appear as legitimate users, affect political discussion around the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. By leveraging state-of-the-art social bot detection algorithms, we uncovered a large fraction of user population that may not be human, accounting for a significant portion of generated content (about one-fifth of the entire conversation). We inferred political partisanships from hashtag adoption, for both humans and bots, and studied spatio-temporal communication, political support dynamics, and influence mechanisms by discovering the level of network embeddedness of the bots. Our findings suggest that the presence of social media bots can indeed negatively affect democratic political discussion rather than improving it, which in turn can potentially alter public opinion and endanger the integrity of the Presidential election.

Early adolescents’ insufficient critical engagement with (online) news demands increased application of news literacy, but it remains unclear which factors increase news literacy application. To provide more insights, this survey study develops and tests a model of news literacy application in early adolescents (12‒15 y/o, N = 492). The more comprehensive model looks at the relationship between the application of news literacy and news consumption, knowledge of news media production, news literacy skills, value for (news) media literacy, news literacy and news consumption motivation, social norms, and demographics. Most importantly, the model shows the interconnectedness of news literacy application and news consumption. Furthermore, it shows the importance of early adolescents’ value for (news) media literacy, skills, and motivation to increase their news literacy application, and the lesser importance of news production knowledge. To stimulate the application of news literacy in early adolescents, researchers and practitioners could take a stepwise approach: (1) stimulate intrinsic news consumption motivation and, with that, news consumption, and then (2) build value for (news) media literacy, skills, and peer social norms to stimulate the application of news literacy. In precisely targeting these factors of news literacy application, interventions can empower early adolescents to become more critical news consumers.

To function as well-informed citizens in democracy, early adolescents (12–16 years old) should become news literate news consumers. In this time of fragmented media use and evolving conceptions of (the importance and relevance of) news, this is not easy. Therefore, this focus group study investigated news consumption and news literacy through the eyes of early adolescents. Results showed that early adolescents have definitions of news. Their news consumption is predominantly passive, possibly due to a lack of intrinsic motivation. They see news as important, but often as boring, repetitive and negative, and disconnected from youth. Participants had knowledge of news content and effects, and stressed the importance of reliable news. However, for the majority, this did not translate into critical evaluation of news. For early adolescents, the key factor in becoming more news literate news consumers is motivation. Moving forward, motivation should be better incorporated in both research and practice.

The spread of fake content in the digital environment requires not only technological solutions, but also the formation of sustainable user skills — digital literacy and critical thinking. This article examines the role of these factors in combating disinformation and analyses educational and social strategies for developing media literacy. It presents the results of research in the field of information perception and resistance to manipulation. Emphasis is placed on the synergy between technical and cognitive methods of protecting users from fake content. The aim of this article is to define the importance of digital literacy and critical thinking as key factors in reducing the impact of disinformation on users of digital platforms.

The wars of the 21st century are not the first media wars, and many tropes and schema have long histories, particularly propaganda and the othering of a purported enemy. What is new today is that although mass media remains a central and hegemonic source of insight and perspective, citizen journalism, social media, spreadable media, and surveillant, data-driven media have grown in significance at an exponential level, adding a layer of complexity. In this article, we focus on disparity in media coverage and make the point that media and information literacy provide a valuable set of lenses from which to view a cluster of news and social media accounts taken from the government, mainstream media, alternative media, and the DIY mediasphere of the social media. It centers on two conflicts that receive little media exposure -the Nagorno-Karabash conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the internal Anglo-Francophone conflict in Cameroon. It also offers examples of classroom activities that could be adapted and modified to most educational settings.

The dimensions that individuals apply in evaluating the trustworthiness or credibility of news media bear great theoretical and practical relevance. In previous research, however, there is no standardized scale for the measurement of trust in news media. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present the development and validation of a multidimensional scale of trust in news media. A theoretically derived model is tested on a representative sample via confirmatory factor analysis. After some modifications, the model is then validated on another independent sample. These results confirm the hypothesis that trust in news media can be considered a hierarchical factor (of second order) that consists of four lower-order factors, including trust in the selectivity of topics, trust in the selectivity of facts, trust in the accuracy of depictions, and trust in journalistic assessment. This model is the first validated scale of trust in news media in communication research.

While the quality of environmental science journalism has been the subject of much debate, a widely accepted benchmark to assess the quality of coverage of environmental topics is missing so far. Therefore, we have developed a set of defined criteria of environmental reporting. This instrument and its applicability are tested in a newly established monitoring project for the assessment of pieces on environmental issues, which refer to scientific sources and therefore can be regarded as a special field of science journalism. The quality is assessed in a kind of journalistic peer review. We describe the systematic development of criteria, which might also be a model procedure for other fields of science reporting. Furthermore, we present results from the monitoring of 50 environmental reports in German media. According to these preliminary data, the lack of context and the deficient elucidation of the evidence pose major problems in environmental reporting

This article argues that journalism scholars and practitioners worldwide should not view 2030, i.e. the year in which the UN Agenda sustainable development goals are to be fulfilled, as a symbolic date, but instead as a real deadline. Such a posture could spur discussion about what more the media could do in these remaining years to promote sustainable development, as well as concrete action. To normatively support such a process in this context, the purpose of this contribution is to suggest news value criteria tailored to manage the challenges of sustainable development. They presuppose a well-functioning relationship between the media’s business and planetary needs. The former concern how to finance journalism and attract audiences/users, while the latter concern what kind of journalism a sustainable world de facto requires. The proposed news value criteria could serve as a point of departure for the development of sustainability-oriented news, which could be jointly tested and configured by scholars and practitioners.