Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

Background: The increasing exposure of adolescents to social media demands their development of critical thinking skills to responsibly deal with online information. Media and Information Literacy for Critical Thinking (MIL-CT) enhances adolescents’ ability to critically assess content, misinformation and digital engagement. In relation to Positive Youth Development (PYD), an MIL-CT intervention has the potential to promote critical thinking skills, reflection, resilience, autonomy, proactiveness, social responsibility, and ethical decision-making in the digital world. Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and validate an intervention protocol designed to promote adolescents’ critical thinking and key developmental assets essential for adolescents’ positive development in relation to digital environments and social media use. The protocol covers the first phase of a multi-phase research project following the Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance for developing and evaluating complex interventions. Methods: The protocol was developed by identifying relevant theories and scientific evidence in literature, and formulating a draft protocol to address adolescents (15–16 years old) and their parents/legal guardians and teachers. The protocol was then validated by a panel of experts and adolescents in three phases, involving: 1) a review of strengths and areas for improvement; 2) collaborative refinement of contents; and 3) final evaluation of the updated protocol’s adequacy, engagingness, and accessibility. Co-creation with adolescents ensured the intervention was contextually relevant, aligned with their digital habits, and adapted to the unique challenges they face online. Results: The study presents the protocol development and validation findings, confirming its coherence, adequacy, and relevance for promoting MIL-CT. Among the improvements introduced in the final version of the protocol were the incorporation of real examples of misinformation, the simplification of certain activities, and the integration of more interactive components. Stakeholders highlighted the need for flexible and adaptive contents customizable to the diverse educational needs and digital realities of adolescents. Conclusions: The protocol provides a structured approach for promoting MIL-CT in adolescents, follows MRC guidelines, involves multiple stakeholders, and contributes to the development of evidence-based MIL-CT programs. The intervention will promote Positive Youth Development (PYD) by strengthening adolescents’ critical thinking, resilience, and social responsibility online. By fostering informed decision-making and ethical media engagement, the intervention will empower adolescents in responsibly navigating the digital world, and boost their confidence and capacity for civic participation.

This paper provides research findings to support the case for media literacy as an aid to journalists and journalism educators in a disruptive age through the fostering of resilient media engagement by young citizens. It posits that encouraging media literacy in news consuming publics facilitates a more critically engaged civic society. Focused on trust, it shares the outcomes of a project funded by the US Embassy in London, which brought together leading researchers from the United States and UK with a range of key stakeholders, including journalists. Their collective aim: to devise a practical strategy for harnessing media literacy to develop young people’s understanding of and ability to withstand ‘fake news’.

Although access is uneven, studies have shown a high uptake of digital technologies and platforms across Africa, with many accessing social media, which is a fertile ground for the spread of fake news and disinformation, calling for the need to factcheck information before consumption or sharing. The study was grounded in explore, engage, and empower (EEE) model of media and information literacy (MIL), which states that MIL competencies empower media and information users to identify, access, and retrieve information and media content skillfully (explore), analyze, and evaluate media and information critically (engage) and create, share, or use information and media ethically, safely, and responsibly (empower). The purpose was to assess fact-checking practices of students in two universities in Ghana and Nigeria to ascertain the extent to which they factcheck information, their levels of knowledge of fact checkers and the fact checkers that they use. The simple random sampling was used to draw a total of 316 respondents. It was found that although many respondents confirmed the authenticity of news and information received before acting on them, they mostly did so through social media and their networks. Few respondents knew about fact-checking platforms and could state names of actual factcheckers. The study makes a case for MIL, which includes fact checking, to enable media users to analyze and evaluate news and information critically to ensure the consequent ethical safe and responsible sharing and usage of information and media content, as EEE model proposes.

Disinformation represents a critical threat to our democratic societies, particularly considering the role of new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence in the creation and dissemination of content, as well as the challenges involved in its detection. Among the strategies to combat disinformation, debunking, along with media and digital literacy, are the preferred approaches for the EU. Methods This research examines the role of fact-checking organizations in promoting digital and media literacy. An analysis on the websites of a sample of 88 organizations with membership in the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) was conducted. The aim was to identify and classify their activities related to various literacies aimed at mitigating disinformation. Data collection was carried out across two distinct time periods. Results Findings revealed a moderate reach of these activities, with 48.6% implementation and a 60% increase since the last period analyzed (December 2022). The study concludes that: 1) there are differences in the level of adoption across different regions; 2) strategies are adapted to various target audiences, reflecting sociodemographic factors; and 3) fact-checkers serve as valuable and necessary links for the most groups outside formal education systems. Conclusion These activities are strongly reliant on externally funded projects and programs, rather than representing an independent and sustainable business model. Therefore, it is recommended to promote and expand these funding streams. The value of these initiatives lies in their potential to reach vulnerable groups who are excluded from formal education systems.

This article maps fact-checking resources and establishes a typology of the latter, depicting the variety of available tools. The approach is bottom-up: in the frame of a European project on collaborative fact-checking, students in journalism and communication studies coming from France, Greece and Poland were asked to list and classify all fact-checking resources that they use or they are aware of. Findings revealed a common denominator, i.e., the existence of a variety of understandings of this expression, which this study has mapped. However, it also shed light to differences linked to the role of national contexts.

Digital marketing practices have gained an increasing theoretical attention. Most studies concentrated on issues related to Marketing ethics in the context of traditional media. This paper is a literature review that aims is to focus on ethical issues surrounding targeting in the digital marketing era. This article is a theoretical review that presents a conceptual analysis about marketing ethics in children targeting which is merely based on relying on secondary sources of recent data. In this paper, we will concentrate on specificities of targeting in the digital marketing context and children targeting that evolve continuously to sway kids purchasing decision.

Amid information wars and growing populism, when manipulation, propaganda and disinformation appear to be a natural focus, when officials, opinion leaders and media communicate unsafe and unverified information, when only up to 20% of messages can be marked as veracious, it becomes essential to develop critical and meaningful information consumption. The self-explanatory statistics, provided by fact-checkers, speak volumes and inspire those who have command of the investigation method in the fact check format to fully leverage it both in their professional activities and in daily lives. The paper structures and classifies the key aspects of fact-checking, identifies its specific characteristics and effects, and sketches out the future outlook for its use as a new media trend. The work defines central objectives of fact-checking investigations and what differentiate them from conventional investigations. It has been revealed that fact-checkers are gradually shifting their field of activity to the plane of the so-called “unofficial sources” of information, such as social networking websites, public narratives and discourses, media materials of diverse origin, etc. The findings of the study conducted demonstrate a correlation between the general media literacy, which respondents evaluated as rather low – average and below average and the need for its end-to-end improvement, including through interactive media practices, trainings and projects. The study concludes that respondents are actually ignorant of the fact-checking and data verification tools available. We believe the fact is also immediately linked with the overall level of media maturity and respondent information literacy, levels of critical and analytical thinking, and the ability to work on information and its sources

The aim of the research is to evaluate the impact of the current advertising ethics to children on brands and parents’ expectations. The researcher has used a qualitative research method by interviewing ten brand marketers who have the knowledge of Indian advertising landscape to understand their views on the ethical practices currently being following in the industry. The interviews were semi-structured in nature and narrative research design was carried out. The analyses showed that Indian marketers had basic awareness about advertising ethics to be followed in an organisation and most of them are not following any of it when it comes to advertising to children. This research proposes businesses to develop their own ethical advertising guidelines on top of the laws of Indian government, as well as to conduct compliance assessments on a regular basis.

Many researchers and organizations, such as WHO and UNICEF, have raised awareness of the dangers of advertisements targeted at children. While most existing laws only regulate ads on television that may reach children, lawmakers have been working on extending regulations to online advertising and, for example, forbid(e.g., the DSA) or restrict (e.g., the COPPA) advertising based on profiling to children. At first sight, ad platforms such as Google seem to protect children by not allowing advertisers to target their ads to users that are less than 18 years old. However, this paper shows that other targeting features can be exploited to reach children. For example on YouTube, advertisers can target their ads to users watching a particular video through placement-based targeting, a form of con-textual targeting. Hence, advertisers can target children by simply placing their ads in children-focused videos. Through a series of ad experiments, we show that placement-based targeting is possible on children-focused videos and, hence, enables marketing to children. In addition, our ad experiments show that advertisers can use targeting based on profiling (e.g., interest, location, behavior) in combination with placement-based advertising on children-focused videos. We discuss the lawfulness of these two practices with respect to DSA and COPPA. Finally, we investigate to which extent real-world advertisers are employing placement-based targeting to reach children with ads on YouTube. We propose a measurement methodology consisting of building a Chrome extension able to capture ads and instrumenting six browser profiles to watch children-focused videos. Our results show that 7% of ads that appear in the children-focused videos we test use placement-based targeting. Hence, targeting children with ads on YouTube is not only hypothetically possible but alsooccurs in practice. We believe that the current legal and technicalsolutions are not enough to protect children from harm due to online advertising. A straightforward solution would be to forbid placement-based advertising on children-focused content.

Social media platforms are an effective channel for businesses to reach potential audiences through targeted advertising. As the user base of these platforms expands and diversifies, research on targeted advertising and social media needs to go beyond well-studied Western contexts. In an online survey (n=412), we compared users' privacy-related perceptions and behaviors regarding targeted ads on social media in the United States (as a baseline representing Western contexts) and three South Asian countries: Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. We found that participants in the US perceived significantly fewer benefits and more concerns related to security and privacy about targeted ads than those in the three South Asian countries. We also identified that individual's cultural values and religious affiliations influenced the observed cross-country variances. For instance, US participants identified less with vertical collectivism and vertical individualism than South Asian participants; these two cultural dimensions were, in turn, positively associated with perceived benefits. Our findings highlight the limitation of using one's country as a proxy for culture, as our findings show users' privacy perceptions regarding targeted advertising on social media are more fundamentally associated with their cultural values and religion. We discuss the corresponding design, education, and regulatory implications for targeted advertising on social media.

This paper presents a critical race analysis of Library and Information Studies (LIS) writing on global information inequality, that body of literature focused on the connection between global suffering and disparities in information access related to available content, technologies, infrastructure, and skills. I argue that global information inequality represents a key site for the reproduction of racialized discourse in the field. In particular, I contend that the construction of information inequality as a sign of marginalization powerfully (if tacitly) extends colonial mythologies of racial Otherness and Western civilizational superiority. My engagement with critical race and anti-colonial scholarship in support of this claim focuses on two key ideas: (a) the construction of racial difference in colonial discourse, particularly its recourse to narratives of intellectual and technological capacity; and (b) the concept of (international) development as an example of the relatively recent shift to racialized discourse largely stripped of explicit racial coding. After sketching these ideas in broad strokes, I turn to a critical analysis of such racially encoded international development discourse in global information inequality literature, with a focus on the dynamics of narratives, imagery, and other systems of meaning.

Understanding personalized content and its societal implications is critical in the digital media era. This article introduces a novel information-analytical system designed to evaluate the level of knowledge among different social classes regarding personalized content in the digital media ecosystem. Utilizing data from 1213 Czech respondents, we employ fuzzy logic and multidimensional membership functions for an in-depth evaluation of the populace’s awareness. It categorizes population knowledge on personalization processes, their preferences, and trust levels and advocates control mechanisms over online content. The research reveals significant insights into demographic disparities in digital media literacy, emphasizing the urgent need for targeted educational programs. This paper presents a pioneering methodological framework and lays the groundwork for future investigations into personalized media services’ ethical considerations and socio-political dynamics. Our study contributes to the broader discourse on media literacy, algorithmic understanding, and protecting informational self-determination in the digital age.

This study explores adolescents’ awareness of the sources that inform online profiling and their perspectives on online targeted advertisements. It employs thematic analysis to analyse eight focus group discussions (N = 38) with adolescents (13–16 years) in Finland’s capital region. The study advances research on adolescents’ knowledge of the data gathered for online profiling by highlighting that adolescents infer that apart from previous online activities, data on their verbal conversations also inform targeted advertisements. The study also advances research on adolescents’ perspectives on online targeted advertisements by identifying that adolescents’ privacy expectations in the context of targeted advertisements are that data should not be collected without their awareness and commercial entities should not use data on previous conversations for profiling. This study also pinpoints that online profiling gives some adolescents a privacy-invasive feeling of being observed, and others have a boundary until which they consider online data collection for profiling permissible. Moreover, some adolescents express ambivalent views on online targeted advertisements. The findings reflect some adolescents’ acceptance of online profiling and knowledge gaps that can inform media literacy educators. The findings raise concerns about the opacity of online commercial data-gathering practices. Therefore, we urge corporations to demystify their data collection processes.

The study assesses linkages between information technology, inequality, and adult literacy in 57 developing countries for the period 2012–2016. Income inequality is measured with the Gini coefficient while six dynamics of information technology are taken on board, namely use of a virtual social network, Internet access in schools,Internet penetration, mobile phone penetration, fixed broadband subscription, and a number of personal computer users. The empirical evidence is based on interactive Tobit regressions. The findings show that only Internet access in schools unconditionally promotes adult literacy. The corresponding inequality threshold that should not be exceeded for Internet access in schools to continue promoting adult literacy is 0.739 of the Gini coefficient. Policy implications are discussed

Targeted advertising is big part of the modern marketing. Almost every consumer on the internet have come across an ad that had been targeted to them. Can targeted ads be too intrusive to the point of changing your purchasing decisions to the better or worse. It also sparks a conversation about oneself privacy and how much there are information floating about that are being used without your knowledge. This thesis looks at how consumer behaviour and ethical issues in the digital age are affected by targeted advertising and how people perceive targeted ads. The thesis also examines how different ways of approaching and looking at targeted ads can effect on your perceived intrusiveness of said ad. This study uses a qualitative research method to examine how consumers' privacy concerns and decision-making processes are impacted by targeted advertising. The findings suggest varied consumer responses to targeted advertising, with interesting insights into their decision-making processes and privacy concerns. The findings indicated that

The importance of the study is determined by the necessity to develop effective methods for detecting fake news to ensure societal information security, as misinformation can be used to harm at various levels, including engaging in hybrid warfare. The aim of this work is a comparative analysis of the use of digital literacy as a tool for detecting fake news in European and Kazakhstani media to determine the most effective mechanisms of counteraction. Programs and strategies for using digital literacy tools to improve media literacy among the population were analyzed. The study showed that in European countries, fact-checking and media education tools are actively used, while in Kazakhstani mass media, this approach is still in the early stages of development. It was also determined that effective cooperation between government agencies, mass media, and educational institutions plays an important role in detecting fake news, and only comprehensive interaction can lead to the formation of a truly effective mechanism for countering misinformation. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the obtained results can be used to develop recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of using digital literacy as a tool to combat misinformation. Keywords: disinformation, media ecosystem, journalism, social networks, communication.

This paper reviews related research since the early 1990s on the information and digital divides. It shows that, despite their shared concerns with illustrating social inequality through the lens of information resource distribution, the two areas in effect represent two overlapping research communities. The research focus and discourse of the former were primarily shaped by three different theoretical perspectives and were inspired by a fairly strong sense of ethical principles; those of the latter, on the other hand, were shaped primarily by four different political standpoints and were imbued with a fairly strong concern for political and economical interests. The co-existence of multifarious perspectives and standpoints has produced divergent, and sometimes contradictory, research findings and policy recommendations, which inevitably perplex researchers and policy makers. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future research and policy making.

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cancer in terms of incidence and mortality among women in France. Effective organized screening does exist, however, the participation rate is low, and negatively associated with a low socioeconomic status and remoteness. Objectives: To determine the cost-effectiveness of a mobile mammography (MM) program to increase participation in breast cancer screening and reduce geographic and social inequalities. Methods: A cost-effectiveness analysis from retrospective data was conducted from the payer perspective, comparing an invitation to a mobile mammography unit (MMU) or to a radiologist’s office (MM or RO group) with an invitation to a radiologist’s office only (RO group) (n = 37461). Medical and nonmedical direct costs were estimated. Outcome was screening participation. The mean incremental cost and effect, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, and the costeffectiveness acceptability curve were estimated. Results: The mean incremental cost for invitation to MM or RO was estimated to be V23.21 (95% CI, 22.64-23.78) compared with RO only, and with a point of participation gain of 3.8% (95% CI, 2.8-4.8), resulting in an incremental cost per additional screen of V610.69 (95% CI, 492.11-821.01). The gain of participation was more important in women living in deprived areas and for distances exceeding 15 km from an RO. Conclusion: Screening involving a MMU can increase participation in breast cancer screening and reduce geographic and social inequalities while being more cost-effective in remote areas and in deprived areas. Because of the retrospective design, further research is needed to provide more evidence of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of using a MMU for organized breast cancer screening and to determine the optimal conditions for implementing it.

Our study stresses the importance of developing understandable and easily recognizable ad disclosures for adolescents as a specific target group of social media influencer (SMI) advertising. A comprehensive advertising literacy concept that includes a cognitive, performative, and attitudinal component builds the theoretical background of the present research. We examine the effectiveness of ad disclosure in the native language of adolescent Instagram users, explore their understanding of the economic mechanism behind SMIs’ advertising activities, and their skepticism toward sponsored content. Furthermore, we analyze the role that sponsorship transparency on Instagram stories plays in adolescents’ responses to advertising. A three-level between-subjects survey-based experimental design (manipulating the absence of ad disclosure versus ad disclosure in the participants’ native language versus standardized paid partnership ad disclosure in English) was conducted online with female adolescent participants (N = 241) in a European country. Findings showed that adolescents who understand the economic model behind SMI advertising have positive intentions toward the SMI and intend to spread online information about the promoted brand. However, even if ad disclosure made in the adolescents’ native language improved ad recognition, such knowledge did not result in more sophisticated defense mechanisms in the form of critical evaluations of the ads.

This paper provides research findings to support the case for media literacy as an aid to journalists and journalism educators in a disruptive age through the fostering of resilient media engagement by young citizens. It posits that encouraging media literacy in news consuming publics facilitates a more critically engaged civic society. Focused on trust, it shares the outcomes of a project funded by the US Embassy in London, which brought together leading researchers from the United States and UK with a range of key stakeholders, including journalists. Their collective aim: to devise a practical strategy for harnessing media literacy to develop young people’s understanding of and ability to withstand ‘fake news’.

In the context of rising misinformation across digital platforms, Media and Information Literacy (MIL) has become an essential educational tool for fostering critical engagement among university students. This study investigates the role of MIL in combating misinformation within a Pakistani university context. Employing a qualitative case study design, the research involved 30 undergraduate students from a public university in Punjab who participated in a two-hour MIL intervention workshop based on UNESCO’s curriculum framework. Data were collected through three semi-structured focus group discussions and analyzed thematically using NVivo. Findings revealed four key themes: increased awareness of misinformation tactics, enhanced confidence in source verification, emotional barriers to critical engagement, and a strong student demand for formal MIL curriculum integration. While students demonstrated improved analytical and verification skills, many continued to struggle with confirmation bias and emotional resonance tied to cultural and religious content. The results underscore the importance of embedding MIL into higher education in culturally responsive ways and suggest the need for sustained interdisciplinary instruction. This study contributes to the limited body of empirical MIL research in South Asia and offers practical recommendations for curriculum developers, policymakers, and educators aiming to counter misinformation through structured pedagogical strategies. It also highlights the value of localized, depth-oriented case studies in developing context-sensitive media education frameworks.

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is one of the most important topics in today’s mediatized world. Under the leadership of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), many international organizations in the world, as foreign donors, annually announce many projects and grants for the promotion and development of the field of MIL in the countries of the world. One of the main actors of this movement is DW Akademie with different media and MIL projects several countries of the world. This research paper delves into the role of DW Akademie’s MIL model in shaping a media-savvy generation. The study explores the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of Deutsche Welle (DW) Akademie’s MIL model, analysing its effectiveness in fostering media literacy skills. The research employs a multi-faceted approach, incorporating case studies to assess the model’s impact across diverse demographics. The paper also considers the model’s alignment with global educational policies and proposes recommendations for its integration into broader frameworks. By investigating DW Akademie’s MIL model, this research contributes to the ongoing discourse on media literacy education, providing valuable insights for educators, policymakers, and researchers. The findings offer a nuanced understanding of the model’s position in cultivating a media-savvy generation poised to navigate the complexities of the information age.

Society changes, but certain democratic principles remain true. Among them is the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers as proclaimed in Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Freedom of expression implies respect for the universality of the right to communicate.

Using unique data from 609 parent–daughter (8–16 years of age) dyads, in an online experiment we studied two pivotal antecedents of young viewers’ cognitive advertising literacy: influencer-generated sponsorship disclosure (written and/or spoken) and parental mediation style (active or restrictive). A between-subjects, single-factor design was applied with three experimental conditions: written disclosure, spoken disclosure, and both written and spoken disclosure, and a control condition—no disclosure. Variance-based partial least squares structural equation modeling in Smart-PLS 3.0 shows that policy makers’ and parental measures to safeguard young consumers from negative consequences of sponsored vlogs can lead to unanticipated effects. While the combination of written and spoken sponsorship disclosure information as well as an active parental mediation style increase cognitive advertising literacy, restrictive parental mediation negatively affects cognitive advertising literacy. In addition, cognitive advertising literacy negatively affects young viewers’ evaluation of the vlogger and positively affects the attitude toward the sponsored brand. Our findings provide important insights for parents, practitioners, and regulators and contribute to the discussion of how to make influencer marketing more effective and ethical.

In the modern digital environment, where social networks represent a key communication channel, influencer marketing is growing into one of the dominant forms of advertising. Its ubiquity brings numerous advantages in terms of reach and perception of authenticity but at the same time raises a number of ethical issues, especially related to transparency and accountability to consumers. Influencers, as modern opinion leaders, have transformed the relationship between brands and audiences, especially among younger generations—Generation Z and Generation Alpha—who increasingly trust influencer recommendations, as opposed to traditional forms of marketing. The central challenge of this form of promotion lies in ensuring a clear distinction between sponsored content and personal recommendations. Covert advertising, or unmarked commercial cooperation, can erode user trust and result in the perception of manipulation. Although legal frameworks in many countries prescribe mandatory labeling of sponsored content, their implementation remains uneven. Additional complexity to the ethical and communication challenges is introduced by artificially generated influencers (so-called AI influencers), who are becoming increasingly present thanks to their popularity on platforms such as TikTok. Their use further blurs the lines between real and simulated messages, especially in the perception of younger users, thus creating a need for new regulatory and educational approaches to protecting digital consumers.