In the area of media, the Council of Europe has in recent years focused on addressing the so-called information disorder. The study “Information disorder – toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making” (2017) analyses different types of misleading and potentially harmful information and messages. It further provides recommendations to legislators, media, tech companies, and civil society on, among others, educating the public to avoid engaging with and amplifying disinformation. To this end, standardised news literacy curricula are encouraged at the national level; media organisations are recommended to produce more news literacy segments and features, and civil society should educate people about the threat of information disorder and on persuasive techniques used by those spreading such disinformation.
One of the responses to the phenomenon of information disorder is to empower quality journalism and thus ensure that fact-based, trustworthy news can prevail. The study on “Supporting quality journalism through media and information literacy” (2020), prepared by the Committee of experts on quality journalism in the digital age (MSI-JOQ), analyses MIL skills and knowledge which can help the public to recognise and value quality journalism. It also provides an overview of relevant MIL projects and proposes models that can be used by MIL stakeholders including states in their development of future MIL programmes, strategies, and materials.
The report “Media Literacy for all: Supporting marginalised groups through community media” (2020) explores how the community media sector promotes media literacy and how this work can strengthen marginalised communities’ participation in community media and beyond, with a view to informing and inspiring practitioners and policy-makers.
A comprehensive review of MIL programmes and projects can be found in the European Audiovisual Observatory’s report “Mapping of media literacy practices and actions in EU-28” (2016) prepared for the European Commission. The report focuses on media literacy projects relating to media services delivered via electronic communication networks, outside of school curricula.
In addition, as part of the JUFREX cooperation project, in 2018 the Council of Europe published the study “Regulatory Authorities for Electronic Media and Media Literacy - Comparative analysis of the best European practices” to provide an analysis of selected valuable practices of promoting media literacy, with special focus on the role of media regulatory authorities.