Media4Democracy Erasmus Project

Project Title

Media4Democracy

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

Media4Democracy – M4D

We live in an increasingly complex society in which democracies are threatened by the rise of social media that have a distorting effect on our perception of reality. Mass surveillance, disinformation, declining trust in institutions and journalism undermine democratic values and governance that have raised increased global concerns such as populism, extremist movements and cyberbullying. Media4Democracy (M4D) is a project that aims at developing media literacy and critical thinking through learning how language and the media have been used to alter public opinion in the past and the present.

We will reach the objectives by using a comparative perspective, studying and using (digital) media and examples from politics to highlight implications that can be generalized, so that they will lead to increased awareness and contribute to critical thinking not only in the participating students but also among external students and teachers that will be able to profit from the materials developed throughout the project. Five schools from the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden will address five essential issues in order to develop the above mentioned aims.

During the first teaching and training activity at “Europaeisches Gymnasium Bertha-von-Suttner” in Berlin (Germany) students will focus on the power of language. Although language is always produced in the same way by making sounds, airwaves hitting the ear drums and transforming the information into thoughts in our brains, the WAY we use language shapes our ideas, opinions and the reality we actually see. Students will learn how to use persuasive language and reflect on the power of language. They will also analyse the language of (online) newspaper articles. By inviting experts on rhetorics and psychology, students will learn how language influences decision-making processes and the way we think, thus, students will reflect on the power of language.

At “Gymnazium J. A. Komenskeho” in Uhersky Brod (Czech Republic) students will deal with the power of the media in a historical context. Media contributes to democratisation processes and is considered the Fourth Pillar of Democracy. However, in history mass media was used in authoritarian regimes to maintain the existing power structure. Students will learn about historical events when the media influenced societies negatively as well as positively by inviting historians and contemporary witnesses. Thus, students will gain a historical perspective on the influence of the media.

The power of social media versus the power of traditional media will be analyzed at “Carlshöjdsskolan” in Umea (Sweden). Today the influence of social media is increasingly growing whereas the importance of traditional mass media, such as the press and television, has declined. Thus, students will conduct surveys about media usage in their countries and will meet journalists who talk about the development of journalism today. They will experience different ways of reporting news and reflect on citizen journalism. Finally, students will start a campaign using social media to fight cyberbullying by using modern media in a positive way, thus, improving their critical thinking, ICT and media literacy skills.

Fake news and the rise of populism will be discussed at “Liceo Scientifico Statale Galileo Galilei” in Catania, Sizily (Italy). The media has been considered “the Bible and the watchdog of democracy”. This role of the press requires respect for the TRUTH. The aim of this meeting is to understand how populist movements have undermined that pillar of democracy through the use of fake news. Students will present a faked fact from their own country, discuss the rise of populism with experts and develop and disseminate a checklist to identify fake news, thus, increasing their critical thinking and media litearcy skills.

The final meeting will take place in Bergen op Zoom (the Netherlands) at “‘t Rijks” where students practice their acquired media-literacy skills and organize the outcome and materials from previous meetings in order to compile the Media-Literacy Toolkit (the MLTK) that can be used as a basis for a project day on media literacy by secondary schools.

We firmly believe that the impact of the media will even increase in the future due to new innovations and developments we cannot foresee. Media literacy and critical thinking are basic skills and competences that are and will be even more essential to overcome challenges to democracy in the future. Thus, “Media4Democracy” aims at promoting our students’ critical thinking, media literacy and democratic citizenship resulting in a resistance to all forms of discrimination and indoctrination.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 148560 Eur

Project Coordinator

Europaeisches Gymnasium Bertha-von-Suttner & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Regionale Scholengemeenschap ‘t Rijks
• Carlshöjdsskolan
• Gymnazium J. A. Komenskeho a Jazykova skola s pravem statni jazykove zkousky Uhersky Brod
• Liceo Scientifico Statale Galileo Galilei