Insight into the Training Course: Interview with Aleksandra Stojanovska
Interview was done by Macedonian journalist Bojan Blazhevski.
According to you, why media literacy is so important for our societies today?
We can all agree that the future is digital and is just a matter of time when the word "offline" will no longer have a significant meaning. As for our presence, we are surrounded with so much information "noise", arguably one is able to avoid. The capacity to sustain that traction and recognize the meaningful information, and confidently swim in the ocean of fake news, is crucial for any active citizen today. The spread of information has taken from printing newspapers the night before to posting online within mili seconds, which results with mass production of media content by any person with a smartphone in their pocket. But the difference is that does not make one neither a journalist nor a relevant source. So, being media literate will help us stay true to our core values and beliefs as a society, will give space to practice our laws and policies and move truthfully and respectfully forward.
What kind of problems you think that disinformation campaigns can produce in our societies?
Misleading understandings of the truth. The term "white lie", but with a very longstanding implications to our surroundings. Lack of trust in democracy, disrespect of the differences among us, shift of mindset and destructive behaviour. Disinformation campaigns normalize the intentional spread of lies, and having to play with such a core value such as trust, is a very powerful and silent weapon. Moreover, the tools to carry it out are widely known and utilized, such as social media. Your target is there, all you need to do is to drop "the bomb". To sum up, there is not a problem you can think of that can not be caused by a disinformation campaign, crimes included.
What can we do as individuals in order to raise the awareness about the media literacy?
We need to be more aware, doubt and question almost everything we read, see and hear. Not to the extent of being paranoid, but take some action steps as in confirming the information and research about the relevance of the source. We should not fall for those sensational headlines and photos, promising tons of likes and retweets, but we need to re-program the way we get that dopamine shot and instant valorization, so we feel equally rewarded when discovering a news is fake, and reporting it to the authorities.
So yes, speak about the problem and constantly search for creative and sustainable solutions, because acknowledging there is a problem is half of the solution.
