The second cycle of workshops on hate speech and fake news in the mass media ended
On June 15, the final class took place at the Museum of the History and Culture of Bukovinian Jews. It was attended by 17 students of the Luzhany secondary school of the Mamaiivtsi unified territorial community.
During the event, the students learned about the role and functions of the mass media in modern society, the prerequisites and criteria for their objectivity, as well as the problems and main trends of modern journalism with the help of Liliia Shutiak, Associate Professor of the Department of Journalism at Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University. As in previous cases, the visit to the local commercial TV channel TVA was an integral part of the workshop program. It gave the students a chance to look at the work of the media from a practical perspective. The range of questions asked by the participants to the TV channel manager and journalists covered a vast array of aspects: from the salary of an ordinary employee to the features and parameters of the equipment used by the channel to create and broadcast content. The teenagers were also interested in how and by whom the material is checked before it goes on air.
Cyberbullying was another relevant topic for the workshop participants. It turned out that some of them had personally experienced this form of discrimination. Therefore, the students actively exchanged tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of bullying using a computer or smartphone and how to overcome the problem if it already exists.
However, the topic of social media and the manipulative practices often used there to spread fake news and propaganda attracted the most attention. According to the participants, some of them did not even realize that bots can be used not only in the commercial sphere but also to destroy the reputation of an entire country, as russia has been doing for a long time concerning our country.
It goes without saying that collective discussion on how to avoid becoming a victim of manipulation and discrimination on social media was also beneficial for the children.
After the class, which was the last one for the participants from Ukraine, the children took home not only new knowledge and skills but also personalized certificates. This fall, two more classes on the same topic will be held in Suceava, Romania, for local high school students.
