More than 2,200 Cambodian young men and women and social media users engaged and participated in the celebration of the Global Media and Information Literacy Week organised by UNESCO and the Department of Media and Communication (DMC) at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

According to a press release of UNECO Cambodia issued this morning, the Global Media and Information Literacy Week is a major occasion for young people, Government, educators, the media and academia to share experiences and reflect on the contributions of different stakeholders in promoting media and information literacy competencies among the public.

This year, to commemorate the Media and Information Literacy Week, UNESCO partnered with DMC to give a voice to Cambodian young men and women that are working through different initiatives to foster critical engagement with information and media content.  From Nov. 2 to 16, 10 videos featuring young students, media professionals, religious leaders and prominent figures from civil society were shared more than 274 times in Facebook, reaching over 7,626 views. Through this campaign young leaders shared their experience in promoting Media and Information Literacy among their peers, and strategies to build a better informed and tech-savvy society.

The activities organised as part of the global week included a Youth Dialogue hosted at the Royal University of Phnom Penh on Nov. 4 about the important role of journalists and media professionals in building more media and information literate society. More than 50 students had the opportunity to interact with speakers from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association (CamboJA), UNESCO, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Foundation and the international NGO DW Akademie and learn about the work that they are doing to advance Media and Information Literacy in the country.

At the event Mr. Sardar Umar Alam, UNESCO Representative to Cambodia, had a message to the young students participating in the dialogue: “one day in the near future, some of you will become journalists, reporters, or work in the media as scriptwriters, producers or editors. Professionals of the media sector have an important responsibility in promoting Media and Information Literacy. They educate the public on how the information and news are produced, put in value the importance of verified information, fact-checking, and why journalists and the news media matter when it comes to the distribution of information. Without journalists and professional journalism, the public is more vulnerable to the negative impact of disinformation and false news, as they would not have the support of the journalists to do the fact checking, and verification of news for them.”

According to Mr. Ung Bun Y, Head of Department at DMC, “Media, information and digital literacy has become a crucial agenda in the society and there’s an urgent need for the public to have better understanding and knowledge of MIL. In this tech dominated era, the public is no longer a passive consumer of information, it has become an active producer and distributor of information. Since many users are not trained in media content production and dissemination, many of them cannot distinguish between facts and opinion, truth and misinformation. Therefore, this leads to the widespread of misinformation and disinformation that misled the public or even harm them.” He also highlighted that the rise of information disorder has the potential to make the public lose trust in the media.

UNESCO is working with civil society, academia, journalists and the Government in the promotion of Media and Information Literacy in Cambodia as part of the project “Strengthening Media Development and Freedom of Expression in Cambodia” which is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Part of this efforts include the development of a Media, Information and Digital Literacy competency Framework and Strategy in collaboration with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, which will become integral part of the Royal Government of Cambodia’s Digital Transformation Framework to enhance the country’s potential for a vibrant digital economy and society. Source: Agency Kampuchea Press