Building a Media Literate Society: Pathways to Improve Media and Information Literacy Education in Pakistan

Abstract

This mixed-method study investigates the state of media and information literacy education in Pakistan by underlining the availability of relevant courses and trained teaching and research faculty at both public and private universities. Using United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) framework, this study explores the perception of faculty members across six key areas of general education and teacher development to improve the quality of media and information literacy in the country. These six key areas include (a) policy and vision, (b) curriculum and assessment, (c) pedagogy, (d) media and information, (e) organization and administration, and (f) teachers’ professional development.

Polio vaccine misinformation on social media: challenges, efforts, and recommendations

“…This reliance on subjective experiences underscores the difficulty in identifying and correcting such misinformation [Guidry, Carlyle, Messner & Jin, 2015]. Third, the use of automated bots to spread misinformation presents yet another formidable obstacle in countries like Pakistan with low levels of education, internet, and health literacy [Jamil, Iqbal, Ittefaq & Kamboh, 2022;Kamboh & Yousaf, 2020]. Because bots can rapidly amplify the dissemination of false information at minimal cost, posing significant challenges for human users attempting to distinguish them from genuine human accounts [Memon & Carley, 2020].…”

Examining Gaps in Journalism Curriculum to Solve the News Desert Crisis

“…More recently, Markovikj and Serafimovska (2023) found a deficiency in teaching mental health resilience, while Mesmer (2023) concluded journalism courses need to include content about dealing with hostility. Likewise, media and information literacy (Jamil et al, 2022), trauma training (Newman et al, 2023), diversity (Finneman, Hendricks & Bobkowski, 2022), and artificial intelligence (Pavlik, 2023) are stressed as ever-more important to incorporate in the classroom. At the same time, journalism faculty face criticism from the industry for putting too much emphasis on technology and not enough on basic skills like writing, critical thinking, interviewing, and deadlines (Ferrucci, 2018).…”