The Young European Federalists (JEF) hosted a training of trainers’ event to fight disinformation. The event was held in Novi Sad, Serbia, beginning on Saturday 23 February. EAVI’s education officer, Naomi Thompson, held workshops to introduce the young participants to media literacy and fake news.  The participants themselves were aged between 20 and 35, and were a mix of JEF members and individuals from civil society organisations from around Europe, representing 20 nationalities.

Naomi’s workshop was well received, introducing the participants to media literacy concepts in different forms of media. There followed a discussion on how digital citizenship manifests, from civil society initiatives through to personal conduct, combating hate speech and discrimination, as well as protecting democratic functions.

The second part of the workshop looked at the ways the media impacts the way we absorb and process information, and finally there was a discussion on disinformation and misinformation in all forms, inviting the participants to analyse the tricks and strategies in order to replicate  them for their own fake news articles. As always, the teaching was engaging and interesting, and feedback was positive.

The last part of the day was an expert panel on Journalism in Europe, with Naomi Thompson from EAVI, Stefan Janic from the Novi Sad School of Journalism, and xxx from xxx. The lively discussion laid bare the crisis of journalism, with fact checking and civic initiatives making limited headway into the problem as it stands currently. However, the panel had plenty of ideas for the young participants in moving forward with their projects to tackle media illiteracy and a crisis in the media as a whole.