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Armenian Media Vulnerability Report: Survey Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME); Media Initiatives Center (2025), 35 pp.

"Armenian media outlets face multiple vulnerabilities that threaten their organizational security (including digital and cyber security), financial stability, the well-being of journalists, as well as ability to operate in a crisis to contain reputational damage and ensure continuity of operations. ... more

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Gap Analysis of the Independent Media Skills and Needs in the Eastern Partnership 2023: Regional Overview, Analysis and Recommendations

Magda Walter

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) (2023), 12 pp.

"Despite their countries’ differences in size, history, political and economic climate, independent media in the EaP face serious, and often similar, challenges. Economic barriers to building resilient media business remain severe. Their very survival, and thus their ability to bring impartial inf ... more

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With Media Literacy Towards Cognitive Resilience: Updates from the Baltic States, and Lessons Learned from Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia

Solvita Denisa-Liepniece

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) (2022), 9 pp.

"[...] Based on analysis conducted in six selected countries, this policy brief highlights current developments in the field of media literacy and suggests further developing of media literacy infrastructure to increase cognitive resilience and forms five prospects: media literacy as a matter of sec ... more

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Qualitative study on priority audiences for public service media

Andres Jõesaar

Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME); Tallinn University Baltic Film, Media and Arts School (2022), 30 slides

"The topic of the research: the role and importance of professional media and in particular public service media in the life of Russian-speaking population of Estonia. Study Objective: to understand how audiences shape the meaning and quality of media; the role of media and journalism in the society ... more

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Ukraine Country Report. Media Literacy Sector Mapping in Georgia, Latvia, Moldova and Ukraine

Solvita Denisa-Liepniece et al.

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) (2021), 28 pp.

"• A wide range of actors work in the media literacy field, but the lack of strategic policies and coordination creates inconsistencies and sometimes even collisions on the very definition of media literacy and approaches towards the development of media literacy. Future strategic policy documents ... have to take this into account and suggest a consistent approach among diverse actors. • Existing inconsistencies and insufficient coordination of activities should also be addressed by the donors and international organisations that have the capacity to encourage collaborations, and more active exchange of knowledge and best practices. It is also critical to elaborate and set up a mechanism for effective coordination of activities among the different media literacy actors. • Funding of media literacy projects and initiatives remains one of the biggest challenges. Ukrainian civil society organisations predominantly rely on financial support from foreign donors and international organisations. The government of Ukraine should create conditions to attract new actors that would provide financial assistance to media literacy initiatives. Suggesting incentives, including tax rebates, could stimulate businesses to get engaged in media literacy projects. • Development of media literacy policy, approaches and projects should be based on rigorous research of the audiences, both quantitative and qualitative. Both the government and donors should stimulate and support such research. NGOs and academic institutions should develop and design research projects that would help to understand the patterns of media consumption, perception of information and gaps in media literacy among Ukrainian citizens. • There is a need for a more effective monitoring and evaluation system in order to make relevant adjustments to the design of media literacy projects. This concerns both projects implemented by the NGOs and educational institutions. • Promotion of media literacy among a broad audience requires involvement of big TV channels and radio stations, local media, as well as the network of public broadcasting. While there is no consensus among different actors about the engagement of oligarch-owned media into media literacy efforts, the issue should be addressed and discussed by the key stakeholders. • As media education should be continuous, the government has to create appropriate conditions for this in the system of formal and informal education." (Conclusions, page 26) more

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Latvia Country Report. Media Literacy Sector Mapping in Georgia, Latvia, Moldova and Ukraine

Solvita Denisa-Liepniece et al.

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) (2021), 30 pp.

"• A holistic approach is needed. Media literacy goes far beyond media, education and culture. It should become an essential part of everyday life, taking appropriate forms to attract, to connect and to activate responsible decision making. The recent trending issues are digitalisation (before 201 ... 3), focus on disinformation (and mixing it up with “fake news”) after 2016, as well as (dis)trust due to the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic after 2020. Today the focus is on how the issues related to data transparency, new gadgets and wearable technology, are changing the media landscape and media consumption. • Developing internal and external factors, related to media literacy, shows that some changes are here to stay. Adaptability to new agendas, tools, techniques is a must for the area. The challenges and known and emerging threats connected to media literacy emphasise the necessity for a holistic approach within a society. • Strategic strengthening of collaboration should be considered by the stakeholders. There is discord regarding who should do what, as functions in legislation and other regulating documents are very general. Clearly defined responsibilities for formal networking with clear timelines, as well as ad-hoc informal networking should be considered. • Financial sustainability and media literacy focused institutions. The media literacy initiatives are un26 derfunded by the state. It is mainly international donors who are setting the agenda. For instance, newly identified needs such as projects for marginalised parts of society or those tired from the news do not get the appropriate response from the community of media literacy actors. Those actors, who occasionally deliver projects on media literacy, are mostly busy with other projects. • Future-oriented media literacy. Behaviour prediction and redirection of the audience, connected to data collection and events, are topical issues for political and business purposes. The issue is connected to the emerging military technologies of influence (Kania, 2020; Tullis, 2019), means that activities related to increasing resilience and adaptability should continue. There is a need on a national level to encourage capacity building and informing media literacy stakeholders on prospective topics to be included. • While mentioning the external factors, some experts said media education should be considered essential without the need to connect to external actors, and to be part of any informed decision making centric and human centric process, taking it out of the political scope. • Solutions cannot be just Top-Down or Bottom-Up, as the skills and knowledge needed should be interconnected with issues relevant for the society. Motivation and engagement of the fragmented audiences, by promoting media literacy and quality journalism is essential for making a strong, responsible and sustainable country. There will be a growing need for very precise and different types of media literacy initiatives (in scope, format, and nature) in society. • Evidence based media literacy should be appropriately funded. The networking needed for increasing research should be considered a priority for cross-sectoral cooperation." (Concluding remarks, pages 25-26) more

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Moldova Country Report. Media Literacy Sector Mapping in Georgia, Latvia, Moldova and Ukraine

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) (2021), 32 pp.

"• There is a significant and diverse amount of media literacy resources, format of activities and media literacy initiatives being produced in Moldova in the preceding years, that consolidated a pool of national experts in the media literacy related field of expertise. A major part of these resul ... ts was made possible mainly due to civil society organisations initiatives and efforts, supported by donor community. • Mainly international donors and CSOs are setting the media literacy agenda since no state funding is available for these kinds of initiatives. The relevant state institutions should start gradually to take over the responsibility and lead in media literacy directions relevant to their areas of competencies. Besides taking the role as official partners of civil society driven initiatives, they should become initiators, proactive implementers and allocate budgets for this state level priority. • The government should initiate the development of a national policy or strategy on media literacy, that would establish the priority areas of actions and cross-sectoral roles and responsibilities distribution among government, parliament, civil society, media sector and donor community. They should also set up a functional coordination and implementation mechanism and ensure financial support. • The relevant state institutions should evaluate the national legislation and practices on fighting media disinformation, fake news, external propaganda etc. and adopt the required legislative amendments. They should build efficient mechanisms for operational and appropriate responses of public institutions. • National level surveys and research on media literacy are required to be conducted based on rigorous and national representative methodology to evaluate the media literacy dynamics, existing threats and gaps that needs to be addressed on regular basis. The current shortage of such data is a significant challenge for developing evidence based strategies and policies, but also for measuring the overall impact of all invested efforts and funding, and a barrier in identifying the best approaches in addressing different media literacy gaps. • Media literacy initiatives and projects should allocate budgets for results and impact monitoring and evaluation and donors encourage and assign sufficient funds to cover these costs. They are crucial to generate evidence-based information regarding the extent of results achieved, and the data for the most efficient media literacy formats for a specific target audience etc. • Donors should continue their support, aiming to strengthen the capacity of the independent media, national and regional, broadcasting in Romanian and ethnic minorities languages, through granting long-term institutional support (as opposed to project-based) to ensure people access to a diversity of objective information." (Concluding remarks, page 29) more

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General Overview and Recommendations. Media Literacy Sector Mapping in Georgia, Latvia, Moldova and Ukraine

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) (2021), 12 pp.

"The Missing Strategic Holistic Approach Every selected country is going through a process of securitization of the media literacy as part of national security and defence. These changes were made in response to military and informational aggression from Russia, however, each faces the threat at a d ... ifferent scale. In all countries, there is a need for a holistic strategic approach to media literacy. At the same time, this approach has developed at different rates in each country. Nevertheless, in each country there are attempts or plans to create systemic policy with action plans. The main obstacles, however, can be summed up in the following ways: the lack of a holistic vision and evidence-based approach; missing a joint understanding and definition of the role of media literacy in society; low level institutional coordination and cooperation; a lack of resources; and a lack of political will to define and prioritise selected vulnerable groups, including minorities. Government Institutions: Trust, Transparency and the Required Coordination and Cooperation Different approaches are implemented in designing institutional leadership in each country. In Ukraine and Georgia, there are attempts to establish consolidating bodies (separated or based on Ministries). In Latvia and Moldova, there are no clear publicly available strategies for development. Among the most common institutional implementers in all countries are the Ministries responsible for education, culture and digital technologies and transformation. In each country there are attempts (at different stages of implementation) to create governmental agencies and/or platforms to combine media literacy initiatives and activities. At the same time, a strong connection to the government raises concerns within the NGO community, especially in countries with high levels of corruption. There is a clear need for more trust, based on transparency between state and non-state actors. As a result of a missing strategic approach, there are problems with government related cross-institutional cooperation - among ministries, regulators and governmental agencies in every country. While strategic documents underline the priority of critical media literacy and outline the skills needed to evaluate information for well-informed decision making, the dominant approach in all four countries, is for certain government bodies to focus on digital literacies and technical skills, and not on critical thinking. Non-Governmental and International Organisations: Setting the Agenda This lack of understanding, coordination and cooperation among government structures, accompanied by the dominance and importance of non-governmental actors, creates an imbalance in setting the agenda. NGOs mostly get financial resources from international organisations and foreign actors. Donors and supporters through requesting specific projects, developing calls and competing initiatives are transforming the media literacy environment at the AAA level - by selecting actors, defining audiences and endorsing activities. The current agendas of international supporters and donors are aimed to fill gaps - to support the non-governmental community and to create projects for minorities, also in minority languages. However, international organisations need to evaluate interventions, and they need to come up with projects adapted for local audiences, as well as demonstrate successful examples to other non-governmental partners in other countries." (General findings, pages 4-5) more

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Georgia Country Report. Media Literacy Sector Mapping in Georgia, Latvia, Moldova and Ukraine

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) (2021), 24 pp.

• The role of Media Literacy in resilience building is considered to be of pivotal importance, which is further stressed in the policy documents published within the last couple of years in Georgia. However, it is essential to underscore that the failure of achieving consensus on strategic approac ... hes between state and non-state actors remains the central obstacle towards enhancing the cooperation among the key stakeholders. Therefore, there is a need to create a cooperation format among governmental and non-governmental organisations that would ensure the elimination of mistrust, political neutrality and enhance the overall resilience level of the media consumers. • In order to define the target audience and evaluate the programmes carried out by various organisations, one requires comprehensive research focused on media consumption habits and the impact of media literacy programmes on beneficiaries. • Apart from evaluating the knowledge and skills that beneficiaries gain from media literacy projects, it is also essential to analyse the methodology that organisations use with different audiences to develop and refine their respective methodologies and tailor them better to diverse audiences. • The expertise of non-state actors with various resources needs to be utilised to achieve project sustainability and long-term results. In addition, these experiences should be incorporated into the formal academic processes. • Given the importance of media and digital literacy as transferable skills defined by the National Curriculum, there is a need to advance critical thinking from an early age, which by itself can be achieved by introducing media literacy as a compulsory subject in the school curricula. • Coming up with joint curricula-based assessment indicators and media and digital literacy definitions remains another essential priority since there is a lack of unified definitions among stakeholders. • Content diversification is crucial for Media outlets. This can be carried out by introducing MIL components not only in educational but entertainment content as well. • In the framework of preparing programmes intended to build the resilience of society, the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) should cooperate with non-state actors to promote media literacy initiatives and pay special attention to the most vulnerable groups, including ethnic minorities. • There is an evident coordination problem across donors that often choose overlapping regions and target audiences, thus neglecting some of the most vulnerable audiences. Hence, the local representatives of international organisations should cooperate on setting strategic priorities to optimise resources. • Donors should allocate more resources to conduct evaluations and facilitate the implementation of best practices on the ground." (Concluding remarks, pages 20-21) more

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Moldova. Media and Information Literacy Policy and Action Proposal Paper

Angela Vacaru

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) (2021), 8 pp.

"The Moldovan Independent Journalism Centre (IJC) in cooperation with Baltic Center for Media Excellence (BCME) undertaken in August-November 2021, the research "Comprehensive approach and advancement of media and information literacy in Moldova". This Media Literacy policy and action proposal paper ... more