Young people from Moldova learned how to fight disinformation and manipulation within a summer school organised with EU support

Between 5 – 8 July 2023, the Youth Media Center, with the support of the European Union, and under the coordination of Internews, organized a Media Camp, bringing together 30 young people from different localities of the Republic of Moldova. The Media Camp agenda included media literacy sessions and content creation workshops. Over the course of four days, young people learned what disinformation and misinformation are, what the best tools and methods for fact-checking information are, how to recognize manipulation through visuals, and how to effectively identify trolls on social networks.

“At Media Camp, we had workshops on storytelling and investigative journalism. I enjoyed it because I learned to distinguish between haters and trolls. The information was taught with both quality and seriousness, but it was also presented with a touch of humour,” said Adela Munteanu, one of the Media Camp 2023 participants.

The youth attended interactive sessions where they gained knowledge about storytelling, scenario development, and the use of photography and videography to communicate engaging and relevant messages. They also practiced filming and editing techniques and explored various formats like VOX and reportage for TikTok.

Maxim Borș, participant at Media Camp 2023: “My experience is unforgettable. I met a lot of new people and learned a lot of information, including how to create better content for social media. It is crucial for young people to attend these types of schools because we are consumers of media content and need to acquire the necessary skills to produce quality content that can reach the widest possible audience.”

Marcela Zămosteanu, a RISE Moldova journalist, explained to young people how the media works and what investigative journalism means, while the SuperLike team developed participants’ critical thinking skills and the ability to identify fake news through the media literacy board game called Media Jungle.

At the end of the summer school, the youth showcased 14 engaging and humorous videos illustrating the impact of news on public perception, exploring the nuances of misinformation and propaganda, and highlighting effective techniques for verifying written and visual content.“We had the opportunity to create multimedia content, and with the mentors’ guidance, we managed to create interesting video materials,” concluded Daniel Rusu.