The University of the Philippines Diliman's (UPD) Department of Journalism launched the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Project on Friday, Oct. 6, aiming to teach journalism fundamentals, counter misinformation, and fact-checking to Filipino students to combat "fake news."
The project launch featured a panel discussion on media and information literacy, with journalists Howie Severino from GMA Integrated News, Jeff Canoy from ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, and Ellen Tordesilla from Vera Files.
UP Department of Journalism chair and broadcast journalist Kara David said the project is “our contribution to the public schools and high school system here in the Philippines," as she highlighted the challenges faced by teachers teaching MIL due to lack of resources and journalism professionalism.
"We talked to some of the teachers that teach MIL at the senior high school level, and then we had a focus group discussion with the teachers. They really want to teach, but they lack resources," David said.
“So gusto naming tulungan ang mga guro at bigyan sila ng lessons on media literacy (So we want to help the teachers and give them lessons on media literacy)," she added.
David emphasized the project's expansion beyond traditional modules, including a dedicated YouTube channel and Facebook page to make resources more accessible to a wider audience.
The MIL project will create a series of video tutorials, lesson plans, quizzes, and discussion points for teachers to use in their classes.
The project, organized under the Initiative for Media Freedom (IMF), is set to run for two years with the UP CMC Foundation Inc, implemented by Internews, and funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
Filipino journalists, including Zen Hernandez, Karmina Constantino, Atom Araullo, Connie Sison, Mariz Umali, Ivan Mayrina, and Jeff Canoy, collaborated to host a project aimed at teaching media literacy topics like fact-checking and identifying different types of fake news.