VIENNA, 2 September 2024 – In a new communiqué on Fostering Media Freedom Literacy (MFL) issued today, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro recommended that all OSCE participating States adopt a series of multi-stakeholder actions to create an environment that helps people recognize, access, and use different media, as well as understand the importance of a free media as an essential component of democracy and security.

The communiqué underscores the growing importance of MFL in the current digital landscape, where the critical role of informed discussion and debate across society is undermined by exploiting the extreme polarisation of views, often for financial gain.

“Media Freedom Literacy includes understanding the significance of a pluralistic, well-functioning media landscape serving the public interest, along with the ability of all citizens to critically evaluate and ethically produce media content. MFL should be viewed as a life-long learning process with different citizens being provided with different support at different stages of their learning journey,” Ribeiro said.

The RFoM Communiqué emphasizes the need for governments and state agencies to ensure that independent national regulatory authorities and/or other bodies have the scope and resources necessary to promote MFL in line with their mandates and to facilitate strategic co-ordination at a national level. In addition, participating States are called on to ensure easily accessible and understandable information on structures of media ownership.

Ribeiro also recommended that participating States support various types of media, including public service broadcasters, in their efforts to raise awareness on MFL issues with the general public, as well as promote and where possible regulate transparency amongst online platforms about how they deliver news content.

“Throughout the OSCE region, obligations relating to media literacy, and by extension to MFL, apply to a range of stakeholders, including government agencies, media regulatory authorities, video-sharing platforms, and other actors. In close collaboration with civil society, academia, and media, these form a solid base for the introduction of MFL programmes within the wider arena of media literacy,” Ribeiro concluded.