Media and Information Literacy

What is Media and Information Literacy? Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in developing countries is a challenging field of media development today. It deals with the deep human need to communicate in a complex world that does not offer equal opportunities for everyone. MIL is about students in a school in Ramallah who, after discussing different news sources with their teacher, can more clearly differentiate between gossip and political news. It is about girls and boys in Kampala using their mobile phones as microphones, recording information on the growing pile of waste dumped in their neighborhood and airing it on a local radio station. And MIL is about young adults in Phnom Penh who spend their pocket money in cyber cafés. They have discovered the Internet as a place for the free exchange of opinions in a country where classic media are censored by the Information Ministry. On a more fundamental level MIL – understood as an ability of individuals – is directl...