On the occasion of the World Children's Book Day, which has been celebrated since 1967 on the second of April, on the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, the creator of many fairy tales that marked the childhood of generations of children around the world, young reporters of the media literacy campaign read and gave books to the citizens of Podgorica.
"We decided on this action because our campaign's research showed that every fifth child aged 9‒17 years has not read a single book outside of schoolwork in the last year, and neither have 43% of their parents," explains the young reporter Draga Ivanović and adds that choose the books themselves, as well as the parts they want to share with others. It was about verses, favorite quotes from novels, interesting scientific facts, etc.
Young reporter Boris Šćekić points out that they enjoyed this action, because the reactions of citizens of various ages were positive. "People were pleasantly surprised, especially older people encouraged us to continue with this action and to remind that reading is the basis of literacy for every individual and society as a whole. Also, people told us what their favorite books and writers were, so we learned from each other, and we, young reporters, came out of this action with a list of new books to read," points out Šćekić.
From the recordings of this action by young reporters, a new TV spot of the media literacy campaign was made with the message "Let's choose what we read" in order to remind children and parents that reading is the basis of media literacy.
"Without reading, there is neither good writing nor beautiful speech. Without reading, we cannot be good at expressing ourselves through various media. Without reading, we are not media literate," says young reporter Tara Simović.
The new campaign spot will be forwarded to all media with an invitation to broadcast it to contribute to the spread of reading culture and the building of a media-literate society in Montenegro.
"We appeal to our peers and those younger than us, to parents, kindergarten teachers, teachers and teachers to read and talk about it with each other. Well-read people are interesting interlocutors. Therefore, let's read as much as possible and talk about it, because our conversations, and therefore our lives, will be more meaningful and fulfilling. Let's choose what we read!" says young reporter Arsenija Aleksa Mraković.
The media literacy campaign "Choose what we watch" was launched by the Agency for Electronic Media and UNICEF in February of last year. A year after its beginning, every second citizen of Montenegro has heard about this campaign, which aims to encourage the development of media literacy of children and parents, as well as to strengthen the capacity of the media to create quality media content with children and young people and to report on to all issues of children's rights in Montenegro.
Bonus video:
