The media should be socially engaged, objective and independent, working without the influence of any politics or interest group, and young people should acquire skills that will enable them to know which of the media they can and cannot trust.
This was announced at the panel discussions on media literacy that the non-governmental organization (NGO) Juventas and the MINA agency conducted in 30 Montenegrin high schools within the project "Improving media literacy in Montenegro", which was financially supported by the US Embassy.
Juventas said that the goal of the discussions is to familiarize young people with the concept, techniques and aspects of media literacy, analysis and evaluation of media content, but also the nature of media, as well as to get feedback from young people about their needs and habits.
"In addition, high school students had the opportunity to talk with experienced journalists and editors about journalism, the role of the media, the position of journalists, freedom of the media and numerous other topics," Juventas announced.
The journalist of the Television of Montenegro, Nemanja Živaljević, believes that the essence of media literacy is to create people with an open mind, who reflect and always ask the question - is what I saw/heard/read really so.
"When individuals begin to grow up who think about media content in this way, Montenegrin society will be closer to developed democracies," said Živaljević, PR Center reports.
He pointed out that it is important for young people to acquire skills that will enable them to know who they can and cannot trust from the media, who is objective, or tries to be objective, and who is engaged in propaganda, and whether the news is false or true.
"However, in order to be closer to developed democracies, the media in Montenegro must also start doing their job - to be socially engaged, objective and independent correctional apparatus", believes Živaljević.
He added that the media must do their work without the influence of any politics or interest group.
"The focus of journalists must always be on the individual, and I am afraid that many people in our country today have lost sight of these basic postulates," concluded Živaljević.
Director of the local public service in Berane and journalist, Tufik Softić, said that journalism is a pillar of democracy, that is, modern democracy is unthinkable without freedom of speech and free journalism, and that where there is no free media and free journalism, there is no democracy.
As he said, because of his writing, Softić received threatening messages from criminal circles, connected to security structures, after which he was beaten with sticks in front of his house, which was qualified as attempted murder.
"Five years later, an explosive was planted next to my car, parked in the yard of the house. Neither of those two cases has been solved to this day. Despite everything, I stayed in journalism, because I believe that it is a profession through which a person can realize himself as a person and be authentic," said Softić.
He told the high school students that they had witnessed the realization of the vision of media theorist Marshall McLuhan and that today they live in a global village, that they are flooded with information and that it is precisely because of this that they need to have certain knowledge and be media literate in order, as he explained, to be able to distinguish information from misinformation or fake news.
Sofija Savić, a student of "Tanasije Pejatović" Gymnasium from Pljevlja, believes that young people are not media literate.
"There are very few people who check the sources. "Today's media spread falsehoods every day, and young people believe almost everything they read," says Savić.
As she said, there is not much content in the media content that is intended for the high school population that is adapted and intended for them.
"Young people are given unnecessary information that has a bad effect on their development. I think we should introduce a wave of documentary and educational shows that would be useful and interesting for everyone," said Savić.
Jovan Janković, a student of the "Panto Mališić" Gymnasium from Beran, said that the media literacy of young people is not at an enviable level, he can see it in himself and his peers, but he believes that if they were provided with adequate knowledge, they too would be much better. in that field.
"I am partially satisfied with the content offered to high school students. "There could be more things, apart from sports, that would be interesting to me, but which are not available in our media and which should be improved," Janković pointed out.
Katarina Guberinić, a student of the Vukadin Vukadinović Secondary Vocational School from Beran, believes that it is necessary to encourage the story of media literacy in primary and secondary schools because, as she explained, nowadays mostly younger children use media and phones.
"They need to learn what is the good side and what is the bad side of that media content. "Parents should pay attention and supervise what their children follow, what they watch and how they behave on social networks," concluded Guberinić.
In Juventas, they said that they are most pleased with the fact that the participants in the panels said that in the future they will look at the media and their messages differently, with a greater dose of criticism and analysis, "which, among other things, is the goal of our activity".
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