The Role of Organisations of Journalists in Promoting Media Literacy – Building Credibility and Trust

In the previous research (ANR TRANSLIT, Mapping media literacy practices and actions in EU 28) organisations of journalists were identified as stakeholders in promoting media literacy. Theirrole was seen as essential in promoting credibility as a competence based on the truthfulness and relevance of content and sources. Furthermore, in 2014 they were identified as key actors by UNESCO within the Paris Declaration on Media and Information Literacy in Digital Era. Credibility is still seen as fundamental media capital. Although media organisations were one of the first stakeholders promoting credibility, recent research has showed that their activities in promoting media literacy were outnumbered by NGOs. According to the European Federation of Journalists, one of the main goals of journalists’ organisations is to defend values such as freedom of the press, independency, quality and credibility. In this study the authors research the existing activities of organisations of journalists in promoting media literacy throughout the EU. The results of a survey done within organisations of journalists and the results of content analysis of websites are presented. The authors’ goal is to examine how organisations of journalists are engaged to promote media literacy and to what extent they produce additional activities to tackle disinformation, fake news and media manipulation