Beyond the Ballot – Media Literacy in the Context of Elections

More than 200 pupils voting for the first time this year took part in workshops held by the CIJ. They learned how democracies work and why it’s important to go to the polls, as well as how to avoid misinformation during electoral campaigns.

We worked with high school students from the National Pedagogical College “Spiru Haret” Buzău, Europe Direct Buzău, the National Military College “Dimitrie Cantemir” in Breaza and the Theoretical High School “Grigore Tocilescu” in Mizil. Because encouraging them to vote is not enough, they need to understand why voting is important in a democratic society and how to make informed choices. Cristina Lupu, executive director of the CIJ, and Bianca Onea, media expert, held the workshops on media literacy during elections.

At the beginning of our meetings with the first time voters, we discussed what a democracy is and the separation of powers in a state, then we focused on human rights – what they are, how we exercise them and where we can find information about them. Thus, once the pupils understood that going to vote is a right they have to exercise, we moved the discussion to electoral campaigns – what they are and what are the rules they operate by,in order to make it easier for them to understand the electoral messages. We then discussed the media and how we consume it, but also the techniques of persuasion. Recognising these techniques in the candidates’ messages enables young people to better analyse their discourse and make an informed decision at the polls.

We wrapped up the course by looking at information chaos, so that pupils can recognize misinformation, and then talked about the steps we can take to verify a piece of information. In every high school we went to, we enjoyed answering pupils’ curiosities and we were pleased to learn that light was shed on certain issues for them during our encounter.

The workshops were organised with the support of the Embassy of the United States of America in Bucharest.