Tamale, Nov. 02, GNA – A Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Film Series has been premiered in Tamale to teach young people about misinformation, disinformation, and misinformation and the impact of the information they share has on people.
It was also to teach the audience, who were young people, how they could be critical consumers and creators of information and how they could contribute to ending disinformation.
The film, titled: “Rumours”, which was in three episodes with each episode lasting about 25 minutes, had characters, who were young people, spreading rumours and unverified information about others to their friends, who in turn, took decisions without verifying the information, and the consequences thereof.
It was produced by Penplusbytes, a civic tech non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Accra and works across West Africa, with support from DW Akademie, Ghana.
The premiering of the film formed part of activities to commemorate the week-long (October 24 – 31) Global Media and Information Literacy Week in the country, an activity, which was led by Penplusbytes under the theme: “MIL for Public Good”.
The Global Media and Information Literacy Week, commemorated annually, is a major occasion for stakeholders to review and celebrate the progress achieved towards MIL for all.
Ms Abena Benewaa Fosu, Project Manager at DW Akademie, Ghana, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency after premiering of the film, said the Rumours Film Series formed part of the activities being implemented by the DW Akademie, Ghana in partnership with Penplusbytes, who have been working since 2019 to enhance media, and information literacy in the country.
She said, “We created the film that is aimed at breaking down media and information literacy in the simplest ways; to break it down to young people and let them know how practical it is in their everyday lives; how they encounter media and information and why it is important for them to be literate. The main goal of the film series is to teach young people about the core thematic areas of media and information literacy.”
She said, “We are happy that the young people, who watched the series got the import of the series and what I will say to all young people everywhere is that they should be very critical about the information they consume and share.”
Ms Memunatu Salifu, a student of University for Development Studies, who was amongst the audience, described the film as insightful saying “It has really exposed a lot of things that are happening with the way we are using information not just social media but the media in general. A lot is happening just because of how we get information and how we use it. I want to suggest that if we need to use information, we should first be willing to authenticate the information and discern that this information can hurt someone or our own image later in life before sharing it.”
Mr Mohammed Hafiz Musah, a member of Curious Minds, an NGO working to advance the interest of young people, described the film as educative saying, “It has reminded us to be very cautious of our activities and how they affect others especially our use of social media. We need to be cautious by digging more into stories and sources to get the right information before sharing them.”
GNA