Media literacy initiatives expand for youth in Austria and Germany

Educational initiatives across Austria and Germany are focusing on increasing media literacy and combating disinformation among youth.

In Austria, schools can now order a ‘Media Driver’s License’ (Medienführerschein) through the Lernapps marketplace. This program, provided by FoMB Forum MedienBildung GmbH, consists of four modules covering topics such as data protection, social networks, artificial intelligence, and cyberbullying. The program is designed for secondary school students to help them navigate digital environments and recognize fake news.

In Germany, efforts to engage young people with journalism include the launch of Salon5 in Chemnitz. Operated by CORRECTIV, this youth newsroom allows teenagers to conduct research and produce content for platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Additionally, educational seminars are being held to train instructors on how disinformation and influencer culture function on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, aiming to provide strategies for handling these challenges in classroom settings.

Other experimental approaches include art-based projects, such as the ‘Diktat’ project in Hamburg, where students transcribed their social media feeds to reflect on their consumption habits.