Exhibition “Media Literacy Against Fake News” opens at High School in Bečej

The exhibition intended for high school students, prepared by the Press Council with the support of UNESCO and the EU, was officially opened on Monday, May 13, in the hall of the Gymnasium in Bečej. By the end of the week, about 350 students from the school will have the opportunity to see it.

The exhibition was opened by Željko Bodrožić, President of the Managing Board of the Press Council. He said that the Press Counsil was founded at a time when traditional media were still dominant, and that since the inception of the press, the profession itself has been fighting with people who abuse freedom of speech through the placement of fake news and misinformation.

Bodrožić pointed out that today’s era presents numerous new challenges. The current generation relies less on traditional media for information, instead turning to social media platforms. While these platforms have brought significant benefits, they also pose considerable dangers. Bodrožić emphasized the importance of establishing norms in this evolving media landscape and educating citizens, especially young people. In a world now interconnected as a ‘global village,’ information spreads rapidly, including fake news and misinformation, which can have harmful consequences.

The high school students were also addressed by the principal of the School, Miodrag Basarić, MSc, as well as Ivan Kovač, professor of philosophy, saying that this is an extremely important topic that is dealt with through several high school subjects.

“The title of the exhibition indicates that media literacy is a kind of antidote, medicine and defense against fake news, but formal regulation and institutions such as the Press Council are also needed, and the most important thing is the situation in society because the media do not function in a vacuum, independently of society, but are a reflex of that society,” said Kovač.

In the continuation of this event, a public class was organized at which Gordana Novaković, Secretary General of the Press Council, Tanja Drapšin, journalist of the local media “Bečej Days” and Nada Budimović, member of the Press Council’s Complaints Commission, talked to about fifty students of the Bečej Gymnasium about the journalistic profession, journalistic ethics and media literacy.

The Grammar School in Bečej also received 20 copies of the publication “Lexicon of Media Literacy”, which the Press Council made in accordance with the curriculum of the subject “Language, Media and Culture”.