Brazil ranked last in a report that assesses the ability to identify fake news. The data come from the Truth Quest survey, conducted in 21 countries by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental economic organization with 38 member countries. According to Claudemir Edson Viana, a professor at the School of Communications and Arts (ECA) at the University of São Paulo (USP), this position reflects difficulties in the critical reception of information caused by school dropout rates.
“A poor population that needs to work from childhood ends up outside school and also outside a reflective, problem-based education—one that enables individuals to develop investigative skills, autonomy of thought, and critical reflection,” says the professor.
By arguing that social inequality is responsible for the scenario revealed by the OECD report, Viana emphasizes the need for civic education, such as media literacy, fostered by educators and family members, which encourages feelings of responsibility and social commitment, transforming society by expanding opportunities. “Media literacy brings this humanistic perspective of producing communication about issues that affect people; it promotes and values dialogical and respectful communication practices, rather than simply transmitting information or opinions.”
Media literacy is the term adopted for public policies aimed at promoting more responsible, critical, and reflective communication. Also referred to as education for communication, it is one of the areas of social intervention within educommunication—a theoretical and practical field based on the understanding that communication occurs within a cultural scenario shaped by interpersonal relationships. This approach seeks to educate both for more critical reception and for production, since in the digital age we all have a productive presence that must be responsible and positive for social coexistence. The concept has been adopted in Brazil through the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Federal Government, which in May 2023 launched a public consultation process to build a public policy on media literacy, and in October of the same year introduced the Brazilian Media Literacy Strategy (EBEM). The document brings together a set of initiatives developed by the federal government to promote education and the use of media by the Brazilian population.
By promoting more reflective and responsible communication, media literacy helps combat disinformation. “Media literacy, by provoking critical reflection, enables people to understand the mechanisms of communication networks and to improve their ability to determine what may be true, to reflect on their own role in avoiding the spread of fake news, and even to produce content that debunks false information,” the professor states.
Implementation in education
A survey conducted by Lupa, a fact-checking platform, revealed that out of 746 new subjects created within the New Secondary Education curricula across Brazil’s 27 states, only 34 address media literacy and disinformation. Although this low number may be surprising, Viana—who is also executive secretary of the Brazilian Association of Researchers and Professionals in Educommunication (ABPEducom)—argues that dividing media literacy into specific subjects overlooks its core proposal, which is daily application and integration. “A curriculum that is fragmented—like the society we inherited from the 19th century—into small, disconnected areas of knowledge that do not interact is far removed from reality and from what learning through communicative practices should be.”
According to Viana, media literacy should be explored transversally through thematic projects that bring together two or more subjects. On several occasions, the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC)—a normative document that defines the set of essential learning outcomes that all students must develop throughout different stages and modalities of education—has proposed the use of cultural and media content that is part of children’s and adolescents’ daily lives in the educational process. “It should be explored by any teacher in any subject, or through special cultural projects at a school, such as a commemorative week, and it can also be part of an extension project that goes beyond the school. In other words, through a differentiated curricular organization that complements the traditional model,” says Viana.
As the professor explained, some interdisciplinary projects already exist in several Brazilian states. In the city of São Paulo, the implementation of the Educom.Radio project in 2001 marked the beginning of media education. The initiative was developed by USP through the Center for Communication and Education. After four years of development, reaching 11,000 participants—including teachers, students, and community members—the proposal became a public education policy with the creation of Law 13,941 under the Educom Program – Educommunication through Radio Waves. In 2005, the city also became the birthplace of Imprensa Jovem, a project by the São Paulo Municipal Department of Education that encourages the use of mobile devices, such as cell phones, in the production of media content by students. Today, it is implemented in more than 150 schools with the support of the Educommunication Center.
Ban on cell phones in schools
In November of this year, the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo (Alesp) approved Bill No. 292/2024, which prohibits students in public and private schools from using cell phones and other devices with internet access during school hours. The proposal was unanimously approved, and the state governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, signed the bill into law, as published in the Official Gazette of the State of São Paulo on December 6.
The bill establishes that when there is a pedagogical need to use digital content or specific educational tools, their use is allowed. Such use is restricted to the duration of the educational activity, and the devices must then be stored and kept inaccessible to students until a new authorization is granted. For Professor Viana, it is precisely this exception that schools need in order to educate students toward critical and healthy media use. He also highlights that the way this law has been interpreted by society represents a setback in the process of media education. “The way these laws reach society and are presented by the media itself does not contribute to the process of education for a critical, sustainable, and responsible use of the media,” the professor concludes.
Source: Jornal da USP
