Promoting media literacy in authoritarian education systems
12 October 2023 г. | 5 pm GMT +2 | 10 pm in Beijing | 10 am ET | 8 am PT | Zoom
Media literacy is seen as a key requisite for democracy. But It’s also a valuable skill for people who live under authoritarian political systems. Frequent casting of media literacy as a crucial pillar of democracy hampers the promotion of critical thinking and media literacy skills as basic human competencies suitable for all societies. These skills are especially urgent as humanity enters the era of smart devices and companions driven by artificial intelligence.
In this webinar award-winning U.S. journalist, Professor of Practice Jocelyn Ford, will share her experience teaching journalism and media literacy in Chinese high schools and colleges. She will argue for the urgent need to promote media literacy as a basic human competency for all, not only in democratic societies.
Ford will be joined by college sophomore Irene Hu, who will present her independent research on news fact-checking organizations in China, which in 2023 Reporters Without Borders ranked 179 out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index. Hu will also speak about her experience with media literacy as a learner in the Chinese education system.
Is it possible to depoliticize media literacy training? Please join and share your ideas on how media literacy can be repositioned to be more inclusive of non-democratic societies.
The webinar will take place from 5 pm Bulgarian time (GMT +2; 10 pm in Beijing; 10 am ET; 8 am PT) on Thursday, October 12, on Zoom. Presentations and discussions will be held entirely in English without translation. Access is free, but prior registration is required:
About the speakers:
China-based award-winning radio correspondent, filmmaker and educator Jocelyn Ford has been a journalist in East Asia for nearly four decades. For over ten years, Jocelyn was bureau chief for U.S public radio’s premier national business show, Marketplace. She opened news bureaus for the flagship program in Tokyo in 1994, followed by Beijing in 2002.
Jocelyn’s time spent on the front-line of indigenous journalism organizations in both Japan and China has given her unique insights into the two societies.
In the mid-2000s a chance encounter on the streets of Beijing with a widowed Tibetan street vendor resulted in a new career as a documentary filmmaker. Jocelyn’s award-winning 2014 film NOWHERE TO CALL HOME: A TIBETAN IN BEIJING premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York to sold-out audiences, and has been translated into 11 languages.
Following the film’s global tours and screenings in China, Jocelyn developed a multimedia cultural inclusion and diversity appreciation curriculum for Chinese high school and college students. In 2019, she was awarded the position of Emeritus Professor at Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications in western China, where in addition to independent media production studies, she taught Global Leadership Skills and Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Society. In 2022 Jocelyn became the first professor of practice at United International College in Zhuhai, southern China, and currently, she is doing research for her next film project. Jocelyn is currently researching a documentary film about racism and othering.
Irene Hu is an undergraduate student studying media and communication at City University of Hong Kong. Previously, she was an intern technology reporter for The Paper in Shanghai, covering medicine and artificial intelligence in China. Prior to that, she was a fact checker at China Fact Check, debunking disinformation and misinformation on Chinese social media platforms. To connect the West and China, she believes her substantial expertise in d[issecting hashtags and comments on Chinese social media can help her report stories of China with a deeper understanding of social Dynamics.
Irene’s interests focus on health, science, and technology. She has taken a keen interest in media literacy since Chinese social media platforms flooded with mis/disinformation about the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.
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