During the Basic Education Conference at the 29th edition of Bett Brasil, an inspiring lecture titled “Media Literacy to Combat Misinformation in the Age of ICT” was presented by expert Carmen Marta Lazo, director of Special Courses and full professor of journalism at the University of Zaragoza in Spain, and principal investigator at GICID (Research Group on Digital Communication and Information) at the same institution.

During her panel discussion, Carmen raised three important issues: the defining characteristics of the era we live in today—the era of technology, relationships, information, and communication; the central role of these relationships as a driving force for digital humanism; and, finally, communication and life skills.

Carmen noted that educator and philosopher Paulo Freire is the founding father of the concept of “Educommunication,” as media literacy is also known. “He is the master who laid the groundwork for the great ideas behind this pedagogy of the oppressed—a pedagogy of hope—that has captivated us around the world and reached Europe and various universities.” Carmen was also one of the interviewees in the special edition of Conexão Bett. Watch it below:

In this context as well, the expert emphasized that democracy suffers negative impacts due to misinformation. “We discuss media literacy in my research group at the University of Zaragoza precisely to combat the problem of misinformation. Especially since the pandemic, a great deal of false information has been circulating online. In Europe, we have the Eurobarometer, a series of public opinion surveys conducted since 1973 on behalf of the European Commission on a wide variety of issues related to the European Union across all its member states, which has shown that the danger of fake news is, essentially, a threat to citizenship and democracy,” said Carmen.

Carmen emphasized that the solution to the problem is media literacy, which fosters a more humane approach toward each student and each educator.

“Technology is important, but people are what really matter. Technology is cold and unchanging. Here at Bett, I’ve seen many booths featuring large companies with software that is constantly changing. Artificial Intelligence will become increasingly integrated into new applications, and tomorrow it will have another name. But we will endure. As Paulo Freire said, ‘the person is at the center,’” concluded the Spanish woman.

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