The Youth Cafe Media Literacy Forum

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The Youth Café, Pinetree Plaza, Off Kaburu Drive, Ngong Road, Nairobi-Kenya.

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The future is digital. Given the fast paced advancements in media growth, and its globally transformative implications, it is critical that Africa’s youthful generation is well equipped to traverse and take charge of Africa’s media growth. Against this backdrop, On Wednesday 11th March 2020, The Youth Café hosted a ‘Media Literacy Forum’ at The Youth Cafe's offices on Pinetree Plaza, Nairobi-Kenya. The 2 hours’ moderated session sought to impart and empower individuals with the ability to become critical consumers and creators of media. Participants included representatives of Oigara Foundation, SOS Children Village, Conflict Transformation for Development (CTD), DefyHateNow, I Stretch My Hands among others. The forum attracted dozens of young people and interested stakeholders in the fact-checking and media domain.

The session’s panelists included three resourceful media personalities: 

Nelson J Kwaje is the founder of WEB 4 ALL Ltd; an ICT company that provides innovative ICT solutions with the aim of bridging the literacy gap in Africa and building sustainable development (ICT for development) solutions. He also serves as the Director of programs for DefyHateNow. He is a graduate of Information Technology from Technical University of Kenya.

Rachel Okwar who is currently the Learning and Communications Officer at Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). She has previously served as a member at The Youth Leadership Advisory Board. She has also worked as communications officer at the International Labor Organization. Rachel has a BA in Mass Communication and an MA in Development Communication from Daystar University.

Steve Burger is currently the Vice President of Radio & Digital of WNIN, Tri-State Public Media, Inc. in the United States. The station has been named Outstanding News Organization in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019 by the Indiana Associated Press Broadcasters and received the Region 7 Overall Excellence Award from the Radio, Television and Digital News Association in 2018 and 2019. Steve graduated from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD with a BA in Journalism.

The session kicked off with Prodige Kabunga as moderator, and opening remarks from The Youth Café’s Executive Director, Willice Onyango. Mr. Onyango briefed the audience on The Youth Café’s plans for its Leadership Center that aims to mobilize $2 million for a youth leadership and training facility in Kenya.  It would serve as a hub to inspire future leaders to advance social change through leadership and resilience training, certificate courses, research internships, and outreach programmes. A short video followed, which outlined Youth Café’s vision and mission in its endeavor to empower youth.

Privacy will be a delicacy of the Rich

During his presentation, Mr. Kwaje often reiterated humorous and factual statements that cracked up the audience but also likely triggered them to think and consider a lot of questions in the back of their minds. One point he raised was that “we will reach a time when privacy will be a delicacy of the rich”. I paused for a while amid the session just ponder on this statement. 

You see, in the modern world, where the information flow is constantly growing and at our fingertips at all times, society has to develop the right skills to identify the reliability of information. Today, no one is really safe from hackers -whether from individuals or state entities. Anonymously and in the comfort of their homes or offices, individuals, with various motives, are constantly feeding the already crowded cyber space with information. Some are malicious and purposely seek to breach the privacy of the receiver. 

The ball is then thrown into the court of the consumer; it’s up to the recipient to maneuver through and filter this information to obtain what he/she really needs. To do this, youth need to be well equipped. Unlike the good old times, when one had a particular source of information. 

Rachel Okwar highlighted that in this current environment, there are so many people who absolutely reject credible sources of information and believe anything they see on the internet.  Social media is constantly growing and becoming a major source of information among people. Mr. Kwaje and Ms. Rachel alluded to the fact that today most people get their information fast from social media, rather than the mainstream media.

Mr. Kwaje further pointed out that people rarely take time to read through the terms and conditions -which is a legally binding contract between the subscriber and media company. Most people do not read through them either because they are very long, or because people simply assume them to be accurate and legitimate. Just a while ago, Instagram's terms and conditions required users to agree that images and videos they upload can be used by Instagram or given to any other company Instagram chooses. 

Also, all their personal information including name, email address, phone number, private messages, etc. can be used by Instagram and shared with companies connected with Instagram. One can already imagine how many subscribed users knew of this? 

It is this context that The Youth Café finds essential to address.  We plan to develop programs to help youth strengthen their critical thinking skills, especially in today’s media environment, where it is essential to be able to properly understand and dissect random information.

Do NOT share it unless it’s a funny Cat video

Having the freedom of liking, commenting, and sharing posts online also comes at a great risk. Knowing the impact of each piece of information that can be produced online also means you are responsible for whatever information you choose to convey with other people, and if done wrong, false information can spread fast. Steve, in his PowerPoint presentation, displayed ‘Steve’s Media Literacy Rules’ in which he rightly pointed out “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If a message makes you wonder whether it is true, do more research”.

As Steve put it, “Funny cat videos are fine for sharing without attribution, but NEVER share a news item that is not either from a reputable source or that you have personally researched”. Steve further explained that there might be a possibility that the post you’re sharing might either cover just one side of the story, or another post might actually offend your friends. 

For instance, you’ve seen motivational quotes online that sound so relatable that chances are you’ve liked and shared it to your Facebook at a first glance. But did you know that these are business techniques that sites use to appeal to your emotions so they can sell you their agenda/motive or products? It’s also how advertising works in order to gain attention.

Do not be swayed by persuasion techniques

As explicitly argued by Ms. Okwar, each story and piece of information that you see is two-sided, but being familiar with only one side gives you a smaller view of an issue at hand. Knowing both sides of the story will not only keep you neutral on issues, but this will also help you stay aware of texts or images that are meant to deceive readers into picking sides, such as fake news or propaganda messages.

Media compliments democracy

Media plays important roles in a democratic society and can not be separated from democracy itself. Ideally, the media is a tool to educate voters, giving them facts, news and balanced opinions about how the government is run and managed. It is vital to have well-informed voters in a democratic society to ensure that government is accountable and responsible. Well informed society should be able to make rational choices, making sure that the government works as the people want.

Media also act as the watchdog for the government in a democratic society as a way for people to articulate their views, demands and aspirations. The Youth Café is keen to address the issue of media illiteracy among youth in Sub-Saharan Africa. One new initiative that we are currently exploring, and are particularly excited about, falls under our Governance, Political Inclusion and   Accountability strand of work. It involves strengthening youth media literacy in advance of the 2022 elections in Kenya, as well as in other Sub-Saharan African countries.  We aim to equip over 5 million young men and women in Africa with core media literacy skills and become a reference point in media literacy for African youth.

At the heart of our work lies the notion of partnership with wide-ranging actors, including Member States, international organizations, the United Nations, foundations, youth organizations, and grassroots civil society. This helps multiply and amplify our impact and relevance.

At the end of the forum, the audience joined the panelists for group photos.

About the Author

Martin Wang is a master’s degree student pursuing diplomacy, development and Security Studies at Daystar University. He is also Public Relation Officer at The Youth Café.

Guest Editor, Jennifer Eikren, Executive Director of Global Friends in Action (USA).

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