Media literacy education provides a framework and a pedagogy for the new literacy needed for living, working and citizenship in the 21st Fast Century says the Acting Deputy Secretary for Information, Ms Setaita Natai.
“It is in this regard that in the absence of a National policy on media literacy, Pillar 9 of the People’s Charter for Change, Peace and Progress which is Making Fiji a knowledge based society paves the way to mastering the skills required for lifelong learning in a constantly changing world,” she said.
With the theme “Media Literacy Empowerment for a quality lifestyle”, the Acting Deputy Secretary while addressing participants at the two-day workshop said the concept of media literacy has been extended from its traditional focus on print and audiovisual media to encompass the internet and other new media.
“In Fiji, as our country becomes increasingly permeated with media messages and images, many like the Fiji Media Watch organisation, the advocates and educators are moving towards media literacy as a way to educate the populas about the role of the media.
“To go back to the first question, what is media literacy: my favorite answer is – the ability to to access, analyse, evaluate and create messages across a variety of contexts.
“For Fiji, while radio and print still remains the core source of information, more and more of the country is moving towards this new trend, which is more favorable to our younger population.
In comparison, Ms Natai also noted that the United Kingdom Communications Bill 2003 placed an unprecedented responsibility on the new, converged media regulator to promote media literacy in the population.
“Within the academy, questions of literacy are once more central to the research agenda, drawing together a multi disciplinary mix of specialists in literacy,” she said.
Furthermore, Ms Natai while highlighting the role of ICT in modern day society said that increasingly, computers as an everyday tool revealed not only the changing of social norms but also the growing centrality of computers to work, homes, education and politics.
Fiji Media Watch’s Fulori Turaga, in thanking the Deputy Secretary said that Ms Natai had given the participants an insight to the changes and challenges that have been taken place as far as media literacy is concerned.
The two day workshop ends tomorrow.
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