DEBATE CAMP FOR YOUTH: Knowledge against misinformation

Youth from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) gathered in Teslić at the "Development of Media Literacy Skills and young people's resistance to misinformation" debate camp to learn about immunization, the media, credible sources, and the skills of debating and using argumentation in leading a debate. They learned about the role and obligations of traditional media and elements of professional journalism, as well as social networks and the way they function, and they got the opportunity to find out where to find relevant sources and information about immunization, and the opportunity to ask questions to experts in this field.

The training resulted in a final debate dedicated to the discussion on mechanisms for preventing the spread of misinformation about health and immunization, as well as creating key messages for the "Young Reporters" campaign.

Sara Humić from Gračanica is going to study psychology in Sarajevo this autumn and says that she believes that media literacy is essential in education:

"Unfortunately, media literacy is not part of the formal education curriculum, but in this way, through informal education, we can learn something new. The acquired knowledge will benefit me, because topics such as vaccination, and immunization naturally arise, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, so it will be useful for me to know the difference between expert opinion, facts and evidence and what is imposed as the truth, but is a conspiracy theory".

Anđela Koroman from Pale, a graduate student in journalism at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of East Sarajevo, says that she previously had nothing to do with medicine, and she applied to the Camp with the desire to learn something new about immunization and vaccines:

"What I have learned will help me have an insight into where to find basic, accurate and verified information that I will need in my work because I already work for a web portal from East Sarajevo. I want the information I find and market to be from a verified source, credible, accurate and timely".

Aljoša Milojević from Banja Luka is entering the fourth grade of the Secondary Agricultural School this autumn, and he says that he came to the Camp because of his interest in debates:

“I learned a lot about immunization, vaccines and health in general, and that there are a lot of sources that are not so reliable and that you shouldn't trust all sources. The camp helped me recognize what misinformation is."

Lukas Nikolić from Tuzla enrolled in the Faculty of Computing and Informatics, and says that media and information literacy complement his occupation:

"I was attracted to the topic and the fact that we are talking about immunization, which is unfortunately a taboo topic in our country, which was additionally activated during the pandemic. The combination of theory and practice that I received here introduced me to the matter of the media itself, that is, media literacy, and I learned different ways in which I can check whether certain news is from credible sources or not. The most important thing for me is that the acquired knowledge is applicable in practice".

The participants were prepared for the debate by mentor Ivana Kešić, who says that she was especially pleased that some of the participants who came with attitudes of distrust towards vaccines and were visibly exposed to misinformation, revised those attitudes during the workshops, through an open dialogue:

"It was interesting to watch them change their attitudes, without instructing them to change them. We didn't teach them content, but we gave them the tools to check and objectively evaluate the information that comes to them. What we saw through the debate is that they first learned how to check the information they get, and what are the credible sources, and as a result, we get that in the future they will be able to build their views on verified information, defend them with arguments, and answer to the misinformation they perceive. More than ever, the need to have educated young people who know how to adequately assess the strength of arguments and the strength of evidence is emphasized".

Scientific journalist Jelena Kalinić spoke with young people about credible sources on scientific topics:

"Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a lot of dangerous misinformation coming out on the topic of health, and those topics that people like to read to learn something, but very dangerous things that people are susceptible to can be marketed through them. That's why we have to teach the generations to come, who will be and already are users of traditional and digital media, to be more resistant to misinformation."

Dr. Rozalija Nedić and Mr. ph. Šejla Čolaković from the Institute for Public Health of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in a question-and-answer session where they answered numerous questions from young people:

"This kind of education is important to us because we can personally come into contact with young people and we give them space to ask everything they are interested in. On the other hand, it is good that they get answers and information from experts who deal with it. "We especially like to talk about immunization with young people because they are the starting point, and the future is built on them," says Dr. Rozalija Nedic.

The debate camp was held as part of the "Youth for Better Media" project, which is financed by the European Union and jointly implemented by Mediacenter Sarajevo and JaBiHEU, in cooperation with UNICEF BiH and with the support of USAID BiH.