Public Health Literacy and Community Media in Europa

Part of the E3J partnership between RSF, FPU, Copeam, CMFE and COMMIT on quality development, ethics and co-operation in journalism

COMMIT and the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) are part of the partnership to promote co-operation, excellence and pluralism in the media led by RSF (Reporters Without Borders). During the project period 4/2022 - 3/2024, programmes have been developed for participating media, regional networks and individual journalists to promote quality reporting and contribute to a more diverse information space. The partners of the programme are the media development organisation Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the permanent conference of audiovisual media operators in the Mediterranean region (Copeam), COMMIT and the European association Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE). The project includes traditional training formats, mentoring and grants for format development as well as collaborative spaces and online resources to support journalists. The partners have been focussing on three thematic clusters, in particular on climate change, public health and migration.

In this partnership, COMMIT and CMFE have been working on strategies and methods for teaching media and information skills to strengthen civic empowerment in the field of public health. With this goal in mind, innovative and effective methods have been identified and evaluated to involve local groups and active citizens in local media work.

Public Health Literacy and Community Media

Public health as a topical strand within the E3J addresses the discussion on health issues in a wide and holistic way. This encompasses much more than the goal of being healthy and refers to external living conditions such as climate and clean environment, social aspects such as poverty, comprehensive access to the health system for all but also the factual and evidence-based discussion of medical findings and ways to counter disinformation.

The important role of trustworthy media and journalism as a source of credible information became clear again in the context of Covid 19. While on the one hand the use of trustworthy media increased, the extent and preparation of disinformation also increased vehemently. Media and information literacy (MIL) is an important field of action here as well as community engagement to build trust around issues of importance to all.

CMFE and COMMIT have implemented the E3J public health strand through a systematic sequence of activities: National studies on community media (CM) and public health in four European case countries – Austria, Denmark, Ireland and Spain – formed the background for a process to invite CM applicants to apply for public health production grants, for organising national workshops for the selected grantees and for documenting the grantees’ productions. The insights from this process have been merged into an online learning resource for (community) media wishing to form a public health editorial group and programme series. A conference in Vienna on January 19, 2024, concluded the process and charted the way forward for the establishment of a thematic network on public health programming in community media that will support the continous exchange and cooperation of all participants after the end of the project.

Contact:
Helmut Peissl for COMMIT (hp@commit.at) and Birgitte Jallov for CMFE (birgitte@empowerhouse.dk)

Project partners:
https://cmfe.eu
https://rsf.org/
https://www.freepressunlimited.org/en
http://www.copeam.org/

Funded by the European Union, Creative Europe (Cross Sectoral Strand)
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

www.e3j.org

Project reports:

Download (PDF): E3J Report: Public Health Literacy and Community Media in Europe
Download (PDF): Community media training and production report
Download (PDF): Community media production report
Download (PDF): Public Health Literacy and Community Media in Europe - Final Conference Report

Online resource: Building public health literacy through our community media platforms (jti:campus)

Documentation of the conference Public Health Literacy and Community Media in Europe (January 19, 2024 in Vienna):

Graphic recording: Daniela Waser, CC-BY-SA
Download (JPG): High-res version  

Videos from the conference Public Health Literacy and Community Media in Europe (January 19, 2024 in Vienna):