By Luciani Gomes, Media Policy Specialist, Brazil
On the week of 24 – 31 October, Unesco commemorates its annual Global Media and Information Literacy Week, a moment to raise awareness about the need for factual, timely, targeted, clear, accessible, multilingual and science-based information, to come up with initiatives and discuss how to better equip individuals to critically engage with information and navigate the online environment safely. Every year during the same week, stakeholders around the world organize events and UNESCO co-hosts with a Member State the global conference gathering the MIL community, in what has become an important occasion for mobilizing interested stakeholders worldwide in evolving MIL further .
In a fragmented, polarized and distrusted information ecosystem, MIL has become a crucial skill for the fate and future of media and WAN-IFRA members are encouraged to join the campaign and mobilize its readers. UNESCO visuals ara available here to celebrate the week. Publishers who engage in the campaign using materials or publish about MIL Week please let us know at mediapolicy@wan-ifra.org. We’ll be happy to feature you in a wrap-up newsletter at the end of the project.
This year’s Global Media and Information Literacy Week Conference will be held in Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia, on 23 and 24 October 2025. Themed “Minds Over AI – MIL in Digital Spaces”, it will explore how AI is reshaping the information landscape and how MIL is crucial to empower individuals to critically engage with AI-driven content.
Past conferences discussed digital content creators and the production and dissemination of public-interest information; trust as an imperative for MIL; and MIL within digital spaces.
WAN-IFRA has made it a priority to advance News Literacy within both the news publishing industry and among audiences, and thanks to a recent partnership with UNESCO the association was able to launch their own Media Literacy Policy. As part of this partnership, and in an effort to support member news organisations to become proactive drivers of MIL initiatives, WAN-IFRA will offer a Media Literacy Training for news executives, with online modules, during MIL week. Sessions will be held on October 30 and 31, and the programme will be complimented with in person classes to be held on 17 November in Copenhagen alongside the upcoming WAN-IFRA Newsroom Summit conference. WAN-IFRA believes that strengthening news literacy has a direct impact on the long-term viability and market relevance of independent news publishers.
About the MIL Week
This is the 14th edition of the Global MIL Week, which in 2021 has become a fixed agenda in the UN calendar through a United Nations General Assembly resolution.
In the text, the UN says there are “global concerns about the exponential spread and proliferation of disinformation and misinformation” and it believes that the digital divide and its societal consequences can “be addressed in part by enhancing people’s ability to seek, receive and share information in the digital space”.
The resolution also encourages all UN member states “to develop and implement policies, action plans and strategies related to the promotion of media and information literacy, and to increase awareness, capacity for prevention and resilience to disinformation and misinformation, as appropriate”.
What is MIL
Media and Information Literacy comprises a large spectrum of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that give people the skills and tools to better search, access, critically evaluate, use and contribute to the production of information and media content.
It also empowers users by enhancing their knowledge of their online and digital rights, as well as ethical issues surrounding access to and use of information. Media and information literate citizens are equipped to engage more effectively in dialogue, freedom of expression, access to information, gender equality, diversity, peace, and sustainable development.