By Luciani Gomes, Media Policy Specialist, Brazil
As part of UNESCO’ Global Media and Information Literacy Celebration, WAN-IFRA will offer two online complimentary sessions for news media professionals across the world and one in person in Copenhagen on November 17 to select participants at Newsroom Summit. The first online training (November 12 5-6pm CET) is focused on how everyday editorial practices can build trust and transparency with audiences; the second (November 25 5-6pm CET) on how to build a newsroom-level news literacy strategy and go from policy commitments into action. The in-person “Copenhagen Classes on News Literacy” is a focused half-day workshop that employs media literacy to tackle the trust crisis in news and will be held at the premises of JP Politiken on Monday 17 November, from 2 to 5pm CET.
These sessions will aim to provide practical starting points for newsrooms to make journalism more well understood by audiences, as well as more credible and valued by making its processes more visible at a time of growing media distrust and news avoidance. The trainings are part of the media literacy project launched at the World News Media Congress held in Krakow in May 2025 with support from UNESCO.
For UNESCO, MIL provides essential skills for individuals to critically engage with information and navigate the online environment safely, as well as to help build trust in the information ecosystem and digital technologies. And the UN believes it can help bring much needed balance in the fight against disinformation and and misinformation and protect individuals’ freedom of expression and access to information.
WAN-IFRA has made it a priority to advance News Literacy within both the news publishing industry and among audiences, and has recently launched a Media Literacy Policy. It sees MIL as critical in building and sustaining trust in independent journalism, in contributing to build audience’s resilience to manipulation, and the news media industry has therefore direct responsibility in fostering it, particularly News Literacy.
News literacy has been defined by WAN-IFRA as “the ability to actively seek out credible news, recognise bias, understand how journalism is produced, and apply critical thinking to use news meaningfully in civic, educational, and professional contexts”. It contributes to informed judgement and it is key for decision-making and active civic participation.
Moreover, WAN-IFRA believes strengthening news literacy contributes to the long-term viability and market relevance of independent news publishers. And it has partnered with UNESCO to promote the Global Media Literacy Week and training to inspire and help news executives to incorporate literacy in their day-to-day work and strategy.
Trainings online
The first training, “News Literacy in a Time of Distrust: What Journalists Can Do”, will be held on November 12th (5pm CET, 11am Cartagena) and participants will be prompted to think how a culture of more transparency and closer relationship with the audience can impact how a news organisation and the work of its journalists is perceived, without compromising authority. Click here to register
The idea behind this training is to empower journalists to think of ways in which journalism, its processes and codes, can be better comprehended and that way help build trust. The instructor will share recent data and latest trends on audience trust, as well as practical ideas that can be implemented to strengthen connection and credibility.
The second training, “From Policy to Strategy: Building Your News Literacy Roadmap”, happening on November 25th (5pm CET, 11am Cartagena), will look at global examples of organisations making credibility visible, combining audience engagement with editorial values, while demonstrating journalism’s civic role. It will also discuss how to go from isolated initiatives to a news literacy plan. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own local context to identify low-effort and high-impact measures. Click here to register.
The WAN-IFRA Copenhagen Classes on News Literacy
Additionally, participants of the WAN-IFRA’s Newsroom Summit, happening on 18-19 November 2025, in Copenhagen, can sign up for the half-day workshop “Behind the Byline: Transparency and Truth in a Polarised Media Environment”, held in the afternoon of November 17 in the boardroom of JP. Politiken.
Through expert-led discussion and hands-on exercises, participants will explore how greater transparency and news literacy can help rebuild public trust in journalism, amid growing distrust, fragmentation and misinformation.
In two interactive sessions, participants will hear about making the journalistic process more visible as a way to reinforce and earn trust, and discuss how they can guide their audiences through misinformation without amplifying it.
The classes focus on rebuilding trust through enhanced news literacy, greater transparency in reporting, and strategic responses to misinformation and polarization. Participants will explore how making journalism more transparent and engaging can strengthen credibility and help reconnect with skeptical audiences, leaving with insights to inform newsroom strategies. If you are attending Newsroom Summit and you are interested in signing up, please email virginia.melero@wan-ifra.org