Romania’s national broadcast authority on Tuesday called on the president to include media literacy in the school curriculum amid a rise in disinformation that has threatened democracy and confused ordinary people into believing fake news, conspiracy theories and fearing vaccines.
The National Audiovisual Council (NAC) on Tuesday adopted an official position to ask President Nicusor Dan, to include media literacy as a distinct strategic direction in the future National Strategy for the Defense of the Country.
.Disinformation today represents a real threat to democracy, social cohesion and trust in institutions, it said.
It said Romania is facing a variety of threats. Some 55% of citizens say they have recently been exposed to fake news; 39% believe in conspiracy theories; combined with a low level of basic digital skills, below the EU average.
It said there were complex hybrid information attacks during the 2024 elections, confirmed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, intelligence agencies and former President Klaus Iohannis and President Dan.
Disinformation affects key areas – from public health (e.g. a low take-up of vaccines), social polarization, electoral manipulation and the promotion of extremist ideologies.
Media literacy is a long-term strategic solution for building a society capable of distinguishing truth from manipulation, the document said.
The council proposed: Systematic introduction of media education in the national curriculum which include digital literacy programs across the board, strengthening the capacity of the state and civil society to counter disinformation campaigns; increasing the resilience of the population to disinformation campaigns.
The official request has been forwarded to Romania’s president as part of the process of developing the new National Strategy for the Defense of the Country.
This is the proposed text to be integrated into the Strategy:
Media education and information resilience
The Romanian state recognizes that media literacy and the development of critical thinking skills are essential components of national security. In order to protect society against disinformation, propaganda, electoral manipulation and other forms of informational and hybrid aggression, Romania will implement integrated public media education policies, addressed to all social categories, with a focus on children and young people.
These policies will aim to:• systematically introduce media literacy into the national curriculum and continuing education programmes;• develop national digital literacy and training programmes for teachers and staff in public institutions;• strengthen the capacity of state institutions and civil society to detect, counter and publicly explain disinformation campaigns;
• increasing the information resilience of the population in order to maintain social cohesion, trust in institutions and democratic values.
“Media literacy is treated as a strategic pillar for defending and strengthening the democratic order, being supported through dedicated budget allocations, inter-institutional cooperation (Ministry of Education and Research, National Audiovisual Council, Authority for the Digitization of Romania, civil society) and periodic assessments of the impact on national resilience.
Media literacy must be treated as seriously as cyber defense or the protection of critical infrastructures: it is a democratic security infrastructure. The inclusion of media education in the National Strategy for the Defense of the Country would represent a strategic investment in protecting Romanian democracy in the long term,” according to the National Audiovisual Council.
