Not only a critical use” “” “

No longer passive spectators or uninformed users: education in the media must lead, through a critical understanding of the language and techniques they use, and through an analysis of the values they transmit and their influence on lifestyles, to a responsible and active use of the instruments of communication and the new technologies. In a recent contribution to the European Directive “Television without frontiers” (drawn up in 1985 and updated in 2003), the work group on the information society of COMECE (Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community) underlined that “it’s not only a question of acquiring a critical attitude. Education in the media is also a factor of common good for society as a whole. It is, above all, education in citizenship and democracy”. In this perspective SIGNIS, the international Catholic association for communication established in 2001 by the merger of two already existing organizations, UNDA (International Catholic Association for Radio and Television) and OCIC (international Catholic Organization for the Cinema), has been involved for over thirty years in the field of education in the use of radio, film, television and, more recently, internet. Malta’s experience. Since October 1981 the Catholic schools of the island have been teaching “education in the media”, beginning in primary school, according to a programme based on the conviction that the use of the mass media is an entertaining experience for every child. “Children’s familiarity with audio-visual civilization tends to be greater than that of their teachers” who must not consider their pupils as “hopeless victims or passive sponges”, but simply “‘accompany’ them in the learning process”, say Joseph Borg and Mary-Anne Lauri, experts in this field and authors of a manual with the title “Exploring the language of the media”. The second-level educational programme, aimed at children aged 11-12, consists of four modules. The first is focused on the formal aspects, with the objective of familiarizing pupils with the language of the media. This is followed by the study of contents, aimed at helping students to critically evaluate the messages transmitted. The following stage is focused on the programmes and subjects that “produce messages”. In the fourth module the students themselves are “invited to write with the media” and thus become “authors” themselves. Italy’s experience. Established in 1996, the Italian Association for education in the media and communication ( MED), promotes seminars, and training and refresher courses for teachers with the contribution of teachers, researchers and experts. It also publishes the results of research projects and manuals and, in partnership with the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, organizes a degree course in “Media Education”. The association, which has nine regional sections, has recently drawn up a national plan for the education of children in the media, aimed at the educational and political authorities. The risks of Internet. SAFT (Security, Awareness, Facts and Tools) is a programme aimed at sensitizing adults and children on Internet use. Supported by the European Union, it brings together seven partners in Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It emerged from a recent survey that 97% of children aged between 9 and 17 in these countries use the computer. More especially, as Bjorn Kvernberg, head of MMI Norway, the research institute that conducted the survey, explains, “parents know little about what their children are doing on the Internet”: 44% of children surfing on the web have accidentally encountered a pornographic site and 30% have visited sites with a violent content, but only 15% of parents are aware of this. Yet, according to Elisabeth Staksrud, coordinator of the SAFT project, “it’s only by speaking with their children that parents can warn them of the risks of using the web” and bring home to them that “the rules of life they have taught them also go for the Internet”. With a view to greater security on the Internet, the project envisages the construction (already begun) of a portal on the question, and the preparation of an information kit for teachers.