A UNESCO World Press Freedom Day side event hosted in a collaboration between IREX, OjoPúblico, and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Objective:

Engage, underline, and bolster the role of youth and youth-serving media in building more reliable and resilient information ecosystems around environmental issues in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Panelists:

Gianella Tapullima, Fact-Checking Editor, OjoPúblico 

· Two youth activists/journalist representatives from the CREDIBLE(*) network

Workshop Lead:

Allison Agsten, Director of Annenberg Center for Climate Journalism and Communication, USC

Moderator:

Laura Agosta, Senior Deputy Director of Information & Media Practice, IREX

Duration:

90 minutes

Summary:

Youth voices are essential to raise awareness and demand action on the environmental challenges that affect their present and future. However, young people also contend with misleading and often untrustworthy information that undermines credible, science-backed information. How can youth engage information as agents for change? How can media and civil society organizations support youth in their quest for truth and accountability?

This side event, a collaboration between IREX, the University of Southern California (USC), and OjoPúblico, will have two sections. The first one will highlight young people’s priorities and concerns on climate issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. The second one will be a practical workshop that will prepare youth and young communicators on how to better communicate and raise awareness to spread quality, youth-relevant information on the topic.

The event will bring young activists, journalists, and civil society actors into conversation about how to expose and counter the harmful effects of information pollution on public perception to the global environmental crisis. They

will share experiences and recommendations on fostering a culture of critical thinking, media literacy, and civic engagement among youth.

Young creators will present an insight piece, a collaborative research product, highlighting the trends, worries, and needs of young people in LAC on environmental issues. Through discussion, representatives of media outlets and youth activist perspectives will underline core needs to preserve the information ecosystem surrounding the climate crisis. The workshop led by USC will leave attendees with recommendations on how to spur quality, youth-centered discourse on a topic that affects us all.

 

(*) USAID’s youth media literacy CREDIBLE project is implemented by IREX. CREDIBLE activities are made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).