President George Vella with members of the Tumas Fenech Foundation for Education in Journalism (from right) President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, Amb. Anthony De Bono and Malcolm J. Naudi

The President of Malta, HE Dr George Vella, received President Emeritus Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici and other representatives of the Tumas Fenech Foundation for Education in Journalism (FTFEĠ) at The Palace, Valletta, earlier this month. The FTFEĠ delegation briefed HE The President on a national conference on media literacy which the Foundation intends to hold on the 13 November 2019.

President Emeritus Mifsud Bonnici, Chairman of the FTFEĠ, gave some background information on the Foundation, and referred to the successful national conference held last year at San Anton Palace on ‘CSR: business, journalism and society’.

Ambassador Anthony De Bono, Vice-Chairman of the Foundation, then gave an outline of the draft programme of this next conference on media literacy. Now that a large majority of the Maltese population owns smartphones and has access to the media through a plethora of devices, a better understanding of the media – both mainstream and social media – is crucial.

The media is accessible to people of all ages and is present in many aspects of their lives, both when studying or acquiring new skills, as well as during work and leisure. As society turns more and more towards this digital eco-system, just as there are numerous benefits all round, there could also be potential dangers.

The need to master basic skills must be addressed, and for this purpose, apart from having a keynote speaker, there will also be an opportunity to debate specific topics in order to address local and international challenges.

Since media illiteracy is almost more disempowering than simple traditional illiteracy, the conference will be open to all national non-Governmental organisations who are conscious of these challenges.