Activists of the association “Cita Daugavpils” have just started a new idea – to organize trainings to educate the Daugavpils society in responsible, thoughtful and objective use of various media. In these trainings or workshops on the correct use of social media, Daugavpils are also offered to learn tools that help them not to get confused in the information space.
“To Rock Deeper” – that is the slogan of the Social Media Workshop. Activists from the association “Cita Daugavpils” invite any member of society to dig deeper, supplementing their knowledge and testing their critical thinking skills in the field of media use. The representatives of the association tell ReTV that there are big problems in the media space in Daugavpils, so the public should be able to distinguish the wheat from the chaff. These media workshops are offered to Daugavpils society by representatives of the association, Anželika Litvinoviča and Anna Luīze Ruskule, who are studying journalism and political science at the University of Latvia. “Every person is important for the development of things. The same media literacy, the digital environment is one essential element to promote some kind of change specifically in Daugavpils, which is our goal, that we, the people, create the environment in which we want to live,” says the representative of the association “Cita Daugavpils” Anna Luīze Ruskule .
Anna Luīze Ruskule herself is a journalist by education. He is currently studying political science in his master’s degree. She also tells ReTV what the biggest problems in the media environment are in Daugavpils. “The biggest problem is that we don’t have really independent media. Apart from Chaika, which is currently the Russian-language media, all media are dependent on the local government, also directly influenced by the local government. And it is important for us that we talk about it.”
Ingemārs Vekteris, who represents the Center for Media Development and Research, has just completed a study on the media environment in Latgale, commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, the State Chancellery, the National Electronic Media Council and the British Council. In the coming months, the study will also be available to the general public. He introduced the residents of Daugavpils to media trends in Latvia. “The biggest problems are the ability of the media to be independent. If you are subordinate to someone and if you have an influence on the content of the media, then this media is definitely not defined as an independent media. The medium must be able to be financially self-sufficient, but not financially dependent on a single financier, which can create certain and rather large risks regarding what the audience receives in this medium.”
The digital environment is a place where both media, content influencers and society meet, emphasize the initiators of the media workshops. Therefore, the public must learn to distinguish between objective and non-objective information. The gathered visitors also revealed to ReTV that it is necessary to sift through the information about Daugavpils disseminated in various media.
The association “Cita Daugavpils” plans to hold such media workshops in the future as well, and calls on residents to use the media responsibly. Not to spread disinformation and fake news, as well as not to consume propaganda media of countries unfriendly to Latvia.
