A World Without Information
Your Challenge:
is to understand more about the importance of information, freedom of the press and the role of journalists.
Follow this Process:
Watch these videos:
Discuss each of the issues below in 4 groups:
The importance of information (4 billion people have no access to the internet)
The right to privacy in a digital age (should the government have access to your private information)
The importance of journalists in ensuring that information is available to all citizens (governments often don’t want reporting on “sensitive” topics)
The safety of journalists (1 killed in the world every 5 days)
Summarise the group discussion on a whiteboard showing what you regard as key features of your chosen topic and conclude by saying why it is important.
Take action by seeing how your country rates on the World Press Freedom Index. How can your position be improved? (Is there free access to official information for instance?)
Write to your Member of Parliament if you believe improvements in Freedom of Information rules can be improved in your country.
Create a video to post on youtube and this site!
Educator Notes
To make it more accessible:
Lead a classroom discussion on one of the above 4 discussion topics making it especially relevant to the interests of the class. Access to information through the internet for instance may be a good topic (is it freely available? does it come with dangers of too much access? etc).
To make it more challenging:
Lead a discussion on the video of Training of Police in Tunisia supported by UNESCO. This is with English subtitles so may be better for an older group. How easy do you think it will be to change from a hostile attitude to journalists in Tunisia? Are journalists strongly criticized in your country? Do they deserve this criticism?
Useful links