Promoting media literacy: SRG, VSM and other partners launch Newstest.ch
Disinformation is one of the greatest challenges of our time. That is why SRG, the Politools association, the Media Institute of the Swiss Media Publishers Association (VSM), and the Mercator Switzerland Foundation are launching the «Newstest.ch» self-assessment tool.
The increase in the daily flood of information on all kinds of platforms makes it much more difficult for users to distinguish between paid advertising, journalistic contributions or deliberately spread fake news, according to a statement on Thursday. Therefore, disinformation is one of the greatest challenges of our time.
Strengthening media literacy counteracts this challenge and helps in dealing with disinformation and finding one's way in an increasingly complex media world. That is why SRG Public Value, the Politools association, the VSM Media Institute and the Mercator Switzerland Foundation have jointly developed Newstest.ch launched. The digital self-test is intended to strengthen media competence and help in dealing with disinformation.
The digital self-test is designed to test and promote the media skills of young people and adults in a fun way. It includes questions from five areas on how to deal with news on the Internet. In the evaluation section, aids and tips are then shown to strengthen one's own media competence.
Good offer for media lessons in schools
The self-test is well suited for media lessons in schools, as some teachers report: "The questions make you aware that it is not always easy to assess what is a fact. What is paid advertising? What is an opinion? What is fake news? And how do I classify it? That's why I think the Newstest is a great tool to show students why it's relevant to look into this," says Janine Surber, for example, a history teacher at the Kantonsschule Baden.
Newstest.ch was created based on the template of Der-newstest.de, which was developed in 2021 by the New Responsibility Foundation for Germany. The adaptations to the Swiss version were made as part of the first Swiss media literacy study "The media literacy of the Swiss population" made. The agency "Nach morgen" is responsible for the technical implementation. Currently, the self-test is available in German and French. An Italian version is to follow soon.
