In October 2022, the Council of Europe wrapped up its media and information literacy and conflict-sensitive training month with a series of capacity-building sessions delivered for young Azerbaijani journalists and social media influencers.

The two-day in-presence training on “Data and Conflict-Sensitive Reporting” organised for 25 young Azerbaijani journalists on 1-2 October 2022 sought to provide both theoretical knowledge and practical skills on conflict-sensitive reporting, which would enable them to integrate the principles of conflict-sensitive journalism into the media content in Azerbaijan. During the two-day training workshop, the journalists improved their skills in analysing causes and sources of conflicts, and practiced the application of conflict-sensitive reporting principles for better reporting through various simulated exercises.

From 6 October through 9 October 2022, the Council of Europe joined its efforts with the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan and organised two two-day training workshops for young Azerbaijani social media influencers on “Digital Media and Information Literacy” and for young professional journalists on “Media Literacy and Disinformation”. Held in Shabran region outside the capital city of Baku, up to 20 participants from each training workshop benefitted from the knowledge and experiences of a group of national and international experts, who taught the participants the skills that can enable them to analyse, assess and create media contents from a variety of perspectives, understand the definition, characteristics and various approaches to media and information literacy, and acquire practical tools for managing media content in an ethical and professional manner.

At the end of all training workshops implemented, all participants received Certificates.

“The Council of Europe attaches a special importance to promoting media and information literacy. With so many different sources of information existing either offline or online, media and information literacy skills can help us identify reliable sources and find the truth and facts in the news. When training young people, educators, journalists and students on media and information literacy, we try to give them the skills that will help them think critically about what they see, read and hear, which are important skills in protecting against disinformation and propaganda”, Petr Sich, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Baku emphasised in his welcoming speech during the Youth Open Day organised by the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan where the participants were presented Certificates.

These training activities are implemented within the Council of Europe’s Project on “Promoting media professionalism and freedom of information in Azerbaijan – Phase1” PRO-M-FEX, which aims to contribute to improvement of the landscape for media and information society in Azerbaijan by strengthening the national legislation and its practice, as well as boosting media professionalism.