ORF Launches Initiative to Strengthen Media Literacy in Schools

The ability to distinguish between fake news and propaganda on one hand and serious journalistic offerings on the other is essential for public discourse and social cohesion. Therefore, ORF is declaring war on fake news and launching a large-scale media literacy initiative: the centerpiece is the new website bildung.ORF.at, where from today, October 2, 2025, all ORF offerings and e-learning materials to strengthen media literacy are bundled. It is also possible to register for workshops in school classes with ORF journalists and to book age-appropriate workshops at ORF. To kick off, ORF, in cooperation with the media literacy organizations Lie Detectors and Digitaler Kompass, is organizing an "ORF Fact Check" focus week from October 20 to 24 for around 700 students aged 10-19, and with the new "ORF Fact Friday," it is creating a weekly workshop program. In cooperation with the daily newspaper DER STANDARD, ORF is organizing the "Day of Media Literacy" on November 11, providing practical training for 100 teachers.

Making Austria Media-Savvy

ORF Director General Roland Weißmann, who has anchored ORF's stronger commitment to promoting media literacy in the corporate strategy ORF 2030, emphasizes: "The increasing use of AI to generate online content and ever more sophisticated manipulation mechanisms on social media make distinguishing between fact and fake a challenge for all of us. ORF reliably counters this development with high-quality journalism and tries to increasingly counteract it with public service information on digital platforms. With our media literacy initiative, we are now taking it a step further: whether on the web, at the ORF media campus, or in the classroom - together with our cooperation partners, we want to make Austria media-savvy! We support students and teachers in building valuable skills that are essential in the digital age."

New Educational Platform by ORF

The new web offering bildung.ORF.at is primarily aimed at teachers, whom ORF sees as important multipliers in media literacy issues. The materials provided are designed for use in the classroom, where they can be used for learning units of two 50-minute sessions. Students are taught important skills in dealing with fake news, while also being sensitized to dubious online phenomena such as radicalization, cyberbullying, or hate on the internet. The content is published in series, each dedicated to a thematic complex: it begins with a focus on "Fake News and Verification," presented by "konkret" and "ZIB Magazin" host Philipp Maschl. In the current semester, a focus on "Safe on the Internet" will follow, and in spring 2026, "Democracy and Media" will be addressed. This gives educators the opportunity to regularly incorporate multimedia content into their teaching. Here too, ORF cooperates with Lie Detectors and Digitaler Kompass, building its offerings on the knowledge and educational concepts of the two media literacy organizations.

Comprehensive New Workshop Offerings

In collaboration with Lie Detectors and Digitaler Kompass, ORF conducts multi-hour workshops at schools. In addition to recognizing disinformation and independently checking and evaluating sources, critical reflection on one's own media consumption is a central component of the training offering. The workshop offerings at the ORF media campus are also impressive: from October 20 to 24, 2025, the "ORF Fact Check" focus week will take place for the second time, with multi-hour workshops for a total of around 700 students aged 10 to 19. They gain insights into the work of ORF editorial teams and practice debunking fake news using real examples. On the new "ORF Fact Friday," ORF will offer weekly workshops to enhance media literacy specifically for upper secondary school students starting in November. In addition to Philipp Maschl, the initiative is supported by other well-known ORF personalities such as Mariella Gittler or Stefan Lenglinger from the news team, as well as Helene Voglreiter and Eva Wackenreuther from ORF's verification team, who pass on their expertise to the children and young people.

ORF and DER STANDARD Cooperate

As part of its media literacy initiative, ORF also relies on cooperation with media that have committed to similar goals. Thus, in collaboration with the daily newspaper DER STANDARD, the first joint "Day of Media Literacy" will take place on November 11, 2025, at the ORF media campus, where journalists from both media houses will provide insights into their work to the 100 registered teachers from secondary levels 1 and 2 from all over Austria. In practical lectures, workshops, and with the help of teaching materials, educators are taught important skills in verification and fact-checking. They can then pass on their knowledge to hundreds of students and interested colleagues. This training offering is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education. The event will be recorded by ORF and will be available on demand on bildung.ORF.at in the future.

(Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.