The FACTS is on a mission to make media literacy widely understood as a core life-skill for every citizen, especially to differentiate “fact” from all forms of falsehood and to accept it as an essential element in public education at all levels. We pursue this goal through:

MIL education is extremely critical in the digital age. People, regardless of their educational background, are misled by informational falsehood. Children and young people are especially vulnerable to dis- and misinformation, hate speech, propaganda, biased content and media fabrications. Therefore, it is not only important to learn how to learn MIL, but also important to learn how to teach MIL too. The FACTS will organize a range of MIL training and workshops targeting not only teachers in the tertiary and secondary sectors but also influential civil society leaders too. The purpose of our MIL education is to help the citizens to Understand people's biases, emotions and consumption behaviors. Develop practical skills to differentiate facts from all forms of falsehood. Understand a strong sense about media environments and ecosystems. Fact-check and evaluate media and information. Protect themselves from harmful media content. Be safe online. Protect their privacy and the privacy of others. Create and publish their own content in a responsible and ethical manner. Be able to contribute to a democratic society.

The FACTS strives to seek recognition from the relevant authorities, organizations, and people for MIL as a core-life skill and will be working with all the stakeholders and seeking support for the enhancement of MIL education. Under this pillar, the FACTS will focus more on: Streamlining state-support and recognition. Lobbying for constant support from the international organizations promoting MIL Supporting and lobbying for curriculum revisions. Supporting and assisting with producing new literature and learning materials on MIL. Engaging communities to rationally engage technology in consuming information and news through online and offline means.

The news and information ecosystems in all South Asian countries have been increasingly polluted. New actors are vigilantly producing disinformation and other forms of falsehood, weakening democratic institutions. Increasing socio, cultural, and political change in the region have a significant impact on the media and consumption pattern. Therefore, the MIL study has to go beyond just understanding the accessibility of media, consumption patterns, and analyzing media contents. Similarly, when it comes to MIL-related research it should include both regional and local research of all nature to inform the overall media behavior on influencing the citizens. The FACTS research will also focus more on how the media deal with elections, climate change, migration, and represent women, children, LGBTQ, and marginalized communities creating more authentic narratives too. The FACTS aims at Understanding patterns of how the media ecosystem changes How different countries and organizations promote MIL skills and competencies New trends in fact-checking and verifications MIL teaching and learning trends

Networking enables collective learning and leads to an exchange of new knowledge making it easy to learn from each other, built by each other’s potential. The FACTS hopes to develop a community of MIL enthusiasts through engagements: forums, seminars, conferences and speaking events. The FACTS will: Organize virtual summits At least a bi-annual conference Regional and countrywide knowledge sharing sessions Country based MIL-clubs