Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

This article examines film literacy initiatives in Spain operating outside formal education systems. By analyzing 65 organizations involved in cinema pedagogy, the study identifies the canon of films and directors promoted to students in non-formal educational contexts. The findings reveal a dominance of North American and French cinema, limited representation of Spanish national cinema, and an absence of films addressing Spain’s historical memory. The study highlights the cultural implications of film education practices and questions the diversity and inclusiveness of cinematic literacy promoted within Spanish educational initiatives.

This article examines the dual role of cinema as both entertainment and a source of intellectual and cultural learning. Focusing on Morocco, it argues that the widespread consumption of films has encouraged a consumerist approach to cinema, limiting its educational potential. The paper advocates the inclusion of film studies in Moroccan educational curricula to develop critical viewing skills and a constructive cinematic culture. It emphasizes the importance of teaching audiences, from an early age, how to critically select and interpret films in order to encourage informed, reflective, and culturally aware film consumption.

This study explores the role of cinema and audio visual media in strengthening disaster literacy and risk communication in Indonesia through a systematic literature review. The findings show that films, documentaries, animations, and digital media effectively communicate disaster awareness, preparedness, and mitigation practices. Cinema functions not only as an educational tool but also as a cultural medium that fosters empathy, collective awareness, and community engagement. The study highlights the potential of audiovisual media in disaster education, participatory governance, and social resilience while identifying gaps in evaluating long-term behavioural impacts.

This article examines film literacy in Europe through the findings of the 2012 European Experts’ Study on film literacy. It discusses two approaches to film education: as a universal cultural entitlement and as a tool for developing film audiences. Based on research across 32 European countries, the study explores film education practices, the cultural significance of cinema, and the relationship between film literacy and media literacy. It also reflects on the opportunities and limitations of digital technologies in shaping contemporary film education and audience engagement.

This study highlights the growing importance of emerging literacies in contemporary education, particularly film literacy. It argues that teachers must develop new skills to address the demands of a digital and information-rich society. Film literacy is presented as a multidisciplinary and multicultural form of literacy that enables critical interpretation of visual languages and media texts. The paper emphasizes the need to integrate film literacy into higher education to strengthen semiotic understanding, critical thinking, and communication skills required for navigating complex media environments in the 21st century.

This study discusses the “Physics in Films” project developed to increase student interest in physical science through the use of popular films. The programme integrates scientific concepts with movie analysis across various genres, including superheroes and pseudoscience. Findings show that film-based teaching improves engagement, flexibility in instruction, and understanding of scientific principles. The project demonstrates how cinema can serve as an effective educational tool to reduce science illiteracy and make complex scientific concepts more accessible and engaging for students.

This study examines the impact of a film literacy programme conducted in six European Union countries to improve students’ understanding of cinema and attitudes toward European films. The findings reveal limited changes in film preferences but significant improvement in students’ knowledge of film production and cinematic expression. Attitudes toward national and European cinema became more positive, although programme outcomes varied across cultural contexts. The study highlights the importance of culturally sensitive approaches in developing effective cross-cultural film literacy programmes.

This paper explores cinema as a universal visual language with its own grammar, conventions, and techniques of meaning-making. It argues that understanding film requires both visual and aural literacy, similar to how print literacy requires recognition of linguistic patterns. The study examines cinematic language, editing, and emotional communication in film narratives.

Children, Film and Literacy examines the relationship between children’s engagement with film and the development of literacy practices. Becky Parry argues that films provide imaginative and narrative spaces through which children construct identities, participate in storytelling, and develop understandings of narrative structure and visual language. Drawing on research conducted in schools and children’s everyday cultural experiences, the book highlights how film influences play, communication, and creative expression.

The dynamics of digital communication literacy today cannot be separated from technological advances, also every person or institution/government or other private institution is always faced with the development of human resources. Moreover, related to the planned production, this shows the ability to process marketing propositions and advertisements, both commercial advertisements and public service advertisements (PSA) in the midst of strengthening communication literacy itself. This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative research methodology, namely digging up data by direct observation, and interviews with those who can be used as data sources. The purpose of this research is to provide a clear description of the Effect of Marketing Promotion on Public Service Advertising on Strengthening Digital Communication Literacy, as well as to contribute ideas to policy makers and other researchers in the future, thereby providing significant benefits to these problems.

This study looks at how Public Service Announcements (PSAs) affect students at University Malaysia Sarawak's Faculty of Education, Language and Communication (FELC) in terms of cyber wellness and digital citizenship (UNIMAS). An online questionnaire was used to gather data from 82 undergraduate students as part of a quantitative study design that used a descriptive survey approach. Students' exposure to PSAs, attitudes, social norms, and digital activity were all examined using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that students exhibit good digital citizenship behaviors and a high degree of awareness of cyber wellbeing. Students' digital conduct was found to be strongly influenced by attitudes about social norms and cyber health. However, exposure to PSAs by itself did not significantly alter behavior, suggesting that PSAs have an indirect impact on behavior through social influence and internal views. The most popular platform for coming across PSAs was found to be TikTok. This study offers information for creating more successful initiatives to promote cyber wellness among college students.

While health communication campaigns seek to encourage and promote healthy behaviors, they are not always successful. Health communication efforts may fail for several reasons, such as viewers experiencing excessive freedom threats and reactance. This study (n = 201) proposes and demonstrates that descriptive norm appeals in health PSAs can indirectly lead to enhanced behavioral intentions toward the message advocacy via reducing perceived freedom threats, inhibiting psychological reactance, and improving message credibility. However, this serial mediation was only found for message viewers with relatively low media literacy skills – precisely, who did not show considerable critical thinking toward media content. For participants who reported a high level of critical thinking toward media content, the use of descriptive norm appeals did not decrease freedom threats, nor did it indirectly affect behavioral intentions. The findings of this study contribute to the theory of psychological reactance and norms-based research. Both theoretical and practical implications are provided for health communication scholars and practitioners.

Partisans are poor judges of news content, rating neutral content as biased against their views (the hostile media perception) and forgiving biased content when it favors their side. This study tests whether a short news media literacy public service announcement (PSA) appearing before political programming can influence credibility and hostility ratings of the program and program host. Our findings suggest that a media literacy PSA can be effective, but its impact depends on the position of the news program and on the political ideology of the viewers. In this case, the media literacy PSA only influenced conservatives’ evaluations of the political program, improving perceptions of a neutral or congruent (conservative) host while further depressing ratings of an incongruent (liberal) host. Liberals’ evaluations of the program were unaffected by the PSA. Implications for media literacy messaging and information processing are discussed.

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate public service announcements (PSA’s): how visual and verbal rhetoric modes present an intended message. Differences in modes suggest different effects, and rhetoric promotes the power to persuade and convince others. As the growing interest in social media use, PSAs become a complex example of multimodal communication: combining verbal texts and visual images establish natural language in this world. The study looked at the question, how the combinations of texts and images work. Within this scope, Kress & van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar theory and Halliday’s SFL theory were applied along with SF-MDA suggested by O’Halloran & Lim-Fei. The method of analytic descriptive qualitative allows the study to investigate and explain the issue elaborately. The results of this study show the combinations of all resources potentially motivate interactive participants to do the action after the investment of knowledge. Due to the increased importance of social movement, it is estimated that the findings potentially contribute to represent values intended by both public and private sectors.

In this study, we test the effectiveness of a short news media literacy message with audiences who differ in their media literacy education. We manipulate whether individuals are exposed to a news media literacy public service announcement (PSA) immediately before viewing a political program among two groups: students enrolled in media education courses versus students in a non-media course. Findings suggest that the ability of media literacy messages to influence students’ processing of the subsequent political program is conditioned by their preexisting media literacy education. This study provides insights for considering how classroom and non-classroom media literacy interventions can work together to improve media literacy.

Moving media literacy messages out of the classroom and onto the Internet, where much news consumption happens, offers an opportunity to extend media literacy education to a wider public. However, in doing so it becomes important to consider how the context in which such messages are seen conditions their impact on media literacy attitudes and knowledge. The results of an experimental test suggest that a media literacy public service announcement was more effective in reinforcing media literacy beliefs when paired with a partisan, rather than a neutral, political program. The effects of presenting media literacy messages outside of the classroom are discussed.

Media literacy is an essential communication tool that helps develop individuals‟ ability to evaluate and interpret media content consciously and analyze it critically. In today‟s digital age, the dissemination of media literacy education not only protects individuals from misleading or manipulative content but also improves their ability to access correct information. Public service announcements (PSAs) are considered a vital tool for creating media literacy by enhancing social awareness, raising consciousness, and educating the public, thanks to their potential to reach large masses. This study was conducted to examine the importance of PSAs in creating media literacy. The study sample comprised a PSA series titled "Nuclear Family‟ prepared by the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council. The study was conducted using content analysis, which is a qualitative research method. The data were analyzed using the MAXQDA 2024 qualitative data analysis program. The results of the study highlighted the use of PSAs as an effective tool in raising media literacy awareness. Especially, the issue of information reliability was at the forefront in terms of combating disinformation. The results conformed to the international and national findings on media literacy and PSAs, revealing that they play an important role in media literacy. The study systematically examined the relationship between media literacy and PSAs, thus contributing to the available findings and offering suggestions for increasing social awareness.

This study examined children's advertising literacy level for traditional versus embedded advertising formats by comparing their cognitive and affective advertising literacy level for television commercials vs. advergames. The study also explored how cognitive and affective advertising literacy further attenuate advertising effects by investigating the mediation impact of cognitive and affective advertising literacy on the relation between the ad's format and the purchase request. Third, the study investigated how an advertising literacy training session moderates these effects. The results of this experimental study showed that advergames lead to a higher purchase request rate among children than television commercials. However, only affective but not cognitive advertising literacy mediated the effect of the advertising format on purchase request. In addition, a training session was shown to accelerate children's cognitive (but not their affective) advertising literacy for advergames, but not for television commercials.

The rise of digital media and the increasing consumption of television have transformed advertising strategies, particularly in relation to children. This paper examines the ethical challenges associated with targeted advertising aimed at children, highlighting the psychological vulnerabilities of young consumers and the role of advertisers in influencing their behaviors and purchasing decisions. By analyzing the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and existing regulations, this paper identifies significant gaps in the current legal framework that fail to adequately protect children from manipulative and misleading marketing practices. The study also emphasizes the need for greater media literacy programs, parental intervention, and stricter regulations to safeguard children’s well-being. Through a comprehensive review of relevant case laws and regulatory guidelines, this paper concludes that while progress has been made, substantial efforts are still required to create a more ethical and transparent advertising environment for children.

Media act as a principal consumer socialisation agent. Children are exposed to a continuous stream of marketing messages and it is reported that children’s levels of materialism and wellbeing are negatively affected. Building cognitive defences in children will enable them to critically appraise the content of advertising appeals. At present media literacy education in primary schools is limited. Primary curriculum is undergoing revisions. Employing the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the role of school as a consumer socialisation agent is explored. A mixed methods approach was adopted. By means of a pilot randomised controlled trial, the effect of a recently developed Irish media literacy intervention on outcomes of advertising literacy, materialism and wellbeing is considered. Children aged between eight and 11, in seven primary schools in Ireland took part in the study (n=325). Fidelity of delivery was recorded. Qualitative discussions with teachers and children enabled further consideration of effect of the intervention. The findings show that the media literacy intervention had a statistically significant positive effect on advertising literacy and on wellbeing. A need for further exploration of materialism in children is proposed. The intervention materials were commended by both teachers and children. The characteristic constraint of time as a key barrier to the delivery of media literacy education in school was unearthed. This study demonstrates the positive contribution media literacy education can make to primary curriculum, and suggests means by which media literacy lessons can be included in curriculum.

Surveillance capitalism has fundamentally transformed the digital economy by commodifying personal data to predict and influence behavior. While its economic and ethical implications have been widely studied, less attention has been given to its role in enabling the dissemination of disinformation. This paper explores how the same mechanisms that underpin surveillance capitalism, such as ubiquitous data collection, behavioral profiling, and algorithmic targeting, increasingly mediated by Artificial Intelligence, are leveraged to propagate fake news with unprecedented precision. Drawing from case studies, and empirical research, we demonstrate how actors exploit personalized data to craft and disseminate manipulative content aimed at specific psychological and ideological profiles. By analyzing collected results, we demonstrate that surveillancebased advertising also enables large-scale manipulation, posing serious risks to democratic integrity, public trust, and digital governance.

This paper explores the breadth of intricate dynamics of algorithmic personalization and user autonomy in digital advertising, with a depth into the geo-targeted algorithms within the MENA region. As digital media increasingly rely on data-driven strategies to influence consumer behavior, understanding how these algorithms shape user experiences becomes paramount. By employing a qualitative exploratory study, this paper investigates the implications of personalized advertising on user choice and autonomy. Through multiple intensive interviews with MENA region end-users, we assess how geo-targeted algorithms curate advertising content, often leading to experiences that users perceive as both personalized and compromised. The findings may reveal that while users appreciate the relevance of personalized advertisements, they simultaneously express concerns about their autonomy and the extent of their informed choice. This study relies on media system dependency theory to illustrate how reliance on digital platforms shapes the user expectations and behaviors. The insights from the analysis may underscore the need to critically evaluate how geo-targeted advertising not only influences user decisions but also impacts the perceptions of advertising in the digital landscape. Ultimately, this research may provide broader knowledge in media studies by highlighting the ethical implications of algorithmic personalization in digital advertising. As advertisers navigate the challenges posed by data-driven marketing, the study may advocate for greater transparency and user empowerment in the advertising ecosystem. By examining the complex relationship between algorithmic personalization and user autonomy, this paper may contribute to understanding of the importance of fostering an informed and autonomous user base in the MENA region and beyond.

Influencers are required to make disclosures while posting sponsored content on social media. This study examined what kind of disclosures are effective and how prominent disclosures interact with advertising knowledge and message involvement to affect the recognition of sponsored influencer posts on Instagram. It conducted an online experiment (N = 296) with a 2 (disclosure type: prominent vs. subtle) × 2 (advertising knowledge: enhanced vs. not enhanced) x 2 (message involvement: high vs. low) between-subjects factorial design. Results revealed that people with enhanced advertising knowledge or with high message involvement led to greater advertising recognition, regardless of the degree of disclosure prominence. While on the other hand, when people’s knowledge of sponsored influencer content was not enhanced or when they were low in message involvement, the prominent disclosure was more effective than the subtle one in improving advertising recognition. Furthermore, recognizing sponsored content elicited resistance, which in turn led to less favourable attitude towards the brand. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed.

The marketing landscape is witnessing a strategic shift from human to AI-powered virtual influencers (VIs). While their use is growing, their impact on brand trust remains unclear, especially concerning key attributes like perceived authenticity and source attractiveness, and how these are filtered by consumers' digital literacy. This quantitative study employed an online survey to collect data from 153 Indonesian social media users from Generations Y and Z who were actively exposed to VI content. Data were analyse using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with Partial Least Squares (PLS) to test hypotheses regarding the influence of perceived authenticity and source attractiveness on brand trust, with digital literacy as a moderating variable. The results confirmed that both perceived authenticity (β = 0.612, p < 0.001) and source attractiveness (β = 0.328, p < 0.001) have a significant positive effect on brand trust. Furthermore, digital literacy was found to be a significant, albeit weaker, moderating factor in this relationship (β = 0.167, p = 0.015), indicating that a consumer's level of digital sophistication influences how they process VI’s attributes to form brand trust. The study concludes that the effectiveness of VIs is not universal but is critically dependent on the audience's level of digital literacy. For theorists, this study extends models like the Elaboration Likelihood Model by validating their application to non-human entities. For managers, the findings underscore the need to prioritize authentic narrative-building and strategic VI alignment with brand identity.

There is an ongoing discussion on the necessity of implementing disclosures for digitally manipulated pictures within the branded content of social media influencers (SMIs). To address this, we conducted two online survey-based between-subjects experiments to assess the effectiveness of digital manipulation disclosures used on Instagram by an SMI. In the first study (N = 99), we examined how a visual prominent disclosure placed directly on the sponsored posts of an SMI, mediated by the recognition of digital manipulation and the perceived authenticity of the SMI, influenced participants’ intentions toward the SMI, their brand attitude, and their likelihood in engaging in electronic Word-of-Mouth. In the second study (N = 155), we manipulated three conditions: the absence of digital manipulation, the presence of digital manipulation without disclosure, and the presence of digital manipulation with disclosure. We investigated the effects of digital manipulation on the perceived credibility of the SMI and on brand related factors, mediated by the recognition of digital manipulation. Moreover, we explored the moderating effects of product involvement on the relationship between digital manipulation recognition and source credibility. Recognizing digital manipulation has no effects on the perceived authenticity of the SMI. Among social media users with high levels of product involvement who can recognize the digital manipulation, the perceived credibility of the SMI tends to be lower. The research holds both theoretical and practical implications for the field of influencer marketing and disclosure practices.