BBC Future quotes the Media Literacy Index of OSI-Sofia in its report on Estonia’s approach in tackling disinformation saying that “Last year the tiny nation ranked third in the 2021 Media Literacy Index, compiled by the European Policies Initiative of the Open Society Institute (OSI), behind Finland and Denmark. In the index of 35 European countries, top-rated nations have the highest potential to withstand disinformation and misinformation based on their quality of education, free media and high trust among people, according to OSI.”
The BBC Future report quotes Marin Lessenski, program director at Open Society Institute, based in Sofia, Bulgaria, which publishes an annual Media Literacy Index, who explains that Estonia’s high ranking high in media freedom and education “provide solid preconditions to deal with disinformation” and that “better education provides for stronger critical thinking or better fact checking skills.”
The index, published since 2017, assesses the resilience potential to fake news in 35 European countries, using indicators for media freedom, education and trust in people. The latest index report recommends education as the optimal approach to tackling fake news as a “vaccination” offering resistance against the worst cases of fake news and post-truth. The full text of the report of the Media Literacy Index 2021. Double Trouble: Resilience to Fake News at the Time of Covid-19 Infodemic
The full BBC Future report by Amy Yee from 31 January 2022 can be found here
