Developing the critical thinking skills necessary to navigate today’s propaganda-tainted media landscape. Propaganda has become a part of daily life for most Europeans. How can young people make sure that they properly identify and mitigate the effects propaganda has on themselves, their friends and their community?
Read between the li(n)es!
Be aware! Read with care!
The Read between the li(n)es! campaign aims to present young people with the tools necessary to identify propaganda out of information streams and to effectively judge its purpose, fallacies, and potential impact on the community it is aimed at.
As a collective effort of raising awareness, documenting cases of misinformation and disinformation and educating young people, this youth-led advocacy initiative provides a comprehensive picture of propaganda across Europe, the actors that shape it and the steps to be taken to reform our way of thinking of it.
A challenge of the times
In recent years, propaganda has appropriated more abstract forms, enveloping communication on social media as an accessible and loosely moderated platform. The issue of propaganda came to such prominence that in 2022, 70% of European citizens reported having encountered misinformation and fake news in the past year¹.
This worrying figure indicates a high level of exposure across Europe and the effective use of new media for communication by various actors. Taking the aforementioned aspects into account, the new face of propaganda creates the necessity for better tactics for tackling the issue. The cultivation of critical thinking and the incorporation of objective approaches thus emerge as valid methods to mitigate the effects of propaganda.
¹Amy Watson, ”Frequency of seeing disinformation in the EU 2022”, 7.02.2024, Statista
How can we act?
A balanced perspective is key when it comes to understanding propaganda, and we are keen to offer young people across Europe exactly that. Informative campaigns on social media, local and national debates, analysis and presentations of the most common tactics used in propagandistic communication, all these and many more are part of what’s to come as part of the Read between the li(n)es! campaign. Polarisation should not be a defining trait of our modern society, and the way to combat this is precisely through dialogue, quality interactions between peers and the dismantlement of echo chambers.
Take our campaign one step further!
Engage your community in the wider debate on the impact of propaganda across Europe using the hashtag #UnderstandingPropaganda and join our Understanding Propaganda webinar on Thursday, 23rd of January in order to develop a better understanding about how propaganda is constantly influencing the world that surrounds us. (Register here)
Want to get involved and help spread the word during our campaign week, January 20-24, 2025? Check out our Resource Kit! It’s packed with media materials for national movements and advocates to raise awareness on the effects of propaganda and how to identify it.
The YMCA, a hub for debate
As a leading youth organization for more than 180 years, the YMCA has always been a place where people from radically different backgrounds come together and discuss the most pressing issues young people face.
Thus, the YMCA has always been at the forefront of youth debates, encouraging the development and discussion of various points of view in order to empower youth to step up and shape their community’s path towards progress. Youth participation is key when it comes to addressing our society’s challenges and the commitment of the YMCA to this goal has been paramount since our inception in 1844.