Youths Take Part in Virtual Journalism Program

Dr. Louis Zabaneh

Fifty youths from Belize and Trinidad and Tobago are taking part in a virtual journalism program called “Fact Check: Critical Thinking Journalism for Youths.” The two-week program, which is being sponsored by the U.S. Embassy, provides media literacy training for the budding writers and reporters. During the virtual opening on Tuesday, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Doctor Louis Zabaneh, shared his view that the program could not have come at a better time, when the world is drenched in misinformation and fake news.

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of State, Ministry of Education

“You, our precious young people will be better prepared after this course to detect, clean and clear the air of this rancid and poisonous cloud of lies and misdirection. The future survival of our democratic way of life, where freedom and prosperity are founded and the truth depends on our abilities to resoundingly defeat the forces of anti-truth with superior critical thinking skills and a passion for integrity, of character and accuracy of communication. We experience today in both traditional and social media numerous instances of confusion over what is true and what is false. This is especially the case in the amorphous social media realm where “experts” abound in every imaginable field and area of interests. It is one thing for someone to mistakenly state or report something that is not accurate and then make a correction and another to purposefully mislead an audience with knowingly false information with malicious intent.”