For a second year the bachelor degree students from Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga) are learning the media literacy with a teachers from Baltic Centre For Investigative Journalism Re:Baltica.
The course runs in the spring semester of 2016. The students learn the basics of journalism and media economics, get introduction of the ethical and legal dilemmas, examine the relationships with sources and how to check their trustability, as well as learn the difference between journalism, public relations and advertising. They also learn the practical elements of the trade: writing news, conducting interview etc.
“No one becomes journalists after they have finished the course, but they are able to navigate among the various media products and genres, critically approach the information on social networks and the trustability of sources. We show them a ways how they can support journalism without becaming journalists, for example, by volunteering their professional skills,” said Sanita Jemberga, editor and executive director of Re:Baltica.
The first Re:Baltica course took place in SSE Riga in spring 2015. As the final paper students together with writer and editor Inga Spriņģe developed a story about shark practices in payday loans industry which was nominated for the Latvian Journalists Association’s Prize of Excellence in 2015.
