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BECID Team’s Achievements: October 2024 in Review

Here you will find a comprehensive review of the BECID team’s achievements in October 2024. This overview includes events organized and attended by the team. You will also find our team members’ latest publications and media coverage. 

BECID organises 

  • In October, several workshops or skills laboratories organized by the Baltic Centre for Media Excellence in cooperation with NGO NewEast focused on media and information literacy for the elderly were held in the Latgale region of Latvia, thanks to co-financing from the Society Integration Fund of the Republic of Latvia. This region was selected due to its proximity to Russia and Belarus, as well as its significant minority population, making it particularly vulnerable to disinformation and propaganda from neighboring countries. Experts led the workshops, helping participants learn how to identify disinformation in an engaging manner, differentiate between opinions and facts, verify images, and recognize manipulative tactics employed by artificial intelligence. The skills laboratories have gained significant attention in Latvian Public Media. These MIL workshops are part of the WP4.4 activities of the BECID project, which aims to strengthen information resilience among the Russian-speaking population in the Baltics. 
  • On October 30, the Baltic Center for Media Excellence (BCME) hosted the Baltic MIL Day in Riga, Latvia. This event brought together experts from across the Baltic region to strengthen media literacy and address the challenges of disinformation. The gathering aimed to empower local community leaders by highlighting the role communities play in fostering critical media engagement. Anne Leppäjärvi delivered the keynote address, “Fighting for a Media Welfare State”, setting the tone for discussions on media literacy challenges and responsibilities. A standout feature was the Media Club presentations by Alina Hachetlova, Irina Shlick, and Paulius Andruškevičius, each showcasing innovative approaches to building community resilience. BCME Executive Director Gunta Sloga moderated a panel discussion that explored how local initiatives are essential to advancing media literacy. Midday, Maja Nenadovic led a collaborative workshop designed to strengthen regional partnerships among MIL practitioners. Other sessions addressed cutting-edge topics, including Lukas Keraitis’s exploration of generative AI and Laure Delmoly’s presentation on AI’s role in media education. Dr. Rihards Bambals discussed disinformation in Latvia with a focus on foreign influence, and Annika Raiim hosted a mental health workshop on coping with media-related stressors. The event provided attendees with new insights and strategies to enhance media literacy and resilience across the Baltics. 

Publications and media   

BECID is represented   

  • On October 2 and October 16, Maia Klaassen (UTARTU) conducted online seminars for young people. She talked about algorithms and sharing data. 
  • On October 3 and 4, VMU representatives Auksė Balčytienė, Kristina Juraitė, Rimgailė Kasparaitė and Patricija Lenčiauskienė attended 28th Central European Political Science Association (CEPSA) Conference “Twenty Years of EU Membership: Lessons Learned, Challenges And Opportunities”, organized by Central European Political Science Association in cooperation with Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Political Science. Auksė Balčytienė together with BECID colleagues from Latvia and Estonia Agnese Davidsone, Andra Siibak and Signe Ivask presented report “Lessons Learned from Policy Responses to Disinformation in the Baltic Countries: Looking Beyond Risk-Awareness and Securitization”. Kristina Juraitė presented report “Promoting dialogue and civic agency amid digital disruption: A new approach to public communication ethics”. Patricija Lenčiauskienė presented report “Lithuanian Youth’s Digital Literacy Skills And Self-Conscious Use Of Information In A Changing Media Landscape”. Rimgailė Kasparaitė presented report “Multistakeholder partnerships in communications policy for digital resilience”. 
  • On October 7, Maria Murumaa-Mengel (UTARTU) gave a lecture on similarities and differences between media generations.
  • On October 10, Maria Murumaa-Mengel (UTARTU) conducted a training “Academic support to Information resiliency” to the Ukraine military communication specialists. 
  • On October 11, Inger Klesment and Maria Murumaa-Mengel (UTARTU) contacted a training on children and youth culture on digital platforms to teachers. 
  • On October 16, Inger Klesment (UTARTU) conducted a training on using AI in event communication to cultural workers. 
  • On October 17, Maria Murumaa-Mengel (UTARTU) lectured the Ukraine communication and media experts on building societal resilience.  
  • On October 22, VMU representatives Auksė Balčytienė, Rimgailė Kasparaitė and Patricija Lenčiauskienė participated at a post-conference webinar in collaboration with the UNESCO MIL Alliance “Developing Digital Literacies in Algorithmic Cultures” organized by European Communication Research and Education Association. They represented their paper “Enhancing epistemic skills and moral awareness in journalistic decision-making”. 
  • On October 24, Evita Puriņa, head of Re:Baltica’s fact-checking section, participated in a discussion on the successes and failures of disinformation prevention and media literacy initiatives at the opening of the 13th Global Media and Information Literacy Week at the State Chancellery of Latvia. 
  • On October 24, representatives from UTARTU took part of the Estonian media education conference in Pärnu. Maria Murumaa-Mengel and Kaarel Lott (UTARTU) conducted a lecture “When Andrew Tate enters the classroom”. 
  • On October 25, Maria Murumaa-Mengel participated in Baltic MIL Summit in Tallinn. She conducted a lecture “Microinterventions as a Tool for Digital Activism”. 
  • On October 26, Gretel Juhansoo (UTARTU) gave a lecture “How AI has turned disinformation into a trend” at the German-Baltic Conference in Lithuania. 
  • On October 26, Inger Klesment (UTARTU) travelled to Malta for a week to carry out digital security games at schools and to lecture teachers about teaching digital security. 
  • On October 29th VMU team participated in the discussion, dedicated to MIL week and moderated by BECID junior researcher Patricija Lenčiauskienė “Is disinformation really a companion of our daily life?”. During the discussion held in Ąžuolynas library the participants talked about the daily flow of information that surrounds us and whether it really contains widespread misinformation. They also discussed the influence of modern technologies on the processes of information creation and transmission and whether Lithuanian citizens have enough means to develop media and information literacy and critical thinking. 
  • On October 29 –30, Evita Puriņa attended the EFCSN annual conference and the organization’s assembly in Brussels, where fact-checkers from across Europe discussed the challenges of using AI in fact-checking and the difficulties of collaborating with digital platforms. 
  • On October 31, Maia Klaassen (UTARTU) gave an e-lesson “What is the price of brainrot to my privacy?”. 
  • At the annual OIP conference in Durres, Albania, Aistė Meidutė (Delfi Lithuania) presented her findings on the topic of  „Staying Relevant: Growth (and survival) Strategies for Media“. She presented Delfi’s best practices on how traditional digital media and fact checking can grow and stay relevant in the age of social media. 
  • At the EFCSN conference in Brussels, Aistė Meidutė (Delfi Lithuania) was moderating a panel discussion „Prebunking in Practice: Turning Theory into Action“. The discussion evolved around the questions of how can prebunking, an academically proven concept be most effectively applied in real live – the session explored the practical implementation of prebunking, and examined the relationship and interdependencies between prebunking and debunking. 

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