Mister President,
On April 24, from the first minutes of your re-election, you chose to walk through the crowd surrounded by children, sending a strong message to all your fellow citizens: your new five-year term will be that of youth.
You want to offer this youth a "better world" and "better protection", in an increasingly fragmented society.
But these young people, who will have to face the immense climate challenge and breathe new life into our aging democracy, today find themselves disarmed in the face of a continuous flow of information, posts and messages, the reliability of which they are struggling to assess. and relevance.
Not all young French people have the tools to form an informed and healthy opinion, they are drawn into dangerous spirals, which can lead to isolation and radicalization.
This scourge affects all of society: no social class, no age group is spared.
Today, one in three French people subscribe to a conspiracy theory.
Beliefs take precedence over rationality.
Many of our fellow citizens are moving away from medicine and science.
Trust in the media and institutions is at an all-time low, which directly endangers our democracy.
We, journalists, educators, teachers, researchers, trainers, popularizers, working in the field, come into contact with public in disarray every day.
And we are extremely worried.
At school, millions of students leave their establishment without having acquired the skills essential to the exercise of their citizenship in the digital age.
Teachers do not all benefit from adequate training to awaken students' critical thinking.
Often, media and information literacy, included in the curricula but without dedicated hours, is the sole responsibility of individual initiatives.
The lack of means and resources allocated to it is glaring.
Outside of school, despite the investment of certain ministries, support for actors in the field remains irregular and incomplete.
Dozens of associations, places of knowledge and culture, businesses and committed citizens are fighting to defend the quality of information and sharpen the critical spirit of the French people.
But this commitment is unevenly distributed across the territory, to the point that the information divide is now aggravating existing social and economic divides.
Mr President, the failure of the State on the subject has a cost: the platforms, largely responsible for the problem, rush into this niche, to the detriment of independence and media plurality, without any other guarantee of quality than their own criteria.
We, actors and artisans of media and information literacy on a daily basis, today form a rich, diverse and inclusive coalition.
We want to build together a coordinated and really effective action on the whole territory.
Mr. President, the situation calls for raising media and information literacy to the level of a great national cause.
For this to take concrete form, we ask you to create a “media and information literacy fund” without delay.
This fund could be financed by the State and by a fraction of the digital business tax.
It would make it possible to support actors in the field, in direct contact with public authorities and elected officials, at national and local level.
The establishment of a real media and information literacy policy can only be achieved at this price.
This investment is a tremendous opportunity for France.
An immense hope for this youth who is so dear to our hearts.
Together, we will put France at the forefront of the fight against online disinformation and manipulation and we will shape true citizenship in the digital age, everywhere and for everyone.
Mr. President, France is fortunate to have countless actors on the ground mobilized to make our country an enlightened and reunited nation.
The political will must be present.
The challenge is immense.
Are you ready to take it up?
To see the full list of signatories, click here.
Policy
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World
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Company
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Education
Ministry of Education