Youth and commitment to fight against misinformation and hatred

More than 400 students from seven high schools in Valencia and Alicante star in this project to detect fake news and promote respect for Human Rights.

Emilio Doménech (Newtral) and Cristina Medina (Radio Elche Cadena SER) encourage the promotion of a critical youth in the two short film festivals organized by the company

Crítica project's video summary, developed in Valencia and Alicante to fight against fake news

Crítica, an educational project promoted by Jovesólides to combat fake news, has come to an end after two years and 16 workshops in seven schools in Valencia and Alicante. Two short film festivals have also been held, recorded and produced by students during the training workshops, aimed at developing the skills of young people to detect and disprove hoaxes related to racism, migration or Islamophobia.

Seven high schools in the Valencian Community have participated in this project to promote critical thinking in their students. The activities developed have been the realization of a series of training workshops (16 workshops of 5 sessions each with a total of 80 sessions) and the creation of short films that contribute to the breaking of prejudices about the most vulnerable groups of our society, ending in two galas in which the audiovisual works have been awarded in the categories of 'Social Aspect', 'Best Edition' and 'Creativity'.

Join the fight against Fake News and learn more about the Criticism project

In the first festival, held in 2023 at the Bancaja foundation in València, the IES Sedaví, IES Consellería de València, IES El Clot de València and IES Comarcal de Burjassot participated. The second edition, which took place at the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea El Escorxador in Elx, was attended by the IES Enric Valor in Castalla, La Canal in Petrer and Carrús in Elche.

Crítica project's film gala in València, with students and faculty participating

A specialized jury has evaluated the works elaborated against disinformation. In the València Festival, Emilio Doménech, journalist of Newtral, participated in the jury; as well as Violeta Tena, vice-president of the Unió de Periodistes Valencians; and María Jesús Pérez, General Director of Citizen Participation of the Generalitat Valenciana in 2023. In the 2024 edition of Elx, Cristina Medina, deputy director of Radio Elche Cadena Ser and Elche 7TV; Esperanza Martínez, project technician of the Esperanza Pertusa Foundation; and María Bernabeu and Iván Botella, coordinator and head of communication, respectively, of the Juan Perán Pikolinos Foundation, were part of the awards selection committee.

[VIDEOS OF THE WINNERS OF BOTH EDITIONS]

• 2023

Find out more about the 2023 edition HERE!

• 2024

Find out more about the 2024 edition HERE!

Crítica is positioned as a reference initiative in the Valencian Community to teach young people to detect and combat fake news in digital media. Overall, 445 students have participated throughout the project, with 231 people from the province of Valencia and 214 from the province of Alicante. The Festival Crítica represents the end point of the educational project for this bi-annual project thanks to which students from 14 to 17 years old develop critical thinking and acquire key skills to exercise informed judgment when navigating in an increasingly complex and polarized digital environment.

The president of Jovesólides, Lourdes Mirón; the councilor of education, youth and disability of the City of Elche, María Bonmatí; and the deputy director of Radio Elche Cadena SER, Cristina Medina, closed the edition agreeing on the importance of including activities like this in the school curriculum to achieve a global training in our young people, the future and present of our society.

Crítica is a project of Education for Development and global citizenship, funded by the Second Vice-Presidency and Department of Social Services, Equality and Housing of the Generalitat Valenciana. Follow all the news with the hashtags #Crítica and #QueNoTeLaCuelen on social networks.