The Media and Digital Literacy Academy of Beirut (MDLAB) hosted its seventh annual summer training session from June 16 to 22, 2019, at the Lebanese American University (LAU), Beirut campus.
Organized by LAU’s Institute of Media Research and Training (IMRT), MDLAB seeks to prepare a media literate generation in the Arab region by providing media literacy curricular training sessions on various topics relevant to today’s communication landscape.

Since 2014, the Division of International Communication under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Carola Richter has been offering FU students the chance to participate at MDLAB. The participation is funded by a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

This year, 11 FU students from both Bachelor and Master level, accompanied by Dr. Anna Antonakis and Prof. Dr. Tanja Maier attended MDLAB among 60 other participants from Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, including students, journalists and faculty. Besides a broad spectrum of topical lectures, the students worked on their own film projects in international teams, while participating scholars created media literacy curricula to be taught in their home universities

The academy focused on building expertise in media literacy, youth empowerment, fake news, media and terrorism, feminism, empowering marginalized communities, and digital security.

Under the patronage of the Canadian Ambassador to Lebanon Emmanuelle Lamoureux and British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling, along with the presence of the Executive Director of the Samir Kassir Foundation Ayman Mhanna, the opening ceremony of MDLAB 2019 featured a panel discussion on the importance of media and digital literacy in advancing press freedoms and social justice.