Teresa Hanratty is Project Manager with Learning Waves, the training body for the Independent Radio Sector in Ireland. Teresa has represented the Commercial Radio sector on the Media Literacy Ireland Steering Group since its inception and is a member of the Media Literacy Ireland Training and Development Working Group.
In her work with the Independent Radio Sector, Teresa oversees the design, development and delivery of training programmes to continually upskill and support those working in the sector to meet the needs of the changing media landscape in Ireland. In addition to this, Teresa plays a pivotal role in the design and development of programmes aimed at attracting new talent to the sector.
For Teresa, Media Literacy is key to empowering people with the skills and knowledge to understand how the media works and it is this that underpins the content and shapes the design of the programmes delivered through Learning Waves. Over the last number of years, Teresa has gained significant experience in providing Adult Media Literacy content for radio and in developing media literacy based training programmes for the teenage population. She has supported to development of projects across the industry to heighten awareness, explore the issues central to and deliver bespoke content in Media Literacy.
Such projects include the Journalism Graduate Programme, the TY Media Week Programme and the 360 Broadcast Bootcamp Programme.
These programmes aim to attract new talent across many areas to the industry. Specifically, the programmes aim to give the participants the skills to interrogate the accuracy of information, to counter unfair and inaccurate representation and to support them in making informed media choices. The programmes support students in answering the following questions :
What is Media Literacy? How does being media literate affect young people and their interactions on social media? How is news constructed? What is Fake News? How do young people cope with the bombardment of news and information across traditional and new format media channels? How do you navigate conflicting messages on body image, mental health, celebrity lifestyle and retain a positive sense of self in your formative years?
“We need to be continually thinking about how we educate and inform future generations to be engaged, thoughtful, analytical media consumers today, tomorrow and in the years to come. Therefore, it is fundamental that academics and practitioners come together to shape how we educate future generations and Media Literacy Ireland is the ideal platform to allow this to happen.”
Teresa Hanratty
Teresa played a central role in the delivery of the Be Media Smart Campaign across the Independent Radio Sector on behalf of Media Literacy Ireland over the last number of years. The success of this campaign using the platform of local radio can be seen in the analytics behind the campaign.
For Teresa, the success of Media Literacy Ireland lies in its ability to bring academics and practitioners together from across a range of sectors together to collaborate, to share knowledge and experiences and to shape the role the media plays in society. Fundamental to achieving this is educating future generations and this is achieved through the Be Media Smart Campaign and the extensive programmes offered by Media Literacy Ireland members to primary, post primary and third level students.
As a strong advocate of life-long learning, Teresa continually invests in her own education and development having most recently completed an Advanced Diploma in Social Media and Media Law with Kings Inns College in 2021. She also holds an MSc. in Human Resource Management from Dublin City University and an MSc in Quality Management from Sligo Institute of Technology.
