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Media Literacy for Elections

With a General Election scheduled for 29 November, now is a great time for a reminder about how to recognise accurate and reliable information and avoid potential mis– and disinformation.

Below are some helpful resources to guide you in the run-up to the election:

  • The Be Election Smart campaign is an online campaign led by EDMO Ireland which highlights practical tips to be mindful of when navigating news, commentary, and advertising about the election.
  • The Electoral Commission Is the independent body that oversees elections in Ireland. Its website provides information around the voting process. In April 2024 it published the Framework on Online Electoral Process Information, Political Advertising and Deceptive AI Content.
  • The Be Media Smart campaign is an initiative of MLI that encourages people to Stop, Think and Check that the information they are getting, from whatever source, is accurate and reliable.
  • Election Check 24 is a coalition of news publishers and fact-checkers brought together by PA Media, Ireland’s national news agency, to counter misinformation around Ireland’s General Election. It is supported by the Google News Initiative.
  • The FactCheck Knowledge Bank was created by TheJournal.ie to provide information and tools for citizens to become their own fact-checkers. There is a specific page on how to navigate elections.
  • Which Candidate is an initiative of the University of Limerick that provides information on all the local and national election candidates. 
  • ADAPT is the world-leading SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, co-ordinated by Trinity College Dublin and co-hosted by Dublin City University. They have created a short podcast on Combating Deep Fakes in Elections
  • Candidate Information Pack is a new resource from Coimisiún na Meán and An Garda Síochána for all election candidates running in the General Election. It offers guidance for candidates on what to do when they are faced with harmful and/or illegal content or behaviour online.
  • Guidelines in Respect of Broadcast Coverage of Elections. These updated Guidelines from Coimisiún na Meán provide direction and advice to broadcasters as to how fairness, objectivity and impartiality can be achieved in their coverage of elections.