Media literacy goes beyond distinguishing real news from disinformation, Kyrgyz official

Media literacy is not limited to telling real information from fake news, Zarina Kalmuratova, chief specialist at Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Culture, Information, Youth and Sports Policy said at a panel session titled "Resilient and preventive measures against growing global information threats: Media ecosystem of Turkic states" at the 12th meeting of the OTS Media and Information Working Group in Baku.

Report quotes her as saying media literacy also involves understanding the nuances of what is disseminated and what should be disseminated.

"For example, Kyrgyzstan has had a law on protection against fake information for more than three years. Under this law, a source that distributes false information may be blocked for up to two months," she said.

Kalmuratova added that applying this law to social media platforms is not feasible, noting: "Unfortunately, combating disinformation spread through social media is very difficult."