“Digital Transition and Public Policy”, this was the emphasis of the sixth edition of the Literacy, Media and Citizenship Congress (LMC Congress)This initiative, promoted by GILM since 2011, returned in April 2023, on the 21st and 22nd, in Lisbon, at the premises of the Escola Superior de Comunicação Social, an institution that has been a permanent member of GILM since 2021. Under normal conditions, the 6th CLM Congress would have been held in the first half of 2021. However, GILM decided not to carry out the initiative in the context of restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, preferring to stick to the original model, i.e. totally face-to-face.
Pedro Adão e Silva’s announcement of the launch of the National Media Literacy Plan for the second half of 2023 was the highlight of the first day. In a year in which the initiative has focused on political policies for this area, this announcement by the Minister of Culture comes as “something long overdue”, as Sérgio Gomes da Silva, a member of GILM, summed up at the end of the event. Tasked with presenting the key ideas of the edition, this representative of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers also recalled the need to articulate, in terms of public policies, the action of the multiplicity of agents in the field, as well as the different literacies that media literacy mobilizes and with which it can be related. Recalling the evolution of the media, as well as the demands/opportunities/challenges that emanate from this evolution, he stressed the importance of journalism and its necessary link to the development of media literacy, as well as the responsibility of the different institutions and actors that can promote it.
With around 500 participants, the 2023 edition has almost fully taken on the character of an edition international (with an English version of the website and simultaneous translation of plenary sessions) and inclusive (with translation of the content of the plenary sessions and some workshops into Portuguese Sign Language), a possibility that was supported by Google (Portugal) which agreed to sponsor these services to the tune of around 6,000 euros.
The 2023 edition was also supported by the António Sérgio School Training Center, through the process of accrediting the initiative as training for compulsory school teachers, the Media Literacy and Journalism Association, which provided two of the four workshops (one on radio and one on television) free of charge, and the Luso-American Foundation, which sponsored the travel and accommodation of Belinha de Abreu, a Portuguese-American researcher who was among a line-up of speakers from different areas who are actively involved in promoting media education and media literacy.
From the list of speakers, in order of appearance on the program, we recall those from the national scene: Augusto Santos Silva, Pedro Adão e Silva, Joaquim Melro, Fernanda Bonacho, André Sendin,Cristina Ponte, Manuel Carvalho, António José Teixeira, Helena Martins, Lino Santos, Mário Figueiredo, Miguel Crespo, Vitor Tomé, Luísa Meireles, João Costa, Regina Duarte, Joao Pedro Figueiredo, Pedro Jorge Braumann, Maria João Horta, Tatiana Sanches, Luísa Ribeiro Lopes, Manuel Miguéns, Sérgio Gomes da Silva, Manuela Pargana da Silva, Sandra Miranda, Elmano Margato. From the international scene: Divina Frau-Meigs, Sherri Aldis, Sally Reynolds and Maria Donde.
The media partners of the VI LMC Congress were Agência Lusa, Antena 1, RTP, Público and Público na Escola. There was also news coverage by students from the School of Social Communication.
All the permanent member organizations at the time of the event were part of the organization:
The Honorary Committee was made up of the following members: Augusto Santos Silva, President of the Portuguese Parliament, João Gomes Cravinho
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pedro Adão e Silva, Minister of Culture, Elvira Fortunato, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, João Costa,
Minister of Education, David Xavier, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, José Filipe Moraes Cabral, President of the UNESCO National Commission, Domingos Fernandes, President of the National Education Council, António Feijó
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Calouste de Gulbenkian Foundation, Elmano da Fonseca Margato
President of the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Gustavo Cardoso,President of OberCom, Joaquim Carreira
Chairman of the Board of Directors of LUSA, Pedro Cunha,Director General of Education, Lino Santos
Coordinator of the National Cybersecurity Center, Luís Chaby Vaz, President of the Cinema and Audiovisual Institute, Manuela Pargana da Silva, National Coordinator of the School Library Network, Miguel Poiares Maduro, President of the Executive Board of the European Digital Media Observatory, Nicolau Fernando Ramos dos Santos
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, Sebastião José Coutinho Póvoas
President of the Media Regulatory Authority.
The Scientific Committee had the expertise of researchers representing a wide range of higher education institutions with expertise and work in this area.
The Executive Committee was made up of the following teams of representatives from GILM member institutions: UNESCO National Commission – Anna Paula Ormeche; Directorate-General for Education – Elsa Mota, Susana Tavares; Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social – Adelaide Jesus; Bruna Afonso; Idalina Paula; Escola Superior de Comunicação Social/Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa – André Sendin, Fernanda Bonacho, Ana Luísa Rasquilho Raposo; Foundation for Science and Technology – Sandra Martins; Rádio e Televisão de Portugal – Mário Rui Miranda; School Library Network – Maria João Filipe ; General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers – Alexandra Lorena, and the Guest expert,Vitor Tomé.
