The Communications Commission has successfully held the 9^th edition of the media literacy contest “Truth or Fiction?” for 110 school students, whose submissions were assessed by a competent jury panel. Winners received ultra-modern prizes from the Commission. According to the rules of the contest, participants were required to identify fake news in Georgian media space that had not yet been confirmed as inaccurate, explain how they identified the information, present the relevant source and establish real facts surrounding the case. 

The first place in the contest went to Mariam Chagunava, whose work concerned the cyber attack on the Vatican Archives. Mariam found an article published on the Intermedia platform, which claimed that a German hacker breached the Vatican Archives and discovered that 25,000 years ago, there was a civilization that was ahead of our current technological development. Mariam checked both the author of the article and the facts mentioned in the article. She presented her work in the form of a video. Mariam Chagunava received an iPhone 14 Pro from the Communications Commission as a gift. 

The second place was taken by Luka Gogatadze, who presented an article published on the online platform “Georgia and the World.” The story relates to Italy’s concerns about a change in the foreign policy of Tunisia. To ensure the accuracy of the information, Luka checked the identity of the author, searched for a Russian-language source similar to the article, and later, based on reliable sources, he confirmed the falsity of the information conveyed in the article. Luka Gogatadze received an HP laptop from ComCom as a gift. 

The third place went to Mariam Saakiani. She proved the falsity of information spread on social media, according to which the armed forces of Azerbaijan prevented actions by Armenian saboteurs on the state border. In order to verify the information, Mariam first checked the official website of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani media, where the aforementioned information was not confirmed. Later, she visited the official websites of Armenian media sources and the Ministry of Defense of Armenia and made sure that the case involved the spreading of disinformation. Mariam Saakiani received an iPad 10.2 as a gift. 

In addition to the three winners, the jury also highlighted the work of Emil Askarov, who proved the falsity of information spread in the Azerbaijani media. According to the article, the government of Azerbaijan blamed Iran for an attack on its embassy. Emil was able to confirm the falsehood of information based on comparison and analysis of reliable sources. The Communications Commission presented him with a special prize in the form of an Acer laptop. 

It is worth noting that participating students represented schools from Tbilisi and other regions of Georgia. 

The media literacy contest “Truth or Fiction?” is designed to develop analytical, fact-checking and critical thinking skills in teenagers. The contest has been held six times for schoolchildren and three times for university students, attracting a total of 700 participants. Along with the contest, ComCom held around 150 seminars in schools and universities, within the framework of which more than 2400 pupils and 900 students were trained in media literacy.