The Communications Commission has selected 3 winners and a jury favourite out of 66 entries in the latest edition of the “Truth or Fiction?” contest. The winners have received ultramodern prizes. Competition winners, as well as students with outstanding entries, will be given certified training and career support by the Commission. A total of 15 students with the best entries will undergo a programme devised by BBC Academy and the Media Literacy Department, which will allow them to participate in media literacy projects and share their experience with other students and school pupils. 

The media literacy contest aims to develop critical thinking, analysis and fact-checking skills among young people. As part of the competition, participants were required to identify fake news in Georgian media space that had not yet been confirmed as inaccurate. The students had to explain how they identified the information, present the relevant source and establish real facts surrounding the case. 

The first prize in the competition was won by Alex Kurdadze, whose entry concerned the issue of vaccination. Alex studied an article published by Sputnik Georgia, which claimed that the Pfizer vaccine had various side-effects, including the swelling of lymphatic glands. To verify these claims, Alex consulted the original source of this information (FDA report) and established that the article was fake. He received an iPhone 13 Pro from the Communications Commission for winning the contest. 

The second place in the competition went to Gigi Giorgadze, whose entry examines the claim by the online publication Georgia and the World regarding the possibility of a special convention being established by the World Health Organisation. Gigi identified signs of fake news and focussed attention on trustworthiness of the online publication. To verify the information, he used various sources and documents, establishing that the headline and content of the article are false and misleading. Gigi Giorgadze received an HP laptop from the Communications Commission as a gift. 

The third place went to Luka Ambalia, who examined an article on the web portal tvm.ge concerning the planting of microchips into people by a supercomputer  at the EC headquarters in Brussels. He established that the content of the article was fake, and that the accompanying picture depicted a building located in Manhattan, rather than Brussels. To verify the information, Luka employed various tools, including photo verification. He received an iPad 10.2 as a gift. 

The jury’s special prize was received by Mariam Rukhadze, whose entry dealt with a Georgia and the World article regarding the import of grapes from Armenia. Mariam highlighted aspects such as the headline being presented in the form of a question, different fonts, unbalanced tone and lack of sources. She checked the data presented in the article against the GeoStat database and established that the numbers were false. Mariam Rukhadze received Airpods Pro from the Communications Commission as a gift. 

The media literacy contest “Truth or Fiction?” has been organised by the Communications Commission six times – twice for bachelor’s degree students and four times for school pupils.