It’s strange to think back on 2008 as a time of political innocence, but in many ways, it was. I was part of the team that helped build Barack Obama’s groundbreaking digital campaign, a time when we were experimenting with tools that were brand new to the political arena. We were figuring out how to use social media and mobile technology to reach people where they were, to get them excited, and to get them to the polls in numbers we had never seen before. It felt like we were building the future. We were pioneers, laying down the tracks…

Media literacy has never been more essential, and the people who teach, research, and practice it are the quiet heroes of our information age. In an environment shaped by viral falsehoods, algorithmic echo chambers, and the dizzying pace of digital change, helping people think critically about what they see, hear, and share is no longer a nice-to-have—it is a fundamental civic skill. That is why the European Digital Media Observatory, better known as EDMO, has opened a call for submissions to support the ongoing development of its Guidelines for Effective Media Literacy Initiatives. This is not a top-down exercise, nor…