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July 21, 2025

Rethinking Media Literacy: A new ecosystem model for information integrity

ISD Germany

Information Warfare and Online Manipulation, Resources

Jennie King, Sasha Havlicek and Isabelle Frances-Wright

ISD Senior Fellow Jennie King served as one of the lead contributors to this report. Our CEO, Sasha Havlicek, co-authored the foreword and participated in the expert working group that informed the report’s development, alongside ISD Director of Technology and Society, Isabelle Frances-Wright.

In an era marked by unprecedented speed, scale and sophistication in the creation and dissemination of information, the ability to critically engage with that information has become essential for safeguarding public trust, democratic discourse and individual autonomy. Media and information literacy (MIL) stands as a foundational response to this challenge, empowering individuals to access, analyse, evaluate and responsibly produce media content across formats and platforms.

Rethinking Media Literacy: A new ecosystem model for information integrity presents a new framework for a whole-of-society approach to MIL, grounded in two complementary models: the disinformation life cycle and the socio-ecological model. Together, these offer a structured way to understand how and where interventions can be most effective. Ultimately, the report calls for a shift from viewing MIL as a tool to make individuals more discerning to treating it as an essential pillar of healthy information ecosystems.

In the media

Meta is losing focus on election integrity two weeks ahead of the US midterms

The “Mosaic Project:” ISD’s joint initiative to combat disinformation during the Australian federal election

ISD’s Jiore Craig on how voters can stay ahead of “US-exported” disinformation in Australia’s elections

ISD Contributors

Jennie King
Senior Fellow

Sasha Havlicek
Co-Founder and CEO