Towards a National Media and Information Literacy Policy in Bangladesh: An Advocacy Coalition Framework
Creators: name: Alam, M Aslam
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Media Information literacy, MIL Policy, Advocacy Coalition Framework, policy subsystem, MIL Bangladesh

description: We are living in an information-saturated era. Almost infinite amount of information is available at our finger-tips from in-numerous media sources. Equally available are misinformation and disinformation. The line between information and disinformation are getting blurred day by day. Differentiating between a valid source and a crooked source is beyond capacity of most people in our society. However, everyone needs information via one or the other media to navigate through their daily life, to plan for the future, and to understand themselves, their communities and the natural environment. The crucial role of information and media has been realised by scholars since decades. The concept of information literacy has been in circulation since the seventies. The post-war period has witnessed the emergence of the concept of media literacy. However, these concepts got renewed attention from scholars during the last decade of the last century. Many competing concepts, such as digital literacy, ICT literacy, computer literacy, civic literacy, news literacy, social media literacy, etc., also emerged during this time. Mass proliferation of information and communication technology and mass participation of citizenry in the media and information landscape resulted in increased attention to media and information literacy (Alam, 2020). In this backdrop, at the beginning of the current millennium, the UNESCO has come forward to unify all these related concepts under one umbrella: media and information literacy (MIL). According to UNESCO, MIL is a composite concept, which empowers citizens by imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes about media and information providers, and how to engage with them ethically and smartly by equipping with the abilities to understand needs of information, analysis, evaluation, interpretation and utilization of the information for problem solving (Grizzle and Calvo, 2013). MIL requires education and re-education of almost entire population. As empowering citizenry is a gigantic task, it requires concerted efforts of the government, non-government organizations and the civil society (Begum, 2013). In this context, this paper conceptualises MIL as a public policy issue. Although UNESCO has published a policy and strategy guidelines for MIL in 2013, probably no countries in the world has yet formulated an integrated national MIL policy. This paper argues that this shortcoming is due to lack of a public policy approach. In this backdrop, this paper makes a case for a national MIL policy. Various public policy approaches are highlighted. Dominant approaches include public choice, welfare economics, pluralist-corporatist, stagist, subsystem and new institutionalist frameworks (Alam, 2003). Out of the public policy approaches, this paper opts for policy subsystem approach (Sabatier, 1988, 1991 and Pierce, et. el., 2017) to explain the MIL policy sub-system. Advocacy coalition framework is a key building block of this approach. Other building blocks, such as belief system and resources of Advocacy Coalitions (ACs) and policy-oriented leanings are discussed, and the functioning process of the ACF is examined. The nature of key stakeholders of MIL policy and key advocacy coalitions are identified. MIL ACs include media and communication coalition, Library and information services coalition, Information and communication technology coalition, Education and literacy coalition and law and order coalition and religious coalition. This paper argues that although the MIL policy sub-system is crowded with various ACs, all coalitions are committed to MIL policy core. Differences are on peripheral issues, particularly concerning who gets what. In this background, it is possible to unite all coalitions behind an integrated MIL policy. The united front of all ACs have a much better chance of getting MIL on the top of the national policy agenda. This paper argues that LIS professionals can be the uniting force by playing the role of policy entrepreneur. This is the first attempt to address MIL from a public policy perspective, and thereby this viewpoint paper makes an original contribution to the body of knowledge on MIL. Consequently, it has significant policy and social implications.