In a world where information circulates at a dizzying speed, young people are confronted every day with waves of fake news, manipulation and distortions that influence their perceptions, their emotions and even their mental health.
“Digital Detective School” offered pupils and students a space in which they learned to distinguish between reality and fiction, between facts and opinions, becoming explorers of truth in an increasingly confusing digital landscape.
The project combined psychology, journalism and media education through workshops, discussions and practical exercises held over four months in Sibiu. The young people worked side by side with psychologists, journalists and IT specialists to understand how the mechanisms of lying work, how disinformation spreads and how we can build healthy digital hygiene.
This process gave rise to the newspaper “Fake News de Sibiu”, a publication that is at once satirical and educational, parodying the headlines, clichés and distortions of the contemporary press. The newspaper brings together false articles, invented with humour and intelligence, which expose the absurdity of the information world we live in. It is an exercise in collective lucidity, in which the young people learned that sometimes the best way to understand a lie is to recreate it consciously.
Alongside the publication, the “Fake News de Sibiu” exhibition was created: a visual collage of false images, created or reinterpreted by the participants, which turns the city into an alternative story, full of irony and critical spirit. The exhibition opened at the Student Culture House of Sibiu, bringing together young people, journalists and representatives of the local community in an event that generated dialogue, curiosity and smiles.
The project was structured in three modules covering all facets of disinformation:
“Clickbait Trap – Breaking News or Breaking Lies?” – on how headlines and algorithms fool us;
“Is your mind playing you, or are you playing your mind?” – an incursion into the psychology of fake news and into our cognitive vulnerabilities;
“Sherlock on the Internet – Fake News Battle” – a competition between teams of young digital detectives, who checked suspicious images and news with the help of fact-checking tools.
“Fake News de Sibiu” went beyond the boundaries of a simple educational project. It became a mirror of the way we think, react and relate to the truth. A space where laughter and reflection met, and where the young people discovered that critical power can also be creative.
The success of the exhibition and the interest of the local and national press showed that the subject remains topical and necessary. In a global context marked by information wars, manipulation and polarisation, this project demonstrates that media education and humour can be forms of civic resistance.
“Digital Detective School” was, in essence, a lesson about the freedom to think.
And “Fake News de Sibiu” – proof that the truth can also be told with a smile.
