Angelina Jolie joins the BBC project Our World.
Jolie will serve as an executive producer on the news project aimed at children aged seven to twelve. The english-language current affairs program is set for a 2019 release. The series is set to roll out ten half hour episodes with the hope of promoting global media literacy.
“There has never been a time when it was more important to introduce the next generation to objective, impartial news and factual explanation of the events and issues shaping our world,” Jolie said. “Children today are exposed to a lot of opinion, but not necessarily to information that is fact-based and reliable.”
She continued: “As a mother, I am very pleased that the BBC World Service is taking this step. It is also important to me that the project is global, and will help young people in different countries to be connected to each other and to have greater awareness and understanding of the news on an international basis.”
BBC World Service Director Jamie Angus added, “No parent can completely isolate their child from fake news. But what we can do is give kids the tools to distinguish the genuine from the false and encourage them to develop critical thinking – to ask themselves: who produced the video and why? Are they a reputable organization? Are they just telling one side of the story? Is there another view?”
