In the modern information society the importance of education in the field of mass media cannot be denied as it helps develop the skills everyone is required to have nowadays. The article tackles the issue of media education and underlines the significance of the search for new approaches in the light of information risks, an unstable position of professional journalists and an increasingly important role of horizontal communication. The authors of the article study the models of media educational activity by contemporary foreign and Russian researchers and give an overview of the most effective techniques. The article provides an example of implementing a new teaching technique in the shape of a number of youth projects under the title Medianavigator. As for total journalism, its potential, efficiency and limitations in forming media competence in young people are examined. The authors present results of the preliminary research into media demands among high school students, as well as their awareness of an information agenda, their ideas of journalism as a profession and their abilities to solve ethical problems. It can be inferred that their level of media competence is rather low. The article analyzes results of the change in media competence that happened after the event that gave the students an insight into the professional activity of a journalist. The questionnaire survey of the participants shows that they acquired a better and altogether more realistic understanding about journalism. They recognized the importance of instrumental competence related to the target audience, information dissemination and the social function of a journalist. The students worked out a scale of true-false information and learned to work with respondents. They also acquired some skills in journalism ethics, critical thinking, and data processing. The article summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of the genre of total journalism as an interactive model technique in the sphere of media education.
