United Kingdom

About this Country

Media Literacy in the UK, a contextual overview provided by Ofcom

What was the origin of media literacy in the UK?

As a precursor to the 2003 Communications Act, the White Paper - A New Future for Communications, highlighted the importance of creating a media literate population and moved the issue from a purely academic and educational context, into a public policy debate. Section 11 of the Communications Act 2003 gave Ofcom a duty to promote media literacy (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/ukpga_20030021_en_3). Under section 14 (6) of the Act we have a duty to make arrangements for the carrying out of research into the matters mentioned in Section 11.

Ofcom has a leadership role in the UK relation to promoting media literacy, but it is not alone in its statutory responsibilities. Under the terms of the Royal Charter granted to the BBC on 19 September 2006 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/purpose/charter/index.shtml), the BBC acquired a duty to promote media literacy. The Charter took full effect from 1 January 2007. A Memorandum of Understanding between Ofcom and the BBC Trust sets out an agreement to co-ordinate and support joint initiatives – particularly research.

Recent developments

Martha Lane Fox was reappointed UK Digital Champion by the new government in June 2010. Her remit includes advising government how to provide better, more efficient online public services and accelerating efforts to help more people benefit from the power of the internet. See Race Online 2012 for more details.

"In the internet age, we need to ensure that people aren't being left behind as more and more services and business move online. But this issue isn't just about fairness as Martha's work shows, promoting digital inclusion is essential for a dynamic modern economy and can help to make government more efficient and effective." David Cameron - The Prime Minister  

"The ‘Digital Revolution’ has the potential to deliver huge benefits to public services, to reduce social exclusion and to improve government transparency." Nick Clegg - Deputy Prime Minister

"I want to see libraries right at the heart of the digital inclusion mission. To reduce the digital divide, the library network will work together to reach out to half a million digitally excluded people and support them to become confident digital citizens by the end of 2012." Ed Vaizey - Minister for Culture, Communications & Creative Industries

December 2009 saw the publication of Professor David Buckingham’s independent report into “The impact of the commercial world on children’s wellbeing”, which suggests that the debate about the impact of the commercial world on children is a polarised one, between those on the one hand who see children as victims, and others who see all children as confident and media-savvy consumers. The report notes that while there are risks and a need for appropriate safeguards, the commercial world and the media offers children great opportunities for learning, social development and enjoyment. It states that children and parents need help in acquiring the skills to exploit these opportunities whilst staying safe.

In February 2010 a review into the sexualisation of young people was published. Dr Linda Papadopoulos was commissioned by the Home Office to look at how sexualised images and messages may be affecting the development of children and young people and influencing cultural norms. She also examined the evidence of a link between sexualisation and violence.

In March 2010 Professor Tanya Byron confirmed the UK as a world leader in child internet safety but advised that Government and Industry need to make faster progress in delivery if the UK is to stay ahead of advances in technology in her progress review published two years on from her first report ‘Safer Children in a Digital World’. Professor Byron highlighted key successes, including:

  • ‘Zip it, Block it, Flag it’, the public awareness campaign for parents;
  • the creation of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), a coalition of government, education,  charities and industry; and
  • the publication of a groundbreaking internet safety strategy.

However Professor Byron also made it clear that more needed to be done to help speed up the delivery of policy and actions that fundamentally impact on the lives of children and young people. 

The Digital Economy Act was passed on 8 April and the majority of Sections came into force on 8 June 2010.

How is it defined?

There is no single, agreed definition of media literacy in the UK. Media literacy is an umbrella term covering a set of personal skills, knowledge and understanding of media and communications. It is a specialist term, not part of everyday language.

Media literacy is a set of inter-related competencies that enable people to operate the technology, search and navigate to find what they are looking for, to understand that material, to have an opinion about it and, where necessary, to respond to it.

These competencies can be learned and developed throughout a person’s life, and are relevant to young and old alike. People can become media literate though informal media education as consumers of a range of media, or by more formal learning through media studies and similar courses.

Ofcom works to the following definition of media literacy: ‘the ability to use, understand and create media and communications’. Ofcom recognises that its stakeholders will continue to use whatever definition of media literacy emphasises their own priorities and suits their particular aims and objectives.

What other ‘literacies’ share areas of common interest with ‘media literacy’ in the UK?

Two other non-traditional ‘literacies’ are commonly featured in UK public policy: digital literacy (also referred to as computer or ICT literacy) and information literacy, which offer related visions of the technical and critical thinking skills required for modern living and working. ‘Information literacy’ and ‘digital literacy’ include within their definitions some of the competencies related to skills, knowledge and understanding included in media literacy. Some authors suggest that media literacy is simply ‘literacy’ in the context of the digital world. Others refer to it as ‘21st Century literacy’.

What are the relevant key contextual factors and developments in the UK?

The promotion of media literacy in the UK occurs in the context of five key contextual factors:

the market context

  • The growth in on-demand and time shifted consumption.
  • Consumers increasingly exercising choice
  • Changing market forces and wealth

policy interventions

  • See above for recent developments
  • The Digital Britain White paper, published in June 2009, noted that there are several obstacles facing those that are offline: availability, affordability, capability and relevance.
  • The increasing importance of media literacy, not just for individuals but for society as a whole, is also reflected in other important initiatives such as the formation of the UK Council of Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS).
  • The four UK Nations have different priorities, policies, responsibilities and accountability structures. Opportunities for people living in the Nations to develop their media literacy are influenced by the geographical, cultural and statutory frameworks of their nation. However, some media literacy related initiatives reach across the 4 UK Nations. But different aspects of media literacy fall within the remit of various Government departments and logistically, this makes it difficult for the deployment an over-arching media literacy strategy across the UK.
  • Generally there is a broader social trend towards decreasing state regulation and ‘top down’ governance; increasing emphasis on choice / co-production; dialogue.
  • There are also intersects with powerful policy innovations around digital infrastructure and skills; re-invention of schooling; new models of political engagement and citizenship powered by new technologies
    - e-society: transformational government initiative; Building a Digitally United Kingdom; Digital Participation etc
    - e-economy: innovation; skills; creative economy programmes

the social context

  • Demographic changes in society – an increasingly elderly population, with the associated health and welfare implications (with an associated move to lifelong learning) and changes in employment patterns.
  • Extent of and delivery of public services - a drive to deliver government services online (see the Digital Britain report noted above)
  • Digital empowerment in creativity and distribution of cultural artefacts including the development of hyperlocal news and information focussed initiatives and creative-community resources
  • Changing familial and community structures- increasingly dislocated communities and geographically dispersed families
  • Public concern about media issues – about eg. violent media content, privacy and the role of technology in anti-social behaviour eg “happy slapping”
  • Public attitudes – reduced deference to those in authority

learning context

  • Education is a devolved responsibility making it difficult to have a uniform approach to the provision of media literacy in education across the UK.
  • Recent years have seen a number of reviews of the curriculum across the UK. e-learning: Learning 2020 / personalised learning;  lifelong learning, cultural expression and personal fulfilment, etc.

As noted above, Professor David Buckingham’s independent report into “The impact of the commercial world on children’s wellbeing” notes that while there are risks and a need for appropriate safeguards, the commercial world and the media offers children great opportunities for learning, social development and enjoyment. It states that children and parents need help in acquiring the skills to exploit these opportunities whilst staying safe

media regulation

  • In the UK, the increasing move to ‘self-regulation’ pushes more responsibility onto two other segments – to the market and to broader policy interventions (especially education and public information campaigns
  • Developments in Europe also influence media literacy work in the UK, including the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and the European Recommendation on Media Literacy.

How do these affect the development of media literacy?

These forces have a profound effect on the questions being asked by research and, by definition, the emphasis/interpretation that will be put on results and should be kept in mind when considering studies carried out in the UK.