UK government ministers have indicated clearly that they wish to see a place for media literacy education in schools. The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee is running an inquiry into the future of news; a public hearing of this on 15 October considered, among a range of issues, the government’s approach to media literacy. Two junior ministers took part, from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). In the words of Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, from DSIT,“[media literacy] comes back to education […] A lot of this needs to go on in schools. We are looking now at the independent curriculum and assessment review into education in schools. Digital skills need to be very much part of that, including media literacy. We are talking to the Department for Education to make sure that that is the case.”
It’s interesting that the Minister appears to be pre-empting the outcome of the curriculum review by suggesting, well before the review concludes next year, that media literacy will indeed explicitly form a part of the curriculum. Stephanie Peacock, the DCMS Minister recognises that though the curriculum is independent, the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, has nevertheless indicated that she is interested in media literacy and concerned about it. These sentiments echo the views expressed by Phillipson in an interview that she gave in August, as previously reported by MILA. It remains to be seen whether and how this will come to pass in practice. For now, the review is conducting an initial call for evidence, for which MILA will make a submission (to be published on our website in the coming weeks), along with partner organisations that also have an interest in media and information literacy.
For anyone interested, we reproduce below the relevant extract from the transcript of the House of Lords debate, with ministerial responses to questions from the Bishop of Leeds and Lord McNally – note how the latter expresses his scepticism about the Department for Education’s commitment to media literacy. The UK parliamentary website has published a full transcript from the entire debate – which covered issues such as the government’s approach to the news industry, the training of journalists, digital exclusion and disinformation. The extract below relates to questions 181, 182 and 183. And general information about the Lords’ inquiry into the future of news, which has been running since early 2024, may be found here.
EXTRACT FROM THE DEBATE TRANSCRIPT
The Lord Bishop of Leeds:The other wing of that is media literacy among people. I was at a primary school two days ago where they are starting the reception class on media literacy, which I was encouraged by. The previous Government had an online media literacy strategy. Do you plan to continue that? It is due for review.
Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Future Digital Economy and Online Safety, DSIT): The current strategy runs, I think, until next year. We are continuing to fund, as were the previous Government, a number of pilots and programmes in schools to deal with the whole issue of media literacy. There is a whole lot of learning that we can draw from those pilots.
In parallel, Ofcom has now produced its new media literacy strategy. We are seeing the end of one media literacy strategy moving on to another in parallel. The new Ofcom media literacy strategy makes it clear that media literacy has to cover every format, including online and offline services, and has a whole programme of research and engaging with the platforms to make sure that they carry out their functions to drive up media literacy.
It comes back to education, and what you said. A lot of this needs to go on in schools. We are looking now at the independent curriculum and assessment review into education in schools. Digital skills need to be very much part of that, including media literacy. We are talking to the Department for Education to make sure that that is the case.
The Lord Bishop of Leeds: The Government’s online media literacy action plan for 2023-24 is in place, but it is due for an impact assessment when it comes to an end in 2024. Will anything replace it, or will you simply go with the Ofcom media literacy guidelines?
Sam Cannicott (Deputy Director for AI Capability, DSIT):The immediate focus is getting the Online Safety Act implemented, as you say, and then to look beyond that if we need to.
The Lord Bishop of Leeds: Finally, a 2023 report by the LSE for the Government found that media literacy plans were characterised by “fragmentation, duplication, administrative burdens and limited co-ordination”. That is a good list, is it not? Do you have any plans to sort this out to get proper alignment? It is no good having a whole number of them competing.
Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: A number of the initiatives that were funded by the current government literacy scheme were not universal—a number of different schemes were being funded—and we need to learn the lessons of all that. Going forward, that is not enough; we need a comprehensive strategy. Part of that is about making sure that education takes place in schools, but also about educating adults to be able to distinguish between respected news providers and those that are trying to imitate them and distort the news.
We have a number of ways to approach this. Some areas are easier than others, and some of it is about legislation. A lot of it is a public debate about how you can trust the news you receive, and we need to give people a lot more advice about how they can navigate that so they can access trusted media sources, particularly during events like the riots, when people were completely distorting the news, as we well know.
Stephanie Peacock MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth, DCMS): Media literacy is a DSIT lead, rather peculiarly, so it speaks to the fact that it is cross-government. I was struck by Ofcom’s evidence to this committee about how it does a lot of work on this, but it alone cannot carry it. It is incumbent not only on Ofcom but across government to tackle this. We are seeing a trajectory where the press, as we are discussing in this inquiry, is struggling. The traditional news media has a number of challenges at a time when we most need them to do what they do best and provide trusted media. It is our challenge to address and balance that. The challenges created by the events in August and the misinformation highlight how important that is.
Media literacy is central to this, not only across the population but particularly for young people. I am a former secondary school teacher who taught 10 to 12 years ago, and there was not quite the prevalence of phones and social media that you have in the classroom now. Certainly, when I was growing up you did not have any of that. It presents teachers and parents with a real challenge. Media literacy—what we would have called “critical thinking” when I was at school—is so important for young people, because they are growing up in a completely different age. It is important that they are given the tools to cope with that. As the Baroness said, although the curriculum is independent, the Education Secretary indicated that she is interested in this and concerned about it.
Lord McNally:Baroness Jones will appreciate that one of the things about the House of Lords is that some of us hang around for a long time. I was on the 2003 Act, which gave specific responsibility to Ofcom to promote media literacy. The truth is that the speech just made by Stephanie Peacock could have been made by a new incoming Minister under successive Governments. I can only say, yet again, that media literacy is key to this. In the summer, we suffered from some of the problems that 20 years of not addressing and giving enough priority to media literacy inflicts on society. I strongly suspect that the Department of Education does not take media literacy seriously enough, so while you are still filled with the enthusiasm of new office, please push on.
Stephanie Peacock MP: The challenges we face now as opposed to 2003, when the Act you are referring to was passed –
Lord McNally: Now you are going to tell me what you were doing in 2003.
Stephanie Peacock MP: I had just started my GCSEs. The media landscape that we faced then, and the ideas of media literacy when I was doing my GCSEs and then A-levels compared to now, 20 years on, are completely different. The principles of critical thinking and being able to identify trusted, thought-through research, journalism or information might be similar, but the media has become much more of two-way conversation, as this committee has discussed more than once. Everyone can have a voice and be heard quickly in a way they simply could not back in 2003.
I completely appreciate the fair challenge you put to us as a Government that we need to take this seriously and it cannot just be words. The challenges are altogether different from what they were 20 years ago.
Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: I reiterate that media literacy is part of the Online Safety Act now, so the Government will hold Ofcom perhaps more rigorously to account for carrying out their functions under the Act. So there is a route for keeping an eye on what Ofcom are doing. It is ongoing, so it will not be just one strategy that is written up before we move on. The Government hopefully have a more longitudinal responsibility for Ofcom.