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A European Approach To Media Literacy

Contributors

Niels Bekkhus

Matteo Zacchetti

Some 50 years ago, 6 European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) signed the Treaty of Rome 1 creating the European Economic Community. The idea was for people, goods, and services to circulate freely across borders. But the real concern was bringing together the nations and peoples of Europe. We should never forget that the historical roots of the European Union lie in an overwhelming tragedy: the Second World War. The prosperity of the EU has grown out of a particular form of regional cooperation, which has developed with a deep political commitment to democracy, human rights, and the enhancement of citizenship.

Today we are witnessing an unprecedented technological revolution. The meaning of “wealth” has shifted towards ownership of knowledge and information. Technological change makes it possible for virtually all people to become not only consumers but also creators of media content. The media have become an increasingly powerful economic and social force and are accessible instruments for European citizens to better understand the societies in which they live and participate in the democratic life of their community. In this context, at the Lisbon European Council 2 in March 2000, heads of state and of government set an ambitious objective for Europe: to become a more competitive knowledge economy and at the same time a more inclusive knowledge society. This objective and the current technological revolution need to be considered carefully together, since the development of humanity goes together with the progress of technology and vice versa. Technology is intrinsically human, and humans are characterized by their use of technology. 3

The present convergence of the media and ICT is a further development of the fundamental relationship between human beings and technology. Hence, media literacy, particularly in relation to information technologies, is today an essential issue, a question of human essence. For this reason, media literacy is not only an essential requirement for all European citizens but also a step forward on the long road of human development. Media literacy relates to the very nature of human beings, their ability to communicate and to interact as responsible individuals with fellow citizens in the framework of an organized society. Media literacy is not to be reduced merely to a skill to be used by individuals when acting as consumers.

In order to reach the ambitious Lisbon objective 4, a high degree of media literacy is necessary. Media literacy may be defined as the ability to access media, to understand and to critically evaluate media contents and different aspects of media, and to create communications in a variety of contexts. This definition is built on three main elements: 1) access to media and media content; 2) a critical approach to media messages, and an awareness of how media work; and 3) creativity, including communication and production skills. Media literacy relates to all media, including television and film, radio and recorded music, print media, the Internet and other digital communication technologies. Media literacy is a real prerequisite for active citizenship in today's information society, just as literacy itself was at the beginning of the twentieth century. It is a fundamental skill not only for young people and adults (elderly people, parents, teachers, and media professionals). In the context of the evolution of media technologies and the presence of the Internet as a distribution channel, media literacy is one of the major tools in the development of citizens' responsibilities.

The European Commission created a “Media Literacy Expert Group” in 2006 that serves an advisory role for the Commission. A public consultation was held at the end of the same year, which showed differences in practices and levels of media literacy in Europe. The Commission adopted an official Communication on media literacy (A European approach to media literacy in the digital environment) at the end of 2007. This initiative responded to requests by the European Parliament and industry together with a number of Member States. The Communication stresses the importance of media in today's rapidly evolving information society and in citizens' daily lives. It also adds a further building block to European audiovisual policy. The Communication links up with the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive, which imposes an obligation on the Commission to report on "levels of media literacy in all Member States" (article 26). It also has links to the MEDIA 2007 programme, which underlines the importance of media literacy and image education initiatives and in particular those organized by festivals for young people.

The Communication provides a European definition of media literacy related to all media (see above) and focuses on three main areas: advertising, audiovisual works, and the online environment. In this policy document, the Commission states its intention to promote the exchange of good practices on media literacy in the digital environment and to encourage research into criteria for assessing media literacy. The Commission also calls on Member States to encourage the authorities in charge of audiovisual and electronic communication regulation to become more involved, to cooperate in the improvement of the various levels of media literacy, and to develop and implement codes of conduct and co-regulatory frameworks in conjunction with all interested parties at a national level. Following publication, the other European Institutions have worked on different kinds of political documents on media literacy. In particular, a set of conclusions was adopted by the Lisbon European Council in May 2008; the Committee of the Region approved an Opinion in October 2008 that urges local authorities to be more active in this domain; and finally the European Parliament adopted a Report on media literacy of high political relevance. In 2009, the Commission will come forward with a formal Recommendation on the area.

In conclusion, it is clear that the concept of media literacy relates to development of humanity and citizenship. Is Europe aware and ready to take on the challenge of a truly broad investigation into and development of media literacy? Also, media literacy is now becoming a highly relevant political issue, in the sense that politics is the place where humans evolve and build their communities. If this is accepted, the development of a European approach to media literacy then leads to questions about European identities and how Europeans want to live together.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the European Commission on the subject.

1. http://www.treatyofrome.com/treaty.htm
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/summits/lis1_en.htm
3. As André Leroi-Gourhan puts it: “The only biologically irrefutable criterion of humanity is the presence of the instrument” (Le fil du temps, ethnologie et histoire).
4. At the Lisbon European Council in March 2000, heads of state and of government set an ambitious objective for Europe: to become a more competitive knowledge economy and at the same time a more inclusive knowledge society.

The International Media and Literacy Research Forum

Contributors

Robin Blake

Each year millions of dollars, euros, pounds, and yen are spent researching a range of media-related issues, most of which can be loosely defined as relating to media literacy. In the UK, the media and telecommunications regulator Ofcom1 alone spends almost £5M 2 and publishes 3 weighty reports on a range of subjects as diverse as ”Television Production Sector Review: A Survey of TV Programme Production in the UK,” ”Illegal Broadcasting” (in radio) and the “Media Literacy Audits.” All good stuff it is too. But what happens to it when it’s published? Does it really make any difference?

I can’t speak for all the uses made of Ofcom’s research, but I do know what happens to The Media Literacy Audits. It’s simple really; we use it inside Ofcom to set our priorities for the promotion of media literacy in the UK and to encourage all those external organizations who also have an interest in achieving a more media-literate society to do more where we’ve been able to identify skills and understanding gaps. We spread the word about our research to as many opinion formers, policy makers and stakeholders as we can. But the question remains - does all this effort really make a difference? And now there is a truly global media market, how do we share our experience with others and learn from them?

On June 25, 2007 I was jet lagged and wide awake at 5am in a hotel room overlooking the famous Gateway Arch in St Louis Missouri, USA. I was there at the very kind invitation of the Alliance for a Media Literate America (now the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE formerly AMLA) to speak at their conference on media literacy.

On the previous day I’d heard that the conference included a gathering of researchers in the field, presenting their research and sharing war stories. A good deal of the research looked like it could be of great interest to us in the UK, and I guessed that some of the things we were up to in the UK might be worth sharing with others outside the UK. But how could we find a way of sharing our findings from media literacy research across borders? Would the findings remain valid?

The promotion of media literacy across the globe shares many similarities. However there are also important, if subtle, differences that influence the activities of media literacy practitioners and researchers in each country. To share research meaningfully across cultures and countries, these differences need to be explicitly identified, agreed upon, and understood. For this reason, we propose that a framework for explaining the background and context to media literacy activity in different countries should be developed. This will allow these points of similarity and difference to be clarified, and help explain the contexts (political, social, cultural, technological, and market) in which the associated media literacy research has taken place.

Media literacy research examines how the public use, make sense of, create, interact with, and are affected by the media. With the technological ease of creating, producing and publishing media documents – people are no longer just passive consumers of media, but are also creators and publishers of media.

Media literacy intersects with broader social, commercial and political forces. Our framework has simplified this by suggesting that media literacy is influenced by (and helps inform) four key areas:

the social (educational and cultural) context
the policy context
the regulatory context for media
the market

For example, in the case of the UK, in the social context, it is influenced by issues such as cultural heritage (a tradition of public service broadcasting), changing demographics (an aging population), and the place of media education in the curriculum. In the policy context it is influenced by political priorities and interventions, such as those aimed at shaping the workforce through investing in skills development, and shaping the market through initiatives, such as the recently announced Digital Britain review 4, which aims to coordinate policy actions to promote the media and telecommunications sectors. And the drive to deliver government services online will have a significant impact on the need to promote the media literacy of those who will be affected most.

In the UK, we at the communications regulator Ofcom have a duty to promote media literacy. Whilst the duty is there, the powers to require action from those we regulate is not. Despite this, Ofcom’s activity in this area has helped put the promotion of media literacy firmly on the agenda of a wide range of agencies throughout the UK. And the ongoing debate about regulation of the internet is clearly going to impact on both society and industry. In the UK, the increasing move to ”self-regulation” pushes more responsibility onto the other players, and increases the need for more education and public information campaigns.

Trends in people’s behavior, their attitudes and preferences, are shaping the way the market develops. In the UK, the growth of on demand and time shifted media consumption and the move of advertizing revenue from broadcasting to the internet is shaping the media market. People have much greater choice but need new levels of understanding to be able to make the most of what’s on offer.

What this means in practice is that we believe professionals in the field need to work together to agree on a framework for mapping their research activity so that meaningful comparisons can be drawn, constructive partnerships can be explored and developed, data can be shared, and resources not wasted.

We are offering this framework as a starting point for discussion with the hope of generating the following outcomes:

A better understanding of context, and how it shapes activity;
The ability to see one’s own country’s activity and the shaping forces more clearly, in the context of others’ activity;
Being able to identify how the contextual factors have shaped and inflected the research undertaken and the findings;
Being able to identify overlapping research findings, and appreciate subtle differences created by different market and social contexts, political and regulatory regimes; and
The ability to identify any gaps that exist and share potential solutions to emerging issues.

The overall aims of sharing research are to inform greater understanding by learning from the experience of others, to catalyze new approaches for research activity and, as a result, to improve the dissemination of research and the use of findings to inform practice by policy makers, regulators, and practitioners in the field.

But we need a vehicle for sharing findings, experience and expertise. That is why the International Media Literacy Research Forum (The Forum) was formed. The Forum was created by the partnership of Ofcom with the National Association for Media Literacy Education in the US, CAMEO from Canada, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the New Zealand Broadcasting Standards Authority, and the Dublin Institute of Technology.

The inaugural meeting of The Forum was held at a three-day conference in London in May 2008 5. The second meeting was held at the annual International Regulators’ Forum in November 2008 in Hong Kong. Exploratory talks are now underway to bring The Forum to the next gathering of the NAMLE in Detroit in the summer of 2009, where The Forum will have come full circle around the globe.

The Forum continues to explore the most effective way of using technology to support its work between meetings in the real world.

If you would like to know more about The Forum, please email media.literacy@ofcom.org.uk.

Watch a video of Robin Blake presenting a version of this article on YouTube.6

1. http://www.ofcom.org.uk
2. Ofcom Annual Report and Accounts 2006/07 http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/accoun/reports_plans/annrep0607/
3. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/
4. http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/5548.aspx
5. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/theforum/
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WapFZ7O0ugA