What are the barriers to better media literacy for children and adults in the UK?
Thursday 17 April 2025
The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee will next week take evidence from organisations including Full Fact, Demos and Childnet as it explores the need for media literacy and how barriers to improving this can be addressed.
The inquiry is considering the key actions required to enhance media literacy skills across the UK population, to enable citizens to engage with the digital world safely and responsibly..
The Committee will hear evidence in two sessions from 2:30pm on Tuesday 22 April in Committee Room 3 of the House of Lords. Giving evidence to the Committee will be:
From 2.30pm
- Chris Morris, CEO, Full Fact
- Hannah Perry, Head of Research for Digital Policy, Demos
- Will Gardner, CEO, Childnet.
3.30pm
- Dr Gianfranco Polizzi, Assistant Professor in Digital Media and Communications, University of Birmingham
- Emma Stone, Director of Evidence and Engagement, Good Things Foundation
- Marc Davies, Digital Programme Lead, Cwmpas
In the first session the Committee will question the witnesses on the risks posed by the digital and media environment, and how these differ between age groups. The Committee will also examine what specific skills individuals need to develop to protect themselves online, and the steps the Government, regulators and tech platforms should take to support improvements in media literacy.
The second session will focus on the barriers to improving the media literacy of UK adults, what policy changes could make the biggest difference in tackling them and what examples exist of effective programmes for improving media literacy.
