MEA: Response to BBC Royal Charter Green Paper Consultation
- The Media Education Association
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
On February 23rd 2026, we were lucky enough to attend the joint MILA and Demos BBC Media Literacy Special event on the BBC Royal Charter Green Paper. The MEA was one of many stakeholders represented and it was interesting to share opinions about the BBC’s planned approaches to media literacy in the future. The MEA has signed MILA’s excellent summary of the discussions but the key areas we focused on were as follows:
We welcomed the way the BBC has highlighted the importance media literacy and has explored ways of developing this across the organisation.
We understand the importance of focusing on raising awareness of misinformation and disinformation across the BBC’s news brands.
We acknowledge that the BBC, as a trusted news brand, is well positioned to play a leading role in developing media literacy awareness.
We would like media literacy to be recognised beyond the narrow focus of misinformation and disinformation and suggest that too often media literacy is seen in terms of protection (in line with the Online Safety Act.) We propose that media literacy be seen more broadly, in terms of critical understanding, curation and creation of media. It is important that children and young people are encouraged to think critically about the media they consume and a vital way for them to develop this understanding is through their own creation of media products. The BBC is ideally placed to think beyond the narrow confines of the news and develop media literacy more broadly.
We feel that it is important to recognise that young people are already proficient users of the media and, in terms of their news consumption, find sources beyond the BBC to inform their world view. We feel it is important that the BBC do not simply assume that they are naturally the most trusted news brand for young people and some work will need to be done on behalf of the corporation to raise the profile of the BBC amongst the younger demographic.
We welcome any thoughts and opinions from our members.
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