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Westminster Media Forum - Implementing Media Literacy: Empowerment, Participation and Responsibility, 27 October 2005

Chair: Danny Alexander MP and Roger Gale MP

The role of the regulator

Good morning

[I’m Robin Blake and I’m manager of the media literacy team at Ofcom.]

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the important debate here today.

Firstly, I should explain Ofcom’s role in this debate.

Ofcom is the regulator for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services.

Ofcom exists to further the interests of citizens and consumers as the communications industries enter the digital age. The Communications Act gives us the statutory duty to promote media literacy.

Before I get into the story so far and where we see us going in the future, I think it would be helpful to remind ourselves what this is all about and listen to what people do with technology and where they still need our help.

[Video about 6 mins]

It’s always salutary for me to remember how broad people’s interests are and the different needs we must address.

So, to the story so far...

Our view of media literacy

In essence, the Act requires Ofcom to promote a better understanding of the nature and selection; regulation and control of electronic communications (both broadcast and networked – the only place in the Act giving Ofcom a role related to Internet content).

We have taken a definition of media literacy which is intentionally broad.

A person is media literate if they can access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts.

Media literacy is a collection of skills, knowledge and understanding.

It’s not just about skills with the technology to control and regulate content on TV, radio, mobile or the internet.

It’s also about knowledge and understanding of the nature of content and of the media industry itself.

People need to know that programmes arise from an editorial process; and how different media use words and images to communicate and influence.

People need to be able to evaluate content and to be able to express themselves creatively.

In short, people will need to be more media literate - more media savvy - more active or critical consumers of media - to make the most of what’s on offer.

Ofcom can’t do this on its own - but as part of a collaborative approach we can help people become more media literate.

What we do

Research

We need to understand where we are starting - to be able to find where people’s needs are greatest and to measure any changes with time. In effect, a benchmark of media literacy. We want to discover the extent, and types, of media literacy in the UK population through an audit.

Our Media Literacy Audit asked over 3,000 adults and 1500 children throughout the UK a series of questions about their media habits, interests, and motivations, across TV, radio, internet and mobile.

Its key objectives are:

To understand the extent to which relationships exist between different forms of literacy – i.e. the extent to which interest in and awareness of the digital features of, say, TV, correlates with take-up.
To understand the motivations for use (or non-use), which in turn helps us ....
To identify the barriers to take-up of types of media
To look in some detail at specific groups, for example in the English regions and Nations, minority ethnic groups, and those on low incomes, as well as a full range of age-groups.

The amount of information we have collected and need to analyse is huge. 5 reams of data tables from over 2,200 hours of interviews.

We will publish the findings in the New Year...but I can give you a sneak preview of just a handful of the broader themes emerging:

The extent to which media literacy runs across platforms varies in accordance with the type of literacy under the microscope. Interest and awareness in one form of media tends to mean interest and awareness in all platforms; while actual ownership, volume of use, and levels of concern all tend to be un-related.

Levels of concern appear to be independent of other elements of literacy.

People are more concerned about the internet than they are about other platforms. Radio creates minimal concern. And while concerns over the internet are content-focused, concern over mobile relates predominantly to health and safety issues.
If you are a trusting person as far as news reporting is concerned you tend to trust it wherever you find it. Trust levels are generally high. The sceptics amongst us distrust news across all platforms.
And although not a major part of the audit it seems that few people are actually using new communications technology to be creative – although more significant numbers are using personalisation and interactive techniques, which are arguably an interim step on the road to creativity.

We plan to revisit some of the findings of this initial benchmarking study on a regular basis in a tracking study.

And we will undertake research in areas where issues arise and where there are recognised needs.

Connecting, partnering and signposting

Our research confirms our suspicion that one of the significant barriers to greater media literacy is the lack of information about new communication services. There seems to be a thirst for information and advice which isn’t being fulfilled. Whilst Ofcom’s website can offer some help in this area, surely it must be in the service provider’s best interests to address this information need as well?

Labelling

Perhaps the most contentious proposal we suggested in our consultation on media literacy was to encourage the industry to consider providing viewers with information about programmes through a common labelling framework for audio visual materials.

Ofcom strongly supports the need for providing viewers and listeners with adequate information about the nature of content so that they can make informed choices about their and their family’s viewing and listening. This, we believe will be increasingly important as content is delivered on new platforms such as mobile TV and over broadband.

We have convened a working group of industry and other interested stakeholders to consider what, if anything, needs to be done to ensure viewers have the information they need to protect themselves and their families from potentially harmful or offensive materials.

We have commissioned research to understand the extent to which viewers and listeners utilise the current provision on content information, and whether these methods will remain viable in the future.

The findings will be presented to the working group for consideration.

Partnerships

I want now to touch on how Ofcom promotes media literacy.

Firstly, we want to raise media literacy on everyone’s agenda and to encourage stakeholders to consider the future needs of their customers, clients, users, listeners and viewers.

We believe we will make most progress through partnerships with others who also have a role to play. We will lead through our research findings and where necessary lever for change encouraging organisations to support consumer needs.

Many organisations are better placed than Ofcom to deliver action.

A couple of examples will, I hope give you a flavour of how an effective partnership can be greater than the sum of its parts.

Ofcom in partnership with The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) put media literacy at the heart of their campaign - Adult Learners’ Week. During the week a range of opportunities were on offer to promote media literacy from technology taster sessions in colleges and libraries to a fascinating evening with John Fortune (of Bremner, Bird and Fortune fame) looking at satire on television.

Broadcasting

And, as Heather will outline later this morning (and I won’t steal her thunder) , the Media Literacy Task Force is a clear demonstration of how partners with a common goal can work together to promote their priorities, to their client’s clear benefit.

Mobiles

The mobile operators, through the Mobile Broadband Group have worked together to ensure they identify and confront the challenges which face their burgeoning business before they and their customers are adversely effected. The creation of a framework for classifying commercial content that is unsuitable for customers under the age of 18 has proved an effective means of protecting children from harmful or offensive content.

Internet

Today sees the launch of the Get Safe Online campaign. This internet security awareness campaign arises from a partnership between industry and government departments.

And the Home Secretary’s Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet has made significant progress in engaging the internet service providers with child protection agencies to establish best practice.

The larger Internet Service Providers understand the need to provide their customers with targeted advice and support. But our media literacy audit indicates there are many people who haven’t sufficient information about the benefits of using the internet to take the plunge. Take up of the internet has slowed and a third of adults still have never used the internet.

This is one area where a partnership approach across the industry could reap benefits for all.

Young people

Marc Prensky suggested that ‘children are the natives in the digital landscape and we, the adults are immigrants’.

The way children ‘consume’ content is different from the traditional model most of us are used to.

The way young people view, interact and communicate in the world around them is different from previous generations.

Communications technology means they can watch world events as they occur – they see history in the making - in real time - from anywhere around the world – from Hurricanes in the Carribean and the Asian earthquake to the latest eviction from X Factor. Time and distance mean little.

A click of a button brings billions of web pages into their bedroom. And its second nature for children to multitask – watch TV and surf, hold several simultaneous conversations in a chat room whilst researching their homework on the internet. Their ‘information’ is multimedia, not just ‘text’ as it was for us.

Children have enthusiastically embraced both online and mobile technology. They pull down the content they want (music downloads and peer2peer file sharing) rather than wait for content to be pushed in their direction (the traditional linear schedule).

The new ways young people consume content must shape not only the way we deliver content but how we offer the tools and understanding they need to be able to manage their experience.

The future is here and now

Earlier this month ITV announced it is running a trial of ‘ITV Local’, - TV delivered over broadband to people in Hastings and Brighton; the BBC are trialling an online service allowing UK viewers to access the last 7 day’s TV and Radio on line. Sony, NTL and O2 are trailing mobile broadcast TV in Oxford.

There are many players exploring the potential for delivering content in new and imaginative ways. We want to support these services currently in their infancy.

However, streaming of video content could cause new issues as ISPs, mobile operators and broadcasters take advantage of the online environment to supply content.

The whole sector needs to manage the convergence of broadcast, mobile and internet content and services. The potential for effective partnerships are clear - to bring wins for both consumer and industry.

We recognise that consumers also need to take more responsibility for controlling their own and their children’s access to content. This is a new deal for customers.

As the statutory body charged with the promotion of media literacy in the UK, we start with a preference for finding solutions rooted in consumer empowerment through the exercise of informed choice.

And finally

These are exciting times in the development of communications technologies. Sometimes it’s all too easy to focus on the technology or the business model. But unless we recognise the different skills, attitudes and needs of our customers we are sure to miss the many opportunities on offer.

We must not let that happen.

Thank you.