House of Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee inquiry: Media literacy
Executive Summary
As the UK’s public service broadcaster and the world’s most trusted news provider, the BBC plays a central role in supporting digital and media literacy. This submission outlines the BBC’s multifaceted approach to equipping children, young people, and the wider public with the skills needed to navigate the modern media environment — including the growing threats of misinformation, disinformation, and the disruptive impact of generative AI.
Our media literacy efforts are underpinned by the BBC’s public purposes, which include a duty to provide impartial news and to support learning for people of all ages. We deliver trusted educational content, specialist news services, outreach programmes, and innovative projects in partnership with schools, platforms, and industry stakeholders.
Supporting media literacy means:
What is needed
We agree that media literacy must be the responsibility of everyone including broadcasters. Well-funded public service broadcasting (PSB) goes hand in hand with democratic health, with citizens more likely to trust one another and less likely to think of authoritarian leadership as a good way to govern.
We recognise the role the BBC can play in supporting media literacy for all UK audiences and our universality is central as is the trust audiences have in our content, whether news or education. We are exploring how we can do more but the BBC faces many challenges not least the pressure on our budgets. Ensuring the BBC is properly funded and supported by Government, regulators and others means we can continue to build on the impactful work delivered by Bitesize or Newsround or Verify.
We would also urge swift and full implementation of the Media Act so we can operate on a level playing field and audiences can find trusted public service TV content including that which supports media literacy, as ways of watching continue to evolve.
We welcome the Committee’s support on these matters.
Introduction
1. The BBC welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence to this timely and important inquiry. The BBC has had a public mission to inform, educate, and entertain for over 100 years – and in that time, our services have evolved. The advent of the internet created a powerful new means for us to fulfil our mission – one we have been at the forefront of embracing, from launching the BBC website in 1997 to blazing a trail with the creation of BBC iPlayer and bringing the concept of catch up and video-on-demand services to the UK public at large. We are continuing to evolve our digital offer in the news space – whether by launching a new network of over 70 multimedia investigative reporters across our local bases in England or exploring the potential of GenAI to translate content to make it available to more people. [BBC, ‘A BBC for the Future’ (2024) https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/documents/a-bbc-for-the-future.pdf].
2. The BBC is the most trusted news brand in the UK and the most trusted international news provider globally. Ofcom research shows that BBC News output across all platforms reaches 68% of all UK adults, with BBC One the most used news source, 13 percentage points higher than the next nearest provider [Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2024 report]. Seven in 10 BBC news online users rate it as high quality, accurate, and say it helps them to understand what is going on in the world today - compared to social media platforms, where fewer than half of users do so. [Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2024 report].
3. The BBC’s mission is “to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality, and distinctive output and services which inform, educate, and entertain”. Media literacy is highly relevant to this, and to our first two public purposes: to provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them, and to support learning for people of all ages.
Supporting Young People’s Media Literacy
4. The BBC believes that young audiences should be empowered to critically assess information, understand the risks of misinformation, and engage responsibly with digital content. This is aligned with the National Curriculum for England’s goal to prepare pupils for the “opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life”.
Newsround
5. Newsround reaches 3.4 million 7–11 year-olds weekly in schools. It delivers age-appropriate, high-quality journalism, including a BSL version for all registered deaf children in the UK. The programme supports young learners in making sense of complex global events, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, fostering early critical thinking about news. A growing portion of Newsround’s content is designed for social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, meeting children where they are and countering low-quality or misleading content.
Other Side of the Story (OSOTS)
6. This media literacy project, delivered in partnership between BBC Education and BBC News, helps teens identify and challenge misinformation. OSOTS content is available via BBC Bitesize and BBC Teach, reaching over 2.4 million learners in 2024. Social media distribution has seen over 3 million engagements. These five week programmes teach critical thinking skills around impartiality and fake news to develop long-term media literacy skills for the future. Interactive materials include “Fact or Fake” and “AI or Real” quizzes, and video explainers presented by recognisable youth personalities.
7. Since 2022, OSOTS outreach programmes have engaged over 18,000 young people in schools, with 10,000 in 24/25, particularly targeting communities identified by Ofcom as being more susceptible to misinformation. 96% of participants reported feeling more able to spot fake news, and 90% more likely to verify sources post-participation.
Teen24
8. In 2024, BBC Bitesize and BBC Radio 5 Live delivered “Teen24”, a national survey and content day exploring teens’ digital lives, AI use, and exposure to harmful online influencers.
Safer Internet Day
9. BBC Teach delivers an annual live lesson in collaboration with Childnet and the UK Safer Internet Centre, reaching over 800,000 learners. These sessions promote safe and responsible online behaviour.
Future initiatives
10. Recognising the increasing impact of Generative AI BBC Education is exploring partnerships to bring this alive for audiences This could include working brands that have relevance to particular age groups and audience sectors.
11. Ahead of the new school year in September, we are working in collaboration with education consultants and the National Literacy Trust to update and improve Media literacy resource collection (lesson starters, stimulus and explainer videos).
12. While our Solve the Story initiative to help upskill students launches in January with weekly episodes and challenges and a multi-school event planned for spring half term.
Editorial Innovation and Public Trust
Trusted news and information with no agenda
13. Launched in 2023, BBC Verify is a specialist fact-checking unit that verifies user-generated content, analyses data, and explains how complex stories are constructed.
14. Its newsroom-based studio brings transparency to the editorial process, embodying the principle: “If you know how it’s made, you can trust what it says.”. BBC Verify has a physical studio in the BBC’s London newsroom, from where BBC Verify correspondents explain the “how” behind our journalism – transparently sharing their evidence-gathering with audiences. BBC Verify is helping audiences to navigate complex news stories, including where online mis- and disinformation is involved. For example, one investigation explored how social media is being used to deny or minimise human suffering in the Israel-Gaza conflict, with false accusations that footage of civilian casualties feature actors rather than real people.
15. The BBC Future blog, which combines evidence-based analysis with storytelling on a range of important topics, has featured a series called How Not to Be Manipulated. This series includes articles such as “The One Simple Change That Will Improve Your Media Diet in 2024” and “The ‘Sift’ Strategy: A Four-Step Method for Spotting Misinformation.”
16. BBC Verify is also working with Bitesize and producing bespoke content for Newsround as well as helping to develop guides for all audiences. These include tips on “How to Spot ‘Fake News’ Online” and “Sorting Fact from Fiction: Useful Tips and Tools.” The blog also covers articles tied to specific news events, such as “How You Can Stop Bad Information from Going Viral”.
17. Beyond these resources, the BBC is involved in broader digital literacy initiatives. For example, in partnership with Stop Scams UK and other major UK organizations, the BBC’s Be Scam Safe week in 2023 and 2024 featured content and programming aimed at helping people identify and avoid scams, including digitally enabled scams such as QR code scams and online parcel delivery fraud.
Content Credentials and Media Provenance
18. Trusted, impartial journalism is a cornerstone of democracy. However, public trust in news is under increasing pressure, particularly in digital environments where content is often decontextualised and misinformation can spread rapidly. Audiences consistently perceive news encountered on digital platforms as less trustworthy than content from established news providers [News Consumption Survey]
19. To help address this challenge, the BBC is a founding member of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) — a cross-industry initiative that includes partners such as Microsoft, Adobe, Google, The New York Times, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The coalition’s goal is to combat disinformation and restore trust by enabling greater transparency around the origins and editing history of digital media.
20. The BBC has focused on developing technical signals for media provenance — digital markers embedded within content that indicate its source and how it was created. These signals remain attached to the content as it moves across the internet, helping users distinguish verified media from manipulated or inauthentic material.
21. Initial research into the impact of content credentials has been highly encouraging. In a self-selecting trial of 1,200 people [BBC, ‘Does provenance build trust?’ (2024) https://www.bbc.co.uk/rdnewslabs/news/does-provenance-build-trust]:
22. We believe that C2PA standards have the potential to become a powerful tool in safeguarding trust in an increasingly complex and AI-influenced media environment. Platforms such as Facebook and OpenAI have already committed to adopting the C2PA open standard, underscoring its growing importance.
BBC News Labs and the "News for All" Project
23. Established in 2012, BBC News Labs serves as the innovation hub for BBC News, dedicated to developing and testing new approaches to storytelling, audience engagement, and the delivery of high-impact journalism. Its role is to ensure that BBC News remains at the forefront of digital innovation and responsive to the evolving needs of diverse audiences.
24. A recent initiative, News for All, exemplifies this mission. The project was a six-month participatory research programme conducted with members of marginalised communities in South Wales. Grounded in design justice principles, the research prioritised community-led engagement: rather than being driven by the BBC, the workshops were facilitated by local participants themselves, ensuring that insights emerged directly from those with lived experience.
25. The findings revealed that participants in these communities demonstrated high levels of media literacy. They showed a nuanced understanding of how editorial decisions are made, how funding structures shape news content, and the varying perspectives of different news providers. Rather than needing basic media literacy tools, these communities expressed a desire for more inclusive, transparent, and accountable journalism — and for institutions like the BBC to reflect their voices and priorities more clearly.
26. We are now actively exploring how to build on these insights, with the aim of making our editorial processes more accessible, responsive, and relevant to all communities we serve.
Ofcom’s Media Literacy Strategy
27. The BBC supports Ofcom’s Three-Year Media Literacy Strategy, recognizing the critical importance of a robust information ecosystem. This enables individuals to navigate content safely and confidently while continuing to access media they trust and value. We fully align with Ofcom's three key pillars – Research, Evidence & Evaluation; Engaging Platforms; and People & Partnerships – and believe our own efforts in media literacy complement these priorities.
28. We also acknowledge Ofcom’s role as a “catalyst and convenor” within this strategy, which is essential for driving collaboration. However, we would suggest wider thinking around Generative AI and digital transition, to ensure that they support good media literacy outcomes.
29. Ofcom should take action to support the development of best practice when it comes to Gen AI and the display of news publisher content (for example, on issues such as attribution, prominence, content integrity, links back to publisher content, and data back to publishers).
30. Regarding Ofcom’s Future of TV Distribution work, it should coordinate a collaborative process with infrastructure providers and their customers to identify future technical and financial tipping points for different TV distribution methods and the solutions required to manage their impact on audiences. Alongside this work with the Future TV Taskforce to understand the challenges especially for some audiences around the transition to IPTV.
31. We would also urge robust implementation of the Media Act to support people to find trusted public service TV content including that which supports media literacy, as ways of watching continue to evolve.
Conclusion
32. The BBC is committed to ensuring that all audiences — especially young people — are equipped with the skills they need to engage critically and confidently with media. We believe that supporting media literacy is fundamental to a healthy democracy and resilient information ecosystem.
33. The BBC is willing to do more to support media literacy across the UK and around the world, particularly around countering misinformation and disinformation and in supporting audiences of all ages to critically engage with content. Ensuring Public Service Media is supported and within this putting the BBC, including the World Service, on a secure and sustainable financial footing is essential for work to continue and develop further. We welcome the Committee’s support on this and look forward to giving oral evidence to this timely inquiry in due course.
April 2025
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