CMF at CMC
The Children's Media Foundation produced two key policy discussions as sessions at the annual Children's Media Conference in Sheffield.
Media Advocacy for UK Children and Young People
Sleepwalking Over The Edge
The Media Bill does little to support content for children. But public service media is vital for young people's well-being and the future of society.
Public Service Media Report
Explore the CMF multi-authored Report: "Our Children's Future: Does Public Service Media Matter?"
Media Bill - Not Enough
The second reading of the Media Bill took place in the House of Commons on 21st November. The Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Thangam Debbonnaire was broadly supportive of the Bill but took some considerable time to point out that the Bill is ineffective in addressing the issue that a huge proportion of the audience over 7 has deserted linear broadcasting - especially public service television - for video streaming or shared video services such as YouTube and TikTok.
Her comments can be seen here:
The statement echoes CMF's biggest concern that legislators are sleepwalking into a situation which fails to recognise the realities of kids' and teens' viewing - and the massive strain this puts on the public service broadcasters.
Campaign Coalitions
CMF is allied to the Citizens’ Forum for Public Service Media, a group of organisations which has concerns about the Media Bill, particularly around the failure of the Bill to properly identify the public service media genres apart from news and children's content, and around the Bill's capacity to truly create prominence for public service content on VoD platforms. The Citizens' PSM Forum briefing on the Media Bill can be found here.
CMF is also a member of the Broadcast 2040 Campaign to support the continuation of broadcast TV services until at least 2040.
Children's Media Summit
Three months of intense activity followed the CMF-produced debate at July's Children's Media Conference. The Foundation convened a series of meetings with broadcasters, producers associations and audience advocates to build a picture of the issues facing the industry and how this might affect children in the long term. The Crisis of Childhood Analysis and ideas for solutions are now being put to Ofcom, and will form the basis for a Summit to be held early in 2024.
The Summit will press politicians to take action to address the massive shifts occurring as older children and teenagers migrates in huge numbers to new and unregulated platforms. This effects not only the young people themselves as they view do much content not designed for them as children, but also long term implications for UK culture and society (especially the future of public service loyalty in the UK) and is already impacting on the children's media industry, as it tries to cope with the loss of audience and revenue.
Online Regulation
CMF worked as part of the 5 Rights Children's Coalition to ensure the Online Safety Bill (which became law in October 2023) was best suited to ensure child safety "by design" on line. CEO of 5Rights, Baroness Beeban Kidron, has celebrated the success the coalition of charities and expert organisations achieved in strengthening the Bill's provisions.
Children's Media Yearbook
The Children's Media Yearbook 2023
is packed with articles and research reflecting on the past year in children's media and the future of kids' and youth content. You can order a print copy for £15.00 or download a digital version for £12
Take a look at the contents. And CMF's annual review of political and regulatory issues: "Sleepwalking into the Future".
Previous Yearbooks, including 2020, 2021 and 2022 are also now available as print or digital copies.
Sleepwalking Over the Edge
This CMF event on 17th May explored the consequences of the "lost audience". As kids in ever greater numbers desert public service media channels for YouTube, TikTok and the streamers, what are the implications as they reach adulthood - for them as engaged citizens, and for society, if a generation of young people grow up with no concept of public service media, its value and purposes.
"Children, and the media they use, are frequent topics of public concern and debate. The Children's Media Foundation will stimulate and participate in this debate - across the entire range of media that children experience."
Sir Philip Pullman, Author and Lifetime Patron,
"Children, and the media they use, are frequent topics of public concern and debate. The Children's Media Foundation will stimulate and participate in this debate - across the entire range of media that children experience."