Media Advocacy for UK Children and Young People

CMF submitted a response to the government consultation on the Green Paper “Watch This Space” on the future of television delivery and potential prominence for public service content.

CMF QuizNite returns for a fourth year, at a fantastic new venue!

This year’s quiz will take place at Soul Mama Islington – jazz musician and CBeebies star YolanDa Brown‘s fabulous new restaurant and jazz club.

Come along for a night of conversation and quizzing, and enjoy a hot buffet from Soul Mama’s African, Caribbean and South American inspired kitchen, as well as a complementary glass of Prosecco on arrival.

The quiz is hosted by comedian and kids’ comedy writer Tiernan Douieb, and will test out your knowledge of children’s media past and present.

It’s a great opportunity to meet up with old friends in the children’s media business, or to make new ones!

3rd of November 2026
Doors open at 6:30pm, quiz starts at 7:30pm
Soul Mama Islington, London N1 0PS
Tickets £45, or a table (for up to 6 people) for £225

Buy your ticket now!

The CMF is producing an event at the Chiswick Book Festival: Helping Children to Read for Pleasure in the Digital Age

Encouraging children to enjoy reading instead of scrolling through their phones is The National Year of Reading’s big challenge. Head of Research & Evaluation at The Reading Agency Dr Carina Spaulding, author and CMF Board Member Laura Henry-Allain MBE, and author and co-founder of mayamada Nigel Twumasi discuss how to get children reading for fun with CMF Board Member and Executive Group Chair Alison Stewart.

Buy your ticket here

Get ahead with all the latest research. The Children’s Media Foundation is launching a new quarterly CMF Research Digest. The first issue will be published in July 2026.

Edited by Dr Eleanor Capaldi, the digest will bring together academic, commercial, and institutional research articles and reports, and highlight interesting video content on children’s media issues.

You can sign up for this quarterly newsletter here.

The government has announced plans to ban social media for young people under the age of 16. This is the result of their consultation into “growing up in the online world”. Following support in this consultation from 90% of parents for a ban, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on 15th June that the government would bring forward legislation for an “Australia plus” ban on social media for young people.

Many civil society organisations, including the Children’s Coalition for Online Safety, supported by CMF had called for a more nuanced and effective approach. CMF followed this with a detailed proposal which suggested existing regulation could be used to improve the design of social media services to protect children’s wellbeing, while maintaining their access to content of value.

However, the government appears to have gone further. So far, the details of how the ban will be implemented are not clear. CMF and the Coalition will continue to press for action which is more likely to have success.

Make no mistake, this is an enormous step forward, and represents yet another government giving notice to the tech giants that damaging our children is no longer an option. CMF have long campaigned for society to take back the social media space, re-linking the concepts of ‘social’ and ‘society’.

The Children’s Media Yearbook 2026 is now available!

Have a look at these preview articles:
‘Story’: Equipment for Life
Comedy: a Neurological Superfood
What the Social Media Ban has Meant for Australia
A Shifting Children’s Media Landscape
Children’s Public Service Media Needs a Home

The Parliamentary Select Committee for Culture Media and Sport is Inquiring into children’s television and video in the UK. CMF has submitted written evidence and appeared before the Committee.

The latest hearing at the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee Inquiry into children’s television and video took place on 14th April 2026 with evidence given by:

• Louise Bucknole, Senior Vice President, Kids & Family, Paramount UK & Ireland
• Ian France, Head of Sky Kids Content, Sky
• Giles Derrington, Senior Government Relations and Public Policy Manager, TikTok
• Rebecca Stimson, UK Director of Public Policy, Meta

You can watch the evidence session here.

A short briefing paper provides insights into the CMF response to the government consultation on the BBC Charter Review Green Paper.

The full submission is a bold set of ideas which propose a future for the BBC as the nation’s “digital steward” – starting with a new Charter commitment to young people and revitalised engagement with new technology partners that can provide ambitious ways to connect people to not only the BBC’s content, but to each other. It envisages providing safe digital identities for all citizens from birth, clear and simple parental controls, AI based education services for all children, universal but progressive funding, and a continuing Charter to ensure the plans can be pursued long-term.

There is also a series of supporting documents going into greater detail on various parts of the proposition.

Do we Ban – or Build Better? The Summit explored the value in kids’ content, how to reset the way young people find it and how it’s funded – with actionable ideas for change to be relayed to government.

The second Children’s Media Summit took place on 16th February – produced by CMF in partnership with BAFTA. It gathered key figures from broadcasting, production, distribution, digital media, research, government and regulation, children’s advocacy bodies and the new platforms. Discussions covered whether to ban social media or build it better; how to define the value of kids’ content in the new viewing context; the future of the BBC as Charter Review gets under way and commercial and public funding opportunities for makers of children’s media.

You can watch the full sessions here.

CMF has conducted a series of meetings to learn more about reactions in other countries to the young audience moving away from broadcast content and onto new on-demand platforms.