CMF News (Page 3)
Children’s Media Summit ’26 Opening Speech
February 24, 2026
Baroness Beeban Kidron opened the second Children’s Media Summit with a speech which addressed some of the key issues facing the children’s audience, the creators of content that serves them, and the platforms that now control how they see that content. I want to start with making two observations. First is that the media of […]
Why We Couldn’t Wait: Launching Children United and TVCU
February 4, 2026
It’s easy to talk about what’s best for children and their media but all the while, children are growing up and missing out. But while many talk, others get on with doing. On last November’s World Children’s Day, something very special, but very quietly happened. Nicky Cox MBE tells the story. Children’s media is at […]
Regulate, regulate, regulate!
January 5, 2026
Over the festive season and around the world, a few new laws came into force that one way or another affect children and their media providers. CMF executive committee member Jackie Edwards takes a look at them and offers a timely reminder. On the 5th January 2026 new legislation came into force in the UK […]
From recognition to real-world change: children’s rights in the digital environment
January 5, 2026
As childhood becomes ever more deeply shaped by digital technologies, the LSE’s Digital Futures for Children (DFC) Centre marked World Children’s Day on 20 November 2025, by convening a public lecture and expert roundtable to focus on a critical question: what difference has the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment No. 25 […]
Children’s Media Production: Where do we Stand?
December 2, 2025
From May to July this year, CMF Executive members Dr Ashley Woodfall, Associate Professor in Children’s Media and Deputy Head of the Centre of Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) at Bournemouth University, and award-winning producer Terri Langan, Head of Hello Halo Kids, asked people working in UK’s children’s media what they thought about the general […]
Can same‑language subtitles help children learn to read?
December 2, 2025
Only a few studies have tested whether same-language subtitles help children become better readers, and their findings are mixed. To provide an evidence-based answer, the Nuffield Foundation recently funded two large-scale studies at the University of London’s Department of Psychology. In this article, Dr Anastasiya Lopukhina & Professor Kathy Rastle discuss their findings. It’s an […]
British Screen Forum Annual Conference 2025
December 1, 2025
On 19th November, the British Screen Forum held its annual conference. Media consultant and CMF Board member, Helen McAleer went along to listen and report back. It was a day packed full of panels and keynote speeches and debate from some of the highest calibre professionals in the screen industry. The keynote was presented by […]
Losing Our Stories: Why Britain Must Fight for Its Children’s and Family Film Future
November 9, 2025
Multi-award winning film and TV producer and CMF Executive Committee member, Ken Anderson is working with partners across the UK to strengthen the Children’s & Family Screen Sector. He offers a timely reminder that securing children’s media content on all platforms includes the big screen and that UK’s children’s and family film is of, not […]
Sky Kids
October 8, 2025
Michael Rose OBE pays tribute to Sky Kids’ commissioning successes, the closure of which places even further strain on the already beleaguered children’s content industry in the UK. At the CMC in July, talk was inevitably rife about the crisis in children’s television and the forthcoming Select Committee Inquiry into its future. Just a few […]
Biddy Baxter MBE 1933-2025
September 9, 2025
On behalf of the Children’s Media Foundation, Joe Godwin pays tribute to one of the all time greats of children’s television, Biddy Baxter who sadly passed away in August. My relationship with Biddy had two phases, many decades apart. As a child, I knew her because twice a week this unusual name appeared at the […]