Campaigns
The CMF campaigns for:
- Recognition of the uniquely important role media plays in the lives of young people.
- Greater range and diversity in children’s media, through regulation, funding initiatives or other means – emphasising the need for UK-produced content.
- The right for children and young people to access media without harm.
The CMF lobbies Parliament and Government, and responds to public consultations.
Latest campaign action
2026
August
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.
May
As a member of the Children’s Coalition for Online Safety, CMF supported the Coalition’s public statement which reflected on the DSIT Consultation Growing up in the Online World. This is the government’s response to calls for a social media ban for the under 16s (or under13s), following the Australian legislative model and restrictions which have been brought into effect in various countries since. The Coalition position and that of CMF is that a n outright ban would be ineffective and is aimed at the wrong target. On the question of “Ban or Build Better?” – building better and regulating to achieve that is what is needed.
CMF’s own submission was submitted on May 26th 2026. It expressed our support for the Coalition stance, but went into further detail on a methodology for bringing about meaningful change at the social media providers using existing regulatory powers at Ofcom and the ICO.
March
Government consultation on the Green Paper outlining possible changes to the BBC Charter – for the next ten years.
CMF submitted a comprehensive set of proposals for a radically new BBC, with improved funding, and specifically responsive to the needs of young people in the digital space. Our logic: great content is of little value if young people don’t find it. Young people have left the BBC in huge numbers, which is also influencing family viewing. They consume content primarily in unregulated, commercially oriented spaces, where there are no guarantees of nourishment or balance. In ten years time this generation are unlikely to support public service media – or even know what it is.
The CMF submission is supported by a series of papers exploring detail:
BBC Technology Investment Chronology – previous BBC ventures in technical innovation.
BBC Charter 2028: the Investment Gap – increased spending on children’s / youth content and technology innovation.
BBC Funding; the Efficiency Dividend – abandoning the licence fee in favour of a household or broadband levy.
Partnership Initiatives for an AI Enabled Public Service Steward – freeing the BBC to ally with organisations that share a vision of ‘civic digital access’.
Platform Partnerships: YouTube Interim Framework – how to maximise public service value on third party delivery platforms, particularly YouTube.
February
The second Children’s Media Summit took place at BAFTA in London. Delegates sought actionable plans for improving access to high-value media and improvement in its funding in the UK.
January
CMF submitted a response to Ofcom’s Call for Input to their review of Broadcast Regulation – proposing the review begins the work of assessing how Video Sharing Platforms could be regulated for province and public value in the future.
CMF signed the Children’s Coalition letter to government, organised by 5Rights, to express reservations about calls to ban social media to under-16s, suggesting that regulation of the platforms using existing Online Safety rules and extension to regulation, where needed, to ensure content of value is offered to young people.
Third evidence session for the Select Committee Inquiry into children’s television and media on 13th January with Professor Amy Orben, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge; Dr Gemma Taylor, Associate Professor in Psychology, University of Salford; Professor Sam Wass, Director, Institute for the Science of Early Years, University of East London
2025
December
Second evidence session for the Select Committee Inquiry into children’s television and media on 16th December including producers and makers, industry associations and CMF Exec Group member Jackie Edwards explaining the Young Audiences Content Fund.
November
Called to give evidence at the first hearing of the Select Committee Children’s Television and Video Inquiry, CMF’s Director shared the time with CMF Lifetime Patron and Children’s Laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce. You can watch the entire session which outlined the issues facing the audience, society and the children’s media industry, or read the transcript.
CMF announced that a second Children’s Media Summit will take place in February 2026.
October
CMF began work on drawing together the stakeholders in a campaign to re-establish support for independent children’s film in the UK
September
CMF submitted a substantial submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee for Culture Media and Sport Inquiry on children’s television and video.
July
The Online Safety Act: Protection of Children Code of Practice came into effect in late July 2025.
Ofcom issued its Review of the Future of Public Service Media on 21st July. It reflected many of the issues CMF has been highlighting. The changes to younger audiences’ viewing habits are now beginning to filter into the adult market and having severe effects on the business of media-making in general. Ofcom recommended serious consideration of how the VSPs could be required to take responsibility for the distribution of public service content, and that new forms of funding for content production should be found.
On 4th July the Parliamentary Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport announced they were taking up CMF’s proposal made via the “State of Play” process, but had elevated the Inquiry to a full investigation into children’s television and video in the UK. The Committee called for written evidence as to how changes in media consumption were affecting young people, how that impacts on society and on the children’s media industry. The call for evidence closes on 4th September. Then Committee hearings will be held.
April
A further meeting with Ofcom clarifying the most recent thoughts around the massive changes in children’s viewing habits and how this is impacting them as individuals, influencing their future media loyalties and affecting society and the media industry in the UK.
CMF supported the Children’s Coalition (managed by 5 Rights) in lobbying Ofcom to fully implement the provisions for child safety in the Online Safety Act, and in the launch of the Children’s AI Design Code later in the month.
March
Collaboration with YouTube continued, with CMF attending the Google/YouTube “Growing Up in the Digital Age” children’s safety summit in Dublin.
February
CMF supported the Alan Turing Institute in the world’s first children’s AI Summit, which fed the views on young people into the Paris AI Summit.
Our membership of the Public Service Media Forum – a coalition of campaign organisations – led to discussions with BBC Corporate Affairs about the future of children’s public service loyalty.
CMF continued its dialogue with Ofcom on the current Public Service Media Review, emphasising the need for radical thinking in the Review about how PS media is delivered in the future, based upon the understanding of how young people are viewing media today.
CMF proposed an investigation into the issues in children’s media provision, by the Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee under their new “State of Play” inquiries call for ideas.
January
CMF continued its dialogue with DCMS senior team responsible for following through on the discussions with YouTube and others on improving the quality of children’s viewing experience on the platform.
CMF established a connection with Roblox to discuss its role in providing safe and publicly valuable content for children on their platform.
2024
December
CMF shared a set of detailed briefing documents with the Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth – Stephanie Peacock and met the Minister to discuss what action might be taken to improve the media offering on shared video platforms to “surface” more public service and culturally relevant content – in particular on YouTube – and how they might be encouraged to share more of their advertising revenue with producers.
These papers have also been shared with other ministers, Parliamentarians and Ofcom as the response to the regulator to their request for information about what the Foundation believes should be included in the Ofcom Public Service Media Review.
On December 10th 2024 CMF met Broadcasting and Creative Industries minister Stephanie Peacock MP to follow up the papers and discuss possible government action. The minister agreed to contact the Video Sharing Platforms (such as YouTube) to open a dialogue on how they might improve the quality of the experience for young people on their platforms and how they could achieve greater prominence for public service content to increase the value of PS content on their services. The mInister chose not to discuss with the VSPs the limitations to funding caused by their dominance of the market place.
On December 30th in a special BBC “Today” edition curated by Baroness Benjamin, Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, revealed she has written to the shared video platforms asking them to reconsider how they make quality UK content prominent. She also wrote to Ofcom to ensure that children are given serious consideration in the 2025 Public Service Media Review. Both were CMF requests when we met DCMS.
Bite-sized segments from the programme are on the CMF YouTube channel.
CMF 2024 An Ethical Approach to Children’s Media
CMF 2024 Funding Public Service Content for Young Audiences in the UK
CMF 2024 Finding Children’s Public Service Content
May
The Media Bill was passed by both Houses on 24th May in a rapid series of debates as part of the “wash-up” which processes non-contentious bills ahead of the general election.
In the final House of Lords debate Baroness Benjamin – with support from the Children’s Media Foundation – proposed her amendment once again, to require that the serious issues in the children’s media sector be investigated within 12 months of the Bill becoming law. The amendment was supported by Labour but not accepted by the government minster who nevertheless praised the Foundation for its work to bring the matter to public attention.
Previously, in the Media Bill’s House of Lords Committee Stage on 8th May, Baroness Thornton for Labour and Baroness Benjamin for the Liberal Democrats both proposed amendments requiring the government to set up a review of children’s content provision in the UK.
February
The CMF-convened Children’s Media Summit on February 28th was the launch point for a new CMF campaign to persuade government and Ofcom to take seriously the impacts of the mass-migration of the children’s and youth audience away from broadcast television to online, on-demand viewing – impacts on the media ecosystem, on the children’s well-being and on society and culture. The campaign calls upon all interested parties to sign up to support the CMF briefing document which outlines the issues and proposes solutions.
On the same day, in the Second Reading of the Media Bill in the House of Lords, Baroness Benjamin made an impassioned plea about the special conditions in the children’s market which the Media Bill fails to address.
As a member of the Citizens Forum for Public Service Media coalition, CMF contributed to a meeting at the House of Lords to lobby for better provision for public service content in the Media Bill.
Previous campaign activity >>
The Children’s Media Foundation is at the forefront of fighting for the best in children’s content and ensuring that it is fully diverse and representative. The children of today will shape our world and I’m pleased that the CMF is helping to give them the widest possible range of opportunities to do so.
Sir Lenny Henry C.B.E.
