Professor Ruth Page and Dr Gianfranco Polizzi call for greater funding and help for schools to educate people on navigating online and AI-generated content.
Two College of Arts and Law academics have submitted written evidence to a House of Lords inquiry into media literacy. Professor Ruth Page and Dr Gianfranco Polizzi have contributed to the ongoing inquiry by the Communications and Digital Select Committee, providing their research-based recommendations for helping people – especially the young – to navigate online and AI-generated content and parse what is genuine and accurate from what is false and potentially harmful.
Professor Page’s submission was co-created with academics from other universities and organisations working on joint research into young people’s interaction with social media influencers on mental health and wellbeing. They argued that media literacy should be more holistic and go beyond the cognitive skills required to judge the accuracy of information.
‘We also need socio-emotional skills to evaluate how best to use online content and so foster good mental health,’ they wrote, recommending the Government develop a peer-to-peer approach to the issue within the UK’s school curriculum.
Dr Polizzi also recommended making media literacy a mandatory part of the school curriculum in his written submission, together with adequate resources and training for teachers. He argued that ‘the broader media literacy sector in the UK is fragmented, under-funded and under-evaluated’ and is hampered by a ‘lack of a UK-wide overarching framework for coordinating efforts’.
Chaired by Baroness Keeley, the Communications and Digital Select Committee is currently still hearing oral evidence on the issue, which Dr Polizzi also gave on 22 April. “The ability to critically analyse media, communications and online content is of increasing importance to us all,” says Baroness Keeley. “Being media literate can help protect people of all ages from scams, disinformation and exposure to harmful content.”
Professor of Applied Linguistics
Ruth's research focuses on the language that people use when they communicate in social media, with a focus on storytelling.
Assistant Professor in Digital Media and Communications
Biographical and contact information for Dr Gianfranco Polizzi, Assistant Professor in Digital Media and Communications in the Department of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Birmingham.
