A comparative study of EU documents on media literacy

Abstract

For many years, Media Literacy was mainly the realm of educators and only much later did it became a matter of interest for policy makers. UNESCO has been involved with the subject area since the 1980s while the European Union started to take an active interest since the Lisbon Summit of 2000.This study compares the main documents of the Council, the Commission and Parliament, which include a Parliamentary resolution, a Recommendation, a Communication and a Directive. The paper analyses differences and similarities in these documents and critically assesses them in the light of academic literature. It compares them, where appropriate, with the two UNESCO documents i.e. Grunwald Declaration and UNESCO Paris Agenda, that are referred to in the EU documents. The paper will also explore possible implications of these policy positions for the future of Media Literacy.