[Above image] Forward thinker: Tessa Jowell in 2007.
More Than Gold UK, CC BY-NC; click to expand
By ,听
The untimely death from cancer of former UK Labour cabinet minister, Dame Tessa Jowell, has triggered a听听from across the political spectrum. Her vision for securing the 2012 Olympics for London, her formative role in New Labour鈥檚 flagship Sure Start scheme, and most recently, her campaign for cancer research, have all been given many column inches.
By contrast, Jowell鈥檚 less certain legacy as听听is barely given a mention. It seems to have been quietly forgotten that it was Jowell, as secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, that pushed through parliament the听听which enshrined media literacy in law, and gave to Ofcom 鈥� the (then new) media 鈥渟uper-regulator鈥� 鈥� the听.
Media literacy existed as a New Labour policy well before Jowell鈥檚 turn at the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). Her predecessor, Chris Smith, believed that the concept was a useful one for 鈥溾�� of media, to make responsible choices in a period of increasing deregulation.
To the dismay of some of her own policy advisors, Jowell seized the concept, made it her own, and became a fervent advocate at every opportunity. In an听听the year following the Communications Act, she referred to media literacy as 鈥渁 coming subject鈥� and one that 鈥渋n five years鈥� time will be just another given鈥�.
Misplaced optimism
With the benefit of hindsight, Jowell鈥檚 optimism seems to have been misplaced. Media literacy, arguably, has never been lower on the political agenda. The听听that sprang up in the wake of the Communications Act have largely withered on the vine 鈥� and the process of recent reforms to the popular Media Studies A-level have seen the subject savagely 鈥溾��.
Yet Jowell鈥檚 argument for media education has never been more relevant. 鈥淚t is important,鈥� she insisted, 鈥渢hat we know when we are watching 鈥榓ccurate and impartial鈥� news coverage and when we are not鈥�. These are prescient comments when you consider that they were made more than a decade before 鈥減ost-truth鈥� became the Oxford Dictionary鈥檚听听(in 2016) and when terms such as 鈥渇ake news鈥� or 鈥淟eveson Inquiry鈥� had yet to pass anyone鈥檚 lips.
Jowell believed that education in media opened opportunities that could enrich the experience of individuals and society 鈥� but she was equally exercised about the role that education had to play in protecting against some of the dangers of modern media. She thought that media were dominated by powerful and potentially harmful commercial and political interests. She believed that children, in particular, should be provided with 鈥渃ritical life skills鈥� to guide their media consumption.
鈥淚t is transparently important,鈥� she听, 鈥渢hat they should be helped to get the most from all those screen hours, and be protected from what we know are some of the worst excesses鈥�. She went on to ensure that, from 2006, the BBC Charter also contained requirements听.
Where did it go so wrong?
The key to understanding the marginalisation of media literacy as government policy is the role of the Department for Education 鈥� once known as the听(DfES). Media education was not seen as a serious curriculum priority at the DfES, and 鈥� despite New Labour鈥檚 early insistence on 鈥溾�� 鈥� enthusiasm for media literacy never spread beyond the confines of DCMS.
There was widespread ignorance about media education among civil servants within DfES, many of whom had had highly traditional educational experiences themselves. A preoccupation with 鈥渄riving up鈥� standards, measurability and international comparison provided little incentive for the promotion of a field of study concerned with recognising and understanding forms of popular (or 鈥渓ow鈥�) culture. This was despite the apparent economic value being attributed to the 鈥溾�� at the same time.
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The byzantine operation of the DfES also made change of any kind difficult 鈥� particularly where it touched on what was actually taught in schools. In this case, there was the added disincentive of a policy being driven by a separate 鈥揳nd junior 鈥� department. Ultimately, media literacy was never to be widely embraced as an educational project in the way that Jowell had hoped.
Media literacy remains on the statute book and Ofcom continues to have a responsibility to promote it. But the way it is defined 鈥� and the level of resources provided to support it 鈥� ensure that it has largely been reduced to a form of market research, an听. Jowell听:
I believe that in the modern world, media literacy will become as important a skill as maths or science. Decoding our media will become as important to our lives as citizens as understanding literature is to our cultural lives.
It may be too much to hope that media literacy could yet be reclaimed as one of Tessa Jowell鈥檚 essential legacies.
, Principal Academic in Media Production, Faculty of Media & Communication,听
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