Media education

There is a growing need to develop critical media literacy due to the technological development of communications, internationalization and penetration of social media. FICORA's role in supporting parents and other educators in media education will be highlighted in the years to come. The reason for this is that the European legislation on television operations will be expanded not only to cover the traditional television operations, but also audiovisual media services broadcast in other than the television network. The EU Member States are to bring into force the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS Directive) by 19 December 2009. In the legislation, audiovisual media service means either linear (viewing of programmes on the basis of programme schedule) or non-linear (viewing of programmes and movies at the moment chosen by the user and selected from a catalogue of programmes) services broadcast in the communications networks.

The objective of enhancing media literacy is to ensure that all citizens have equal opportunities to control different media environments and communications situations.

FICORA collects, by means of surveys and reports, information on the consumers' level of media literacy and their conceptions of disadvantages related to the media. The survey results contribute to self-regulation in the sector and information sharing with children, parents and teachers via cooperation networks.

There are several ongoing media education projects in Finland. The players in the sector must involve themselves in tighter intercommunication because of the extent of the media field and for the fact that supervision responsibility is shared by several authorities. Ministries, universities, child welfare organisations, the Finnish Board of Film Classification and Finnish Society on Media Education are FICORA's key cooperation partners with regard to media research and media education.

Additional information: Tiina Aaltonen, Development Manager, tel. +358 9 6966 430, 040 777 4082

Finnish Society on Media Education: www.mediakasvatus.fi
Finnish Board of Film Classification: www.vet.fi
Media forum for children and adolescents: www.arjentietoyhteiskunta.fi