Asha Caussy, Paige Grainger and Jez Rhyme Samuel are the three chosen students, all of whom are accredited Media Literacy Ambassadors and study at Derby College Group’s Joseph Wright Centre.
The Children’s Media Conference is the UK’s leading event for everyone involved in creating, developing, and distributing content for children and young people.
The Media Literacy Ambassador programme, co-created by Derby College and The Guardian Foundation, aims to build awareness of and resilience against misinformation and disinformation.
Through the programme, young people are trained to educate their peers about fake news, promoting vital media literacy skills.
Derby College was the first FE college in the country to launch this pioneering initiative and currently has 129 accredited ambassadors, who have delivered workshops to over 800 students.
In the Changemaker campaign film, Jez references the Ofcom ‘Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report 2022’, which uncovered a significant gap between young people’s confidence in spotting fake news and their actual ability to do so.
The report found that while 75% of young people aged 12-17 claimed they could confidently identify fake news, only 10% were accurate when tested.
Paige highlights the dangers of disinformation, citing its role in fuelling the 2024 summer riots. Asha builds on this by underlining the essential role media literacy plays in safeguarding democracy.
Together, they explain the effectiveness of a peer-led approach to developing these skills and issue a rallying call to the children’s media industry to support current media literacy initiatives.
They also urge tech companies to go further in addressing misinformation and disinformation on their platforms, while advocating for more quality, engaging news and current affairs content tailored for young audiences.
Finally, they call on media companies, producers, and broadcasters to collaborate with young people in funding, coordinating, and securing the future of media literacy education.
Debbie Painter, who founded the programme at Derby College, said:
“We are incredibly proud of our students and the leading role they have played in promoting media literacy both among their peers and in the wider community.
“It is a tremendous honour for our ambassadors to be recognised as Changemakers at such a prestigious event.
“It’s also vitally important that young people’s voices are heard on these issues.
“The Media Literacy Ambassador Project has been transformational for our students, and our Changemakers truly epitomise the passion and commitment needed to make a positive difference.”
