The Future of News (Communications and Digital Committee Report)

Baroness Keeley Excerpts

Friday 25th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Keeley (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Pack, on his maiden speech and on promoting the value of email newsletters. We certainly benefit from the Manchester Mill newsletter in Greater Manchester, which is delivered to 57,000 people, after being developed by independent journalists.

I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Stowell, the committee and the staff team working with them on all the work they have done, on selecting the future of news as an inquiry topic and on the report that has been produced. As the committee’s report points out, the stakes are high because having informed citizens with a shared understanding of facts is vital to democratic participation, but we know that that is under threat.

I agree with the comments by the noble Baronesses, Lady Stowell and Lady Fleet, and my noble friend Lord Knight of Weymouth about the importance of legislating on SLAPPs. I know that the committee agrees on the importance of that happening—and I understand that we will return to it—but we hope to see movement from the Government on that.

Many indicators for the news sector are not encouraging, as we have heard in this debate. Trust in the news has fallen, and that fall continues; news avoidance is rising substantially; and there are news deserts where no local news is published. The committee’s report on the future of news provides a backdrop to our committee’s new inquiry on media literacy. It explored the topic of misinformation and disinformation, which is now being explored further by the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee in its current inquiry on social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms. It is vital that we hear what measures might be needed to prevent new technologies from driving social harms, such as the summer riots of 2024.

We know that enhancing media literacy is key to improving societal resilience to misinformation and disinformation. During the inquiry on the future of news, the committee raised issues with Ministers, including a 2023 report by the LSE that found the previous Government’s media literacy plans were characterised by

“fragmentation, duplication, administrative burdens and limited co-ordination”.

In response, the Minister, my noble friend Lady Jones of Whitchurch, agreed that lessons needed to be learned by the Government about their funding initiatives for media literacy that were not universal, and she agreed that we need a comprehensive strategy.

The Minister also made clear that part of that comprehensive strategy is about making sure both that education takes place in schools and that we educate adults to distinguish between respected news providers and those trying to imitate them and distort the news. The committee feels that we need action on that and, given the high stakes, we need to act quickly. Our media literacy inquiry seeks to address the question posed by the Government in their response to the Future of News report: how can the Government best target the next phase of media literacy activity? Our aims are to establish a clear vision for achieving good levels of media literacy across the UK population; to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Government, regulators and the industry; and to identify and prioritise key actions from each of those to enhance media literacy skills across the UK.

The committee’s report, The Future of News, also highlighted the fact that the ongoing curriculum and assessment review creates an opportunity to ensure that media literacy is given the time and prominence in schools that it needs. I hope that our current inquiry will build on that point and assist Professor Becky Francis as she completes the next stage of her review.

I ask the Minister today whether she will support the call for changes that embed media literacy across the curriculum. There is clearly substantial room for improvement in media literacy levels in the UK. We find ourselves ranked 13th in the Open Society Foundations’ 2023 media literacy index, a drop from 11th and 10th in the indexes of the previous two years. Only 45% of UK adults are now confident that they can judge whether sources of information are truthful, and only 30% feel confident judging whether the content they see is AI generated.

The evidence we have received so far, as was identified in The Future of News, has emphasised the importance of media literacy in building the resilience of the population to the risks posed by the online media environment. I look forward to updating the House on the committee’s findings once our inquiry concludes later this year.