Can citizens indeed be empowered through media literacy education that is framed by stakeholders who pursue their own economic and political interests? What does “policy” mean to the various stakeholders for media literacy around the world? Who is making and enforcing the policy? Why do we even put policy and media literacy in one sentence? Here are some aspects of the intersection between policy and media literacy that we have in mind:

• Multiple stakeholders are investing in media literacy for different purposes and aims

• Governments see media literacy as an alternative to regulation: media literacy education is being framed as a way that puts too much responsibility on citizens and too little responsibility on digital authors and platforms.

• Citizens have power but they may not know how to address the stakeholders or understand how decisions about MLE are made.

Melissa Guadalupe Huertas serves as a Senior Program Officer for Education at the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that hosts Wikipedia and its sister projects. Her work supports education actors and free-knowledge advocates with resources and strategies that help integrate Wikimedia projects as pedagogical tools. She has over 10 years of experience leading education initiatives in Latin America focused on education for community development, leadership, and cross-cultural collaboration. She has represented Peru in professional programs in the USA and Japan. She’s a former Chevening Scholar and holds an MA in Education, Gender and International Development from University College London. She’s also the co-founder of the edtech organization MásEducaciónPe and co-author of the book “Educadoras sin Límites”.

Lucy Crompton-Reid is the Chief Executive for Wikimedia UK., the national charity for the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement, working with partners from the cultural and education sectors to unlock content, develop new ways of engaging with the public and enable learners to benefit fully from the educational potential of the Wikimedia projects. It also has a strategic focus on the development of information literacy skills in an era of misinformation, and the creation of a legislative framework that enables open knowledge to flourish. As Chief Executive of Wikimedia UK since October 2015, Lucy has led the development of a new strategy focused on eradicating inequality and bias on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.

Rocío Aravena works as Head of Education and Digital Literacy at Wikimedia Chile, managing training projects in open and collaborative digital environments with universities, colleges and other educational organizations. She has studied in Chile and abroad, specializing in educational research (University of Barcelona). She has also worked in teaching, as a History teacher in secondary education establishments in the country.

Declan is Head of Media Literacy Policy at DCMS — the department of the U.K. Government, with responsibility for culture and sport, the building of a digital economy, and some aspects of the media, but also the development and implementation of digital and media literacy strategy. His team is responsible for delivering the Government's Online Media Literacy Strategy, and media literacy elements of the Online Safety Bill. Declan has been working across Digital Technology policy at DCMS for 5 years, prior to which he worked as a Technology consultant for Accenture. He was recently voted onto the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the Integrity of Online Information. Declan will discuss the UK Government's approach to media literacy, which focuses on the experiences of the sector.

Simone is the Head of Policy at the London-based not-for-profit organisation Internet Matters, a member of the Government's Media Literacy Taskforce Steering Board and the Chair of the UK Council for Internet Safety's Vulnerable Users Working Group. She is experienced in policy, research and public affairs with a track record of translating policy recommendations into real change, working on a diverse range of issues but with a particular focus on digital and children's policy.

Outside of work, Simone is a primary school governor, with special responsibility for safeguarding. Joining Declan Shaw as a speaker of this panel, Simone will provide a view from the sector itself of some of the challenges DCMS is aiming to tackle.

Valeria Kovtun is the founder and the head of Ukraine's first state media literacy organization, called Filter. It was founded in 2021 to unite the efforts of the state, NGOs, international organizations, and the media community to improve Ukrainians’ media literacy. In 2021, media literacy was framed as one of the key priorities envisaged not only by the Activities Programme of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy but also in the Programme of the Government. Formerly a journalist at the BBC Reel, a senior correspondent at major Ukrainian media, and a fellow journalist at the United Nations, Valeria will tell and explain how a full-scale war can change the role of media literacy in a country which is not just attacked with weapons but is a constant target of the most malicious propaganda and coordinated disinformation; how and where Filter is positioned on the map of the cross-sectoral approach to media literacy in Ukraine, how the Ukrainian society is being informed about changes in the media literacy policy and about the available opportunities for developing media literacy skills, and why citizens involvement is of such importance.

Why cross-border bodies and expert groups such as EPRA and its taskforce EMIL are so necessary and contributing to framing media literacy and raising its importance on the agenda of policymakers? What are their priorities, approaches, and strengths? How the collaborative work of media experts with different experiences in terms of years and socio-cultural-political contexts in the field of media and digital literacies is structured, executed, and beneficial to the dynamic redrawing of the boundaries of media literacy and its goals? What are the biggest challenges in front of national media regulators regarding the implementation of ML policy in a tangible and measurable way?

Maria Donde leads on Ofcom’s engagement with other European media regulators, most particularly through EPRA (where is currently a Vice-Chair) as well as international bodies, and represents Ofcom on the full range of media policy questions including media literacy. She oversaw Ofcom’s input into the negotiations on the AVMS Directive and oversees Ofcom's relationship with European and global institutions on questions of media and content policy. She recently served as Chair of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Media Environment and Reform. Her regulatory background is in advertising, having spent four years at the Advertising Standards Authority before joining Ofcom’s Broadcasting Standards department. Prior to that, she worked in media analysis, and before that as a radio producer for the BBC World Service. She has a Modern Languages degree from Cambridge University and a Masters degree in Literary Translation.