Over 80 EU decision-makers, programme makers, civil society representatives and EBU Members gathered at the EBU Brussels office on 1 March 2012 at the Media Literacy Forum to discover how public service media (PSM) empower citizenship through media literacy – a key objective of the Digital Agenda for Europe.

The event was opened by EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot in the presence of Ingrid Deltenre, EBU Director General.  They were joined by high-level Commission officials - Mr Jan Truszczynski (DG for Education, Training, Culture and Youth) and Mr Zoran Stancic (DG Information Society and Media, Deputy Director General) - who both reiterated in their speeches the important role of media literacy in today’s digital society and welcomed public service media’s reaffirmed commitment to promote media literacy in partnerships with other stakeholders.

A TV show in the morning highlighted how PSM and their partners connect with their audiences across Europe. It displayed campaigns and services which encourage online engagement and which render audiovisual media accessible to as many people as possible, projects which create a trusted space facilitating interaction, creativity and innovation as well as programmes and platforms which inform and empower to citizens.

The promotion of critical understanding at the heart of active citizenship was at the heart of the debate in an afternoon workshop on the role of media literacy for empowerment towards democracy. During another workshop in parallel, participants reflected upon a media literacy toolkit as a means to promote the principles of media literacy across the broadcast media and facilitate further exchange and cooperation with potential partners.