Brussels, 20/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 20 August, the European Commission adopted a recommendation on media literacy, which encourages the Member States to increase the awareness of the European citizens of the diversity of media messages sent out in a digital environment. Media literacy constitutes a person's capacity to access the media, to understand the information transmitted and to carry out a critical analysis of this. Within this recommendation, the Member States are invited to promote the creation of specific codes of conduct, to carry out debate on the inclusion of media literacy within school programmes, to launch awareness campaigns on the inherent risks in the handling of personal data and to promote the national/European audiovisual heritage. Sweden, Ireland and the United Kingdom have already included media literacy in their national school programmes. In the United Kingdom, the Internet site "kidSMART" teaches young people how to use social networking sites safely. The Commission also recommends that the media industry provide information about production of content (e.g. the functioning and use of search engines), communicate about online advertising techniques (e.g. product placement) and inform young members of the public about how personal data are used and about copyright. In 2011, it will publish a comparative analysis of levels of media literacy within the European Union. The recommendation is available at: http: //ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/media_literacy/docs/recom/c_2009_6464_en.pdf (M.B.)