The comparative analysis of the models and functions of the media education centres showed that despite having some definite differences and peculiarities, they have the following common features: differentiated financing resources (public financing, grants, business organizations, etc.) and regional media information support; presence of famous Russian media teachers heading the media education centres; a target audience of a wide age-specific and professional range (with the predominance of students of different educational institutions, teachers, media experts); the chief aim of a media education centre is multi-aspect, as a rule, but in the whole, it can be generalized under a common assertion--development of the audience's media competence. And under media competence of a person we mean a sum-total of an individual's motives, knowledge, skills, abilities (indicators: motivation, contact, information, perception, interpretation/evaluation, activity, and creativity) to select, use, critically analyze, evaluate, create and spread media texts of different types, forms and genres, and to analyze complex phenomena of media functioning in the society; and the objectives of the media education centres are also varied, but in the whole, there predominate the objectives aimed at developing media competence of different social groups: development of the audience's skills to find, transfer, accept, and create media information (media texts) using television, video, computer and multi-media technologies; teaching the audience to acquire and critically analyze media information; delivering courses in media education for teachers; support of festival, film club and amateur film movements and others.