Being Media Literate in Croatia: Characteristics and Selected Dimensions of Media Literacy as a Social Practice

Paško Bilić, PhD and Marija Brajdić Vuković, PhD are the authors of the paper “Being Media Literate in Croatia: Characteristics and Selected Dimensions of Media Literacy as a Social Practice”. The paper is published in the “Sociological Review”, Vol. 53 No. 2.

Media literacy allows citizens to participate in society through traditional and digital media. The paper combines social practice theory, new literacy studies, and critical media literacy. Using existing survey instruments such as the News Literacy Scale and the Internet Skills Survey with originally developed items, we observe media literacy as a social practice encompassing the dimensions of critical thinking, content production, and technical skills. The research showed that those less skilled in the internet search are less critical of traditional media and digital tools, and less convinced that media should cover social justice issues. The paper contributes to the operationalisation of media literacy for sociological research and a better understanding of media literacy in the general population of Croatia.

The paper is available at the link.