Revisiting Media Literacy Measurement: Development and Validation of 3-Factor Media Literacy Scale

Background: In this technologically advanced era, media literacy is necessary to effectively evaluate the information and understand various biases inherent in media messages. Several media literacy (ML) tools are available; however, we need generic and objective tools that can be applied to all forms of media messages. Objectives: The current study aimed to develop and validate an objective and generalized measure of media literacy based on the previously available tools. This study suggested that the access component should be removed from the media literacy tools as recommended in previous literature. Methods: The total of 386 respondents, both males and females, were recruited from different universities in Lahore. The age of the sample ranged from 18 to 25 (M=20.98, SD=2.12), with an approximately equal proportion of males (47%) and females. Results and Conclusions: This study proposed a compact Media Literacy Scale (MLS) with 3 constructs--analyze (09 items; [alpha]=0.76), evaluate (08 items; [alpha]=0.72), and comprehend (07 items; [alpha]=76). This 24 items scale explains 55.4% variance was administered to 386 respondents aged 18 to 30 years (M=20.98, SD=2.12). This developed scale will help assess the baseline level of media literacy in the audience so that in the future, evaluation of the efficacy of media literacy, and media literacy programs could be provided.