Abstract
The author of the article agrees that sociological researches of the levels of media
literacy/competence of different groups of citizens are very timely today. However such researches
require a significant shift of emphasis: the most important indicator should be the audience’s
ability to analyze and evaluate media messages and media’s role in society (including a media text’s
analysis); only afterwards such skills as creation and communication of own media production and
skills to use media technology should follow. The article attempts to illustrate that otherwise the
findings of sociological surveys on media competence will display a common flaw – the overestimation of user’s skills. The author emphasizes that media literacy does not benefit from its
reduction as a technical matter.
