Media literacy and critical thinking are closely related but distinct competencies. Media literacy helps people navigate today’s information environment, assess the credibility of sources, and understand how media influence our perceptions of events. Critical thinking is a broader ability to engage with arguments, evaluate evidence, and avoid accepting claims without adequate justification. In the third wave of the CZEPS study, we therefore examined whether students’ levels of media literacy differed according to their performance on a critical-thinking test. Media literacy was measured using nine questions. For ease of interpretation, the total score, ranging from 9 to 45, was divided into four categories: low (9–18), rather low (19–27), rather high (28–36), and high (37–45) media literacy. Scores on the critical-thinking test were likewise divided into four categories, ranging from low to high. The analysis included 7,579 students in their third year of high school education for whom results were available for both measures.
The results reveal a clear relationship between the two competencies. Among students with a low level of critical thinking, 28% had rather high or high media literacy. This proportion increased steadily with the level of critical thinking, reaching 34% among students with rather low critical thinking, 44% among those with rather high critical thinking, and 51% among those with a high level of critical thinking. Conversely, 72% of students with low critical thinking had low or rather low media literacy, compared with 49% of those who achieved a high level on the critical-thinking test. This shift is particularly evident in the rather high media literacy category. Its share increased from 21% among students with low critical thinking to 43% among those with high critical thinking. High media literacy itself was less common across all groups, accounting for approximately 6% to 8% of students. The results therefore show that better performance on the critical-thinking test is associated with a higher level of media literacy. Although there are theoretical grounds for expecting critical thinking to influence media literacy rather than the other way around, this analysis, based solely on data from the third wave of CZEPS, cannot confirm that assumption. The direction of the relationship will therefore be examined in future analyses. Both competencies may also be shaped by family background, teaching at school, and experiences acquired outside the family and school environments.
