In light of the use of new media, literacy can be defined as the ability to: access, analyse and evaluate the power of the images, sounds and messages which play an important role in contemporary culture; communicate using the media competently; raise the level of awareness of the messages transmitted by the media; help citizens to recognise how media filter their perceptions and convictions, mould popular culture and influence personal decisions; provide the capacity for critical analysis and creative problem-solving capacities; media education is part of the fundamental rights of each citizen, like the freedom of expression and the right to information, and is crucial to the attainment and consolidation of democracy; media literacy is a prerequisites for full, active citizenship; one of the spheres inside which intercultural dialogue should be promoted (Pérez Tornero, 2004).
Today, the capacity to actually use media, to critically understand and be able to evaluate information and finally to create, communicate and participate are all individual competences that must be taught to children to empower them. When trying to clarify the architecture of media literacy, we can offer a model of the organisation of these competences. The diagram offers an overview of the problem. The idea of a pyramid suggests the notion that the different competences are organised from the base to the peak, the lower ones serving as the groundwork for the higher ones. In this sense, we have distinguished between: competences related to access and use; competences related to critical comprehension (analysis and evaluation); and competences in communicative and creative production.
The stress on creative production has also been expressed in the public consultation on media literacy organised by the European Commission in 2007: “The most commonly expressed concern among the respondents was the importance of adding to the definition the ability to create and communicate messages, as this aspect of media literacy is viewed as fundamental in empowering people to become active and informed consumers of media. Moreover, the communicative aspect of media literacy is considered essential for enabling people to make effective use of media in the exercise of their democratic rights and civic responsibilities”.
The skills in use are necessary for developing critical skills and both in turn serve as the groundwork for communicative activities. So Media Literacy is related to: critical thinking and capacities of selection and information processing; problem-solving capacity; improvements in expressive, communicative and interactive capacities; civic participation and active citizenship. (Tonero, Varis , UNESCO 2010).