Introduction

Initiatives aimed to enhance media literacy are underway in all Nordic countries. At the same time, there is currently no standardised method to assess aspects of media literacy in the population. To be able to follow the development of media literacy over time, identify shifts and build knowledge to be used in planning future work, mapping of initiatives and activities in different areas is necessary. In addition to other indicators such as governance (political decisions, strategies, policies) and structure (actors and the development of effective interventions), data from the Nordic Media Literacy Survey can complement to the overall picture in each country, providing facts to the question; what do we know about the skills and knowledge in the population?

Media literacy includes key competencies needed to navigate with awareness in the media landscape and to facilitate active participation in the democratic society. It is about skills and knowledge to find, evaluate and critically analyse media content and be able to create and act using different forms of communication. Responsible media use is in focus, adapted for the current media landscape and beneficial for civic participation and democratic rights. Media literacy is to be seen as a complement to traditional literacy, like reading and writing, and since the media landscape is constantly evolving, we all need to learn and re-learn to have knowledge and skills useful to us when scrolling through social media content, or in search for a daily news update, and assessing the content we meet. Efforts to enhance media literacy are therefore constantly needed, for all ages.

In the activities aimed to stimulate this lifelong learning, a solid knowledge base is essential as a point of departure. Although facts about media use have been available for a long time in many Nordic countries, facts about people's attitudes towards and knowledge about different media have been rarer. At the same time, many civil society actors, authorities and NGOs are dedicating resources to enhance media literacy among different target groups. Relevant questions to ask are then – are we addressing the relevant topics in the current media environment? Are we meeting the questions at issue for people of different ages? Are our resources adapted to shed light on the blind spots of different target groups?

Through the results from the survey, we now know more. In the current report, a selection of findings from the first pan-Nordic media literacy survey will be presented. In separate articles, the results will be commented on and put into the context of the media authorities’ work in the participating countries.

The Nordic Media Landscape

The Nordic countries are often seen from other parts of the world as a homogenous zone, something that is also reflected in many of the results from the survey. However, looking closer, there are differences in the media structure that may have an impact on respondents’ answers or understanding of some of the topics or questions. More comments on this can be found in each country's article.

In all Nordic countries the public service companies have a strong presence in the media landscape. However, the way these companies are organised differ to some extent. Denmark has two public service companies owned by the government; one, DR, is financed through public funding (taxes), and the smaller TV 2, is mainly financed through commercial revenues. In Norway, the government has an agreement with the commercial channel TV2 to provide some public service content such as news and children’s programmes (Nordicom, 2025). Bearing this in mind, comparisons of results between the countries on questions regarding public service funding should be made with caution.

The survey includes questions on media use, mainly to be used as background variables in regard to other questions. Some interesting facts and differences between the countries found in the survey could, however, be mentioned.

Paid subscriptions to news services are quite common in most of the Nordic countries. About half of the respondents, 46 percent, have a subscription to a newspaper (paper or digital) or a news site.
Newspapers seem to have managed the digital transition better in Norway where digital newspapers are more widely used to stay updated (63 percent daily), same share as social media. The corresponding data for digital newspapers in the other four countries varies between 30 to 46 percent daily.
TV, social media and free news apps are the most common sources for the daily update in the four Nordic countries besides Norway.
Whatsapp has its strongest presence in Finland with a share of 65 percent of daily users among the adult population, compared to 20 percent or below in the other four countries.
Facebook is widely used, on average 66 percent daily in the Nordic countries, but particularly in Iceland where 79 percent use the platform daily. According to the survey the service Messenger also has most of their users in Iceland, 65 percent daily, compared to 42 percent on average.

For more data on media use, see appendix III.

A questionnaire based on eight proficiencies within media literacy

To investigate the possibilities to construct a media literacy survey a feasibility study was conducted. The research group MEDLiE at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology was assigned the task by the media authorities in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The study recommends a media literacy survey that combine self-reporting and proficiency tests or task-based measurements (Schofield et al., 2021). See appendix I About the project.

As guidance regarding which different aspects of media literacy to include in the survey, a model developed by Professor Ulla Carlsson was found useful (Carlsson, 2023). The choice of Carlsson's model is based on the critical discussion and remarks from the feasibility study.

This model, based on UNESCO’s media and information literacy framework, consists of six overarching competence areas or domains:

reading comprehension and writing skills,
language comprehension,
image comprehension,
knowledge of basic school subjects,
general knowledge, and
critical thinking.

These domains interact with eight proficiencies included under the umbrella term media literacy.

Proficiencies

Understand how different content intermediaries in media and social media platforms work, and how content is produced, funded and regulated
Understand the meaning of freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of the media/press
Responsible use of media/information, ethical and legal
Apply digital security and privacy
Critically assess/evaluate content in media and social media platforms, quality and reliability
Use, creatively create and communicate information/content efficiently and effectively in social media platforms
Take part of content in media and social media platforms efficiently and effectively, through access, search technology, processing, assessment AI
Understand the role and functions of media and social media platforms in democratic societies and what conditions are required to fulfil these functions

In the current survey, the questions and statements have been constructed aiming to target these eight proficiencies. The following analysis of the results is structured around the eight proficiencies. Some of them overlap in the questionnaire or concern topics that are closely related, for example points 2 and 8 in the list above, about media freedom and the role of media and social media platforms in democratic societies and will thus be presented in the same section.

Comments on the development of a survey method

The survey focused on two key demographics: Adults aged 16 years and older, and children and youth aged 9 to 15 years. Data was collected through a digital questionnaire, and responses were gathered via an online web panel. In total, 12,744 responses were received, comprising 9,487 adults and 3,257 children.

The questionnaire has been developed in collaboration between experts within the Nordic media authorities. More information can be found in appendix I About the project.

Constructing a questionnaire aimed at the general public to assess aspects of media literacy is a challenge. Firstly, because of the width and complexity of the concept of media literacy, including the mastering of tools and technology, as well as asking questions about more abstract features such as exercising judgement and critical thinking skills. The questionnaire also comprises questions about issues that are probably not foremost in mind on a daily basis, which may be demanding for the respondents, such as the role of journalists in a democratic society. Secondly, assessing knowledge and skills may take the form of a school test. To avoid this, attitudes towards something were asked for instead of testing understanding, where alternative answers were in some cases provided rather than open questions. Certain sections comprised a number of statements for respondents to agree or not agree on. The different types of questions also made the completion of the survey more varied for respondents.

In a follow-up, it would be interesting to complement the study with thematic sections focusing on gaining a deeper understanding of a few aspects. Another development could be to find ways to test actual skills in larger groups of respondents instead of self-assessment questions given their drawbacks.

A note on social media

In order to be able to reproduce the survey over time and diminish its sensitivity to certain platforms, the questionnaire often uses ‘social media’ as a concept. Since different social media platforms have their own characteristics, it may be questionable to treat them as one entity. The use of broad definitions where some of the precision is lost may induce differences regarding what respondents are referring to. However, the platforms also have many traits in common. They provide a personalised content based on user data and algorithms; they usually allow for users to post and engage with other posts; they are quick and easy to use without any major costs or advanced equipment involved and are continuously updated. In public discussion and debate it is also quite common to refer to social media in general, not specifying the name of platforms.

When creating a questionnaire for a survey, with the aim to be sustainable over time, understood by many age groups and different nationalities, and by people with experiences from different walks of life, the lowest common denominator can still be useful.

References:

Carlsson, U. (2023). Medie- och informationskunnighet (MIK): Begreppet och kunskapen. In U. Carlsson, P.-M. Wehrling, & K. Westling (Eds.), Medie- och informationskunnighet (MIK) för ett demokratiskt medborgarskap: Rapport från nationell MIK-konferens 2022 (pp. 37–46). Förvaltningen för kulturutveckling, Västra Götalandsregionen.

Nordicom (2025) Nordens 25 största medieföretag efter omsättning (2023) | Nordicom (accessed July, 2025)

The Norwegian Media Authority. (2024). Kritisk medieforståelse i den norske befolkningen 2024. The Norwegian Media Authority.

Ofcom. (2023a). Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report. Ofcom.

Ofcom. (2023b). Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes. Ofcom

Schofield, D., Frantzen, V., & Kupiainen, R. (2021). Towards a Nordic MIL-index. A feasibility study for a Nordic Media and Information Literacy Index.