MEDIA LITERACY AS A DETERMINANT OF EFFECTIVE PUBLIC HEALTH COMMUNICATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Abstract

Recently, media literacy has emerged as a critical factor that has the ability to influence individual’s perspective. It also influence the way how individual interpret and respond to public health messages. This study investigates media literacy as a determinant of effective public health communication in the digital age, focusing on the general public of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. For this study researcher adopted quantitative, cross-sectional survey design and data were collected from 420 respondents using a structured questionnaire. A five ppoint likert-scale was used to measure media literacy, message comprehension, trust in health information, and behavioral response through the questionnaire. Furthermore, data were analyzed using SPSS, applying descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression techniques. The findings reveal a strong and statistically significant positive relationship between media literacy and public health communication effectiveness. Media literacy emerged as the most influential interpreter of effective public health communication. Moreover, the findings of the study revealed that education level of participants of the study significantly influenced media literacy. However, gender differences were not found statistically significant. The study concludes that enhancing media literacy is essential for improving public understanding and compliance with public health communication in digital environments. There is dire need to make media literacy a part of curriculum in mainstream education system.