This chapter argues that, as the media and information environment becomes an ever more signifi cant means through which people structure their lives, it is increasingly important that they understand the complex nature of that media environment. Media-literate individuals, living within in a medialiterate society, are surely desirable. To put it another way, media illiteracy is fast becoming as problematic as traditional print illiteracy. However, the costs to individuals or groups, and to society as a whole, of not being able to ‘read and write’ in a digitally mediated environment are only now rising up the policy agenda. The increasing importance of media literacy, as media themselves become ever more embedded in our learning, work and leisure, is generating a renewed effort to defi ne, measure and promote media literacy internationally (Celot and Tornero 2010; Frau-Meigs and Torrent 2009; Hobbs 2010).