The National Association for Medial Literacy Education (NAMLE) explains that:
"Media refers to all electronic or digital means and print or artistic visuals used to transmit messages. Literacy is the ability to encode and decode symbols and to synthesize and analyze messages. Media literacy is the ability to encode and decode the symbols transmitted via media and synthesize, analyze and produce mediated messages."
Put more simply, NAMLE defines media literacy as "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of communication."