| Summary: | Understanding media literacy in the digital age is essential for interpreting complex media narratives about critical issues and mitigating the risk of public misguidance, which is imperative for a democratic culture. This research investigates the state of media literacy in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan's nonmetropolitan region. Media literacy among the people in AJK has not been previously explored, so this research gap provides new insights and solutions using Critical Media Literacy Theory (CMLT) to examine the phenomenon. Key findings of the study reveal that social media serves as the primary source of information; however, users exhibit a limited understanding of media literacy when interpreting the embedded discourse within media content related to political and critical events. Nevertheless, individuals with higher education express confidence in identifying disinformation and acknowledge that fact-checking is useful for mitigating deceptive media narratives, but users rarely practice it. These findings highlight the need for a structured media literacy initiative to reduce the risks of public misguidance.
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