**6. Conclusions**

Considering the fact that, for an interpretation of media contents, which implies both the recognition and verification of so-called potentially manipulative content, the knowledge of media literacy elements is highly important, especially those elements that relate to the assessment and analysis of various media contents with a view to evaluating their authenticity, reliability, and truthfulness in order to make responsible decisions, education in the field of media literacy for all generations, as a solution for building resistance to "fake news" and potentially manipulative content, appears to be the proper tool.

With the analysis of media contents and the verification of the authenticity and truthfulness of information, media consumers should take care of several issues that could be distributed under the following labels: audience and authorship (who designed the message, who is it intended for and for what purpose, who paid for the message, who is it important for, and who might be harmed and in what way); messages and meaning (what values and attitudes are represented in the message and what is left out, what techniques for drawing attention were used, how different people are going to react to and interpret the message); and representation in the media and reality (when was the message generated, in what capacity was it released to audience, whether it is a fact, opinion, interpretation, or something else, how reliable the message is and who the sources of the idea, claim, and information are) [60] (p. 39). As Scheibe and Rogow state (2012, p. 268), "we think of literacy as the broad set of skills and habits that enable one to engage thoughtfully with the community and the world" [60,61] (p. 268; p. 49).

To conclude, the research shows that both groups of participants have a developed conscience as regards the role and significance of media literacy within the context of building resistance to "fake news" and potentially manipulative content. The research participants see in the field of media education solutions for overcoming the phenomena in the digital sphere that confuse consumers, who have trouble deciding which piece of information is true and which is not.

Based on the experiences of the countries that have broadened their curricula with the aforementioned topics and that provide constant education for all generations concerning the media industry [44], a conclusion is imposed that media literacy, along with frequent updates to the curricula given the changes in the media sphere, is the best long-term solution for the proper use of media contents—in particular, digital ones. In addition, the research shows that both groups lack media competences, though not in the same segments and at the same levels, but there are visible voids that should be compensated

for by organising training courses in the field of media so that they can critically interpret media contents, recognise or avoid unreliable information, and be responsible for their own behaviour in a virtual environment. None of the participants referred to themselves as lacking such competences, with all of them featuring a high level of confidence in terms of their resistance to so-called fake news, but their answers reveal a lack of certain media competences.

#### **7. Limitations of the Study**

The limitations of the study are reflected in our inability to encompass members of elderly generation (over 65 years of age) in our research as well. Given that the research focuses on the perception of "fake news" and potentially manipulative content in digital media, this section of the general population is left out due to the fact that findings of previous research into the subject matter (there is an overview provided in the Introduction) show that this segmen<sup>t</sup> of society in Bosnia and Herzegovina almost never uses digital media for the purpose of gaining information. For that reason, the authors concluded that it would be pointless to involve them in the research, although that would contribute to the completeness of our generational approach, thus resulting in a clearer image of the way that different generations view "fake news" and potentially manipulative content in digital media.

Taking into consideration the current COVID-19 pandemic, our capacities and resources as regards participants and establishing focus groups were significantly limited by the then highly restrictive counter-pandemic measures. There was no access to schools granted, so there were no minors involved in our research. Despite that, the research was successfully conducted, though in quite unfavourable circumstances.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualisation, D.T.; methodology, D.T.; software, J.B.; validation, D.T., J.B. and A.K.V.; formal analysis, D.T.; investigation, D.T., J.B. and A.K.V.; resources, A.K.V. and J.B.; data curation, D.T., J.B. and A.K.V.; writing—original draft preparation, D.T.; writing—review and editing, D.T., J.B. and A.K.V.; visualisation, D.T.; supervision, D.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was supported by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Grant "Programi za pripremu projekata i potencijalnih kandidata za sredstva iz fonda Horizont 2020 za 2020. Godinu" (Programmes for Project Preparation and Potential Candidates for Funds from Horizon 2020 for 2020) [Grant contract number: 10-02-2-1769/20-31].

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Faculty of Political Sciences University of Banja Luka (protocol code 08/1.145/21, approved 15 February 2021).

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
