We have in this paper tried to give an insight in what the upper secondary school in Karlstad has to offer when it comes to media education. The terms that we have used are “media critics” and “media critical thinking”. We have studied how these terms are interpreted both by students and by teachers at three different directions of study. These directions are students who study media, students who study social studies and those who combine the two by studying both social studies with direction towards journalism. We have interviewed twelve students, three teachers and also two persons, a university lecturer and an art professor, with special competence when it comes to images and manipulation of images to help us answer the question whether the picture chosen by us, for the analysing of an image, is manipulated or in fact authentic. Part of the reason why we made this study is that we wanted to find out if there is any difference in the students’ media knowledge between the different directions of study that the upper secondary school offers. We have also looked at the population’s general interest and opinion when it comes to the media. In this search we have also asked them to make an analyze of Robert Capa’s picture “the falling soldier”. This to see how well their ability to think critically is applied and how well aware they are of image manipulation. After having made our qualitative research we have come to find that the students who study media seems to be more competent when it comes to different media terms. We also found that the students seemed to be well aware of the fact that media affects us in different ways and that media messages are not always trustworthy. They also seemed to be well aware of the more common fact that pictures can be manipulated. During our research we found tendencies that both teachers but mostly students seemed to have a more negative attitude towards the media, and that they more often blamed media than described benefits with the media. Finally we came to the conclusion that the general education about the media received at upper secondary school is insufficient when it comes to a more solid review surrounding how media works and the students conditions about the functions and how they affect us. Especially when it comes to practical education.