Helping kids cope with media coverage of war and traumatic events
The intense media coverage that accompanies traumatic events, such as war, acts of terrorism and natural disasters, can be very disturbing. Certain young people are particularly vulnerable and some can be seriously distressed simply by watching replays of such events.Parents, educators, health practitioners and others who work with kids can help to lessen anxieties arising from the coverage of catastrophic events.
Facing TV Violence: Consequences and Media Violence
In this lesson, students explore the absence, or unrealistic portrayal, of consequences to violence in the media.
Violence on Film: The Ratings Game - Lesson
To introduce students to the rating systems for films, videos and television and to the issues that surround these classifications.
Watching the Elections - Lesson
In this lesson students look at how elections are media events.
Watching the elections
Joe McGinniss’ book The Selling of the President had a shocking title for 1968, suggesting as it did that in the television age the presidency had become nothing more than another product to be packaged and sold. MediaSmarts’ resource, Watching the Elections (a lesson for Grades 8-12), shines a light on how the different aspects of an election – from the debates to political ads to the candidates themselves – are actually media products.