Fear Factor

Halloween is perhaps the most contradictory of the major holidays. Though born in Ireland and other Celtic regions, today it is almost exclusively observed in the form that developed in North America; though closely associated with the imagination, it has been thoroughly commercialized, becoming an opportunity for children to buy costumes and then acquire candy (today it is the second largest commercial holiday in the US, after Christmas); and finally, though it is the holiday most closely associated with children, it is also one that has, traditionally, been all about fear.

Events, Movies, Parents, Resources, Television

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.

Events, Internet & Mobile, Journalism & News, Marketing & Consumerism, Resources, Television

Dealing with fear and media

Research has found that these things are most likely to be scary to children:

Movies, Television, Violence

Mirror Image: Reflections on Gender and Media

From the tablet to the TV screen, media are a huge influence on how we see ourselves and our world. Nowhere, perhaps, is that more true than when it comes to gender: media provide many of our ideas of what “male” and “female” are, and many of our models of how to behave, what to avoid doing, and whom to emulate in order to play the role we’ve been assigned. 

Alcohol Marketing, Gender Representation, 2SLGBTQ+ Representation, Stereotyping, Television

Television - Overview

Most of us have happy memories of watching television with our families when we were young. But what was once a simple shared pastime has become an increasingly complex—and sometimes problematic part of modern family life.

Television

Racial and Cultural Diversity and Canadian Broadcasting Policy

Canada’s Broadcasting Act, last amended in 1991, outlines industry guidelines for portrayal of diversity.

Diversity in Media, Stereotyping, Television, Visible Minorities

Guest blog: How Canadian is CanCon?

Have you ever wondered why Canadian private broadcasting networks such as CTV and CanWest air certain television programs over others? Why, for instance, does CanWest air House, or CTV air Grey’s Anatomy, over other television programs?

Resources, Television

Secret History of the Credit Card

On March 17th (in most markets) PBS's Frontline will feature The Secret History of the Credit Card, a documentary that looks at how credit cards came to be a nearly ubiquitous part of our lives.

Marketing & Consumerism, Resources, Television

Four tips for managing your kids’ screen time

Minimize screen use, especially for the youngest children:

Digital Health, Excessive Internet Use, Internet & Mobile, Parents, Resources, Television, Video Games

Media and morality

The new movie Zero Dark Thirty, which tells the story of the tracking and eventual killing of Osama Bin Laden, has received several Oscar nominations (including Best Picture), but it's attracting another kind of attention as well: several writers, including Jane Meyer at The New Yorker and Peter Maass at The Atlantic, have accused it of condoning or even glorifying the use of torture by US intelligence agencies.

Human Rights, Movies, Television, Violence