Talking to kids about hate in media

Along with images of natural disasters and violence, one all-too-common news item that can be distressing to kids is reports of hate crimes. Seeing or hearing about hate-motivated assaults and vandalism of homes, cemeteries and places of worship in media, can lead to fear and anxiety in young people, especially if they belong to a vulnerable group. In many cases, the effect will be worse because news isn't the only place Canadian kids see hate and racism: almost half see hateful content online at least once a month, and one in six sees it every day.

Reality Check

This public awareness program, created in partnership between MediaSmarts and the Facebook Canadian Election Integrity Initiative, focuses on authentication of online information.

Outcome Chart - Northwest Territories - Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum Grade 4-6

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the Northwest Territories - Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum Grade 4-6 curriculum, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.

Prince Edward Island - English Language Arts 571A/B (Grade 11)

Reading and Viewing

SCO 5: Use personal strategies after reading to interpret the meaning of text.

Students who have achieved this outcome should be able to:

a. describe personal reactions

b. retell and summarize events and/or information

d. distinguish main ideas and supporting details

e. make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections

h. generate questions for further reflection or research

i. reflect on meaning making-processes

How can we judge health and science information?

Probably the most essential factor in accurately and objectively judging health and science information is to understand how science is done.

Essential elements of the news genre

At its core, news is defined by what’s considered newsworthy, a criterion that has evolved over time. Traditionally, a story is deemed newsworthy if it’s unusual, as encapsulated by Jesse Lynch Williams’ adage "a dog bites a man, that's a story; a man bites a dog, that's a good story.”

Close reading the news

With news, more than perhaps any other kind of source, it’s important follow both steps in the information sorting process: companion reading first, to find out if a source is worth paying attention to, then close reading to make sure you’re getting the whole story.

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: Rogue Sites and Online Risk

For parents of teens and tweens, the Internet can sometimes seem like nothing more than an ever-expanding list of websites to keep up on: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Snapchat and so on, with new ones appearing every few months. While the safety risks associated with these mainstream sites are often exaggerated – and it’s more effective to build broader critical thinking skills than to focus on the particulars of kids’ latest favourite sites – there are some websites that present very real and specific risks and that parents are much less likely to know about. These are the so-called “rogue websites” that offer unapproved access to copyrighted content such as music, movies and video games.

A Co-Viewing Christmas: Dealing with Problematic Classics

Many families have media traditions around the holidays – whether that’s watching A Charlie Brown Christmas together or staging a Mario Kart tournament on New Year’s Day. It’s great to make media a family activity, and it’s also an opportunity to co-view with your kids. In fact, holiday movies practically demand co-viewing: whether your tastes run to It’s a Wonderful Life, Die Hard or Christmas Vacation, odds that that if you watch with your (appropriately-aged) kids you’ll see something that makes you uncomfortable. Maybe it’s a racist stereotype in a cartoon, or a scene that makes stalking and harassment look romantic, or yet another kids’ movie with just one female character. What do you say?