Racial and Cultural Diversity in The Newsroom

In the same way that Canadian news reporting does not reflect Canada’s multiculturalism, racial diversity ‘behind the scenes’ of news media is similarly disproportionate. Almost a quarter of the Canadian population identifies as a member of what Statistics Canada refers to as a “visible minority,” and while a 2021 study found a similar rate of representation in newsrooms, eight in ten Canadian newsrooms have no racialized journalists in leadership roles.

What is AI?

This guide provides an overview of what AI is – and in particular Generative AI – and gives two examples of main AI tools you are likely to encounter. Then it explains some key ethical and social issues related to Generative AI.

Shades of Grey: Rethinking cyberbullying interventions

Just a short while ago, concern with online predators was so dominant that anyone trying to draw attention to the problem of cyberbullying felt like a voice in the wilderness. In the last few years, though, new research has not only provided a more realistic picture of the risks of online sexual solicitation; but has also raised awareness on the severity of cyberbullying. Unfortunately, all of the media attention that is now focused on cyberbullying runs the risk of making public perceptions on this issue as narrow and inaccurate as they were towards online predation.

Privacy Ethics

One of the biggest ethical decisions young people have to make is how to handle other people’s personal information. Because nearly all of the services and platforms youth use online are networked, every time a friend or contact posts something they have to decide whether and how to share it. As well, youth may inadvertently share others’ personal information when posting their own content.

Managing media in early childhood (birth to 5 years old)

Helping Young Kids Explore Media Safely

Starting around age two, children can begin to explore media. The goal is to build healthy, guided habits.

There are four main strategies to help kids do that. We can:

Curate our kids’ media experiences;

Control who can access our kids and their data;

Co-view media with our kids;

and be our kids’ media Coaches.

Viral marketing alert

Ads like the one above have been appearing in public transit systems in Ottawa, Toronto and other Ontario cities over the last month, supposedly promoting a drug called “Obay” which prevents teenagers from having their own thoughts, hopes and dreams. It's a classic example of viral marketing: an ad campaign that doesn't actually name the product or service being promoted, but rather tries to get people talking about it in the hopes that when the product is finally unveiled the effect will be greater than a traditional ad campaign could have managed.

New Canadian research reveals that parents need more resources and tools to become digital role models to kids

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, October 22, 2018– Technology is keeping families and households more connected than ever before but parents feel they need more resources to be better digital role models, according to the latest research on digital parenting and the digital well-being of Canadian families released today by MediaSmarts.

Drawing the Privacy Line

I read an interesting Facebook post the other day, written by a teenaged girl. She said quite firmly that it was important for parents to not have their children’s passwords, for their phone or social media accounts. She talked about building trust and how insisting on knowing your kids’ passwords is the first step to them sneaking around online and getting involved in things you wish they wouldn’t.

Family films part two – Finding films and illegal downloads

Yesterday’s post was about our resolution to watch more films this year. This post is a bit about the sources of those films and the issue of illegal downloads.

Outcome Chart - Ontario - Healthy Living Grade 10

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the Ontario Grade 10 Healthy Active Living curriculum with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.