Consortium for Media Literacy | Uniting for Development | Connections

Polling, especially around election time, has always been big business but this type of information gathering is also widely used to get a sense of where the public stands regarding an issue, idea, or product. But who’s doing the asking? How is the question phrased? And, how is the data presented to the public? These are all factors to consider when reading a poll and this is where questions about author, audience, and purpose can help you interpret the data.

A recent study by Common Sense Media found that teens, when asked, preferred Snapchat and Instagram to Facebook. The authors were intentionally studying teens, but what if you wanted to know about the whole population– would the responses to the same question be different?

Ask students to poll friends and family members about their favorite social media sites.

AHA! Who you ask makes a difference!

Grade Level: 6-8

Activity: Ask your students to poll 15 of their friends and family members --including varying ages and generations-- about their preferred social media sites. Ask students to write down the question they will use to poll their audience, and stress to them the importance of asking exactly the same question to each participant. There should be no attempt by the pollster to influence the responses. Have students tally the results and create a basic bar graph to share with the class. Does the data match their personal views or are they surprised? If they break down the data by age or gender, does the outcome change? Would the outcome change if there were more choices or if the question was phrased differently?

The Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions of media literacy were developed as part of the Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLit Kit™ and Questions/TIPS (Q/TIPS)™ framework. Used with permission,© 2002-2018, Center for Media Literacy.

It’s a pretty solid guess that your students participated as consumers and producers of media during their summer break, and it’s also likely that they shared materials without understanding copyright laws and permissions. Since we are all media producers these days, it’s important to know the guidelines around sharing and re-mixing existing content. Understanding copyright and fair use go hand in hand with being media literate.  

Introduce copyright and fair use, and how it might affect the choices students make.

Activity: Open the conversation by asking your students if they know about copyright and the laws around respecting existing materials found online i.e. music, videos, photos, art, writing, or anything else created by someone else. Review the Key Questions, Core Concepts, and Key Words.

Show the video Creativity, Copyright, and Fair Use for Ethical Digital Citizens by iKeepSafe.org https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B44ApZf7tqOVM3FDLWtDV2prbjQ/view

After the video, bring out your own phone and play a popular song that your students will recognize – one you have legally downloaded. Ask these questions:

Who created this song? Who is the artist/author?

How do you think I got this song onto my phone? (paid for the download).

Now that I have paid for it, can I just give it to all of you because you’re my friends? (no, they must also pay for it to protect the author’s creative rights).

What if we want to use this song for a specific class project? For example, as background music in a video or slide show, can we? (yes, under Fair Use for education).

What if you later decide you want to use the same song in a video outside of school, can you? (no, the song is copyrighted, you would need to pay or get permission. Fair Use allows for educational/classroom purposes only. The purpose of how the material is used, is of the utmost importance.)

If you created artwork or recorded a song, would you mind if other people used it on the internet? Would it depend on their purpose? What if their purpose is to make money off of it? Do you see how copyright laws protect the rights of artists, creators, and producers of media?

The Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions of media literacy were developed as part of the Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLit Kit™ and Questions/TIPS (Q/TIPS)™ framework. Used with permission,© 2002-2018, Center for Media Literacy.

A recent study from Pew Research indicates that Americans struggle to tell fact from opinion even within the same article. In the past, newspapers had clearly marked sections designated as News, Opinion, Sports or Entertainment and the distinctions were obvious. Today, as articles are shared online and out of context, the lines are blurred. The recent release of Incredibles 2 has resulted in lots of media coverage – everything from financial reports to movie reviews. 

Let’s see if students can tell what’s fact and what’s opinion.

AHA!: It can be hard to tell and some articles contain both!

Grade Level: 7-10

Materials: Forbes article on Incredibles 2 is written like a financial report but is also a movie review. The author is a media columnist who reports on the film industry. https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/06/20/box-office-incredibles-2-scores-record-27m-tuesday/#7c02cc9157ae

Key Question #1: Who created this message?
Core Concept #1: All media messages are constructed.
Key Question #3: How might different people understand this message differently?
Core Concept #3: Different people experience the same message differently.
Key Question #4: What values, lifestyles and points of view are included or omitted?
Core Concept #4: Media have embedded values and points of view.

Activity: Have your students read the Forbes article. Ask for a show of hands indicating if this is an opinion piece or a news report. Have a few students explain their reasoning. Then offer the descriptions below and talk about ways to identify fact vs. opinion.

News is fact-related and verifiable. Often includes statistics and/or quotes from experts. Usually written by a professional journalist, word choice tends to be descriptive rather than emotional. The goal is to inform readers by reporting who, what, when, where.

Opinion (or Editorial) pieces are written by individuals tasked with presenting their side of the story. Often in the form of a column or a review. The goal is to sway the reader to the author’s point of view.

It’s helpful to know who authored the piece and what their job title is: reporter, columnist, news anchor, talk show host, activist, etc. This will give you some indication of their role and purpose. It is not uncommon, as seen in the Forbes article, that columnists also provide facts. News articles should include facts only.

Ask your students: Are lines blurred? Is it hard to tell? Why is the distinction important? Why does it matter? Are both types of information interesting? When sharing information online, should it be noted if you are sharing news or opinion? Use the Key Questions and Core Concepts in your discussion.

The Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions of media literacy were developed as part of the Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLit Kit™ and Questions/TIPS (Q/TIPS)™ framework. Used with permission,© 2002-2018, Center for Media Literacy.