This unit is intended for students studying digital media production in the 10-12th grade. The purpose of the unit is to help students to learn from some of the positive uses and negative uses of media. In this unit students will study the use of media to manipulate people: propaganda, followed by the power of media to call people to action, and the potential for calls-to-action based on social and or digital media to have both positive and unintended negative consequences. The students will study media bias and some potential consequences of it. The students will then reflect on which types of societal consequences for posting their digital media would be unacceptable to them. Armed with this knowledge, they will create personal standards that will empower them as unaffiliated journalists to steer clear of undesired outcomes.
(Developed for Digital Media Movie Making, grade 10, and Broadcasting, grade 11; recommended for Digital Media, Journalism, and Cultural Studies, grades 9-12)