What Media Tells Us

Start by asking students:

• Do chameleons change color to match what they’re sitting on?
• Which are more dangerous, sharks or vending machines?
• What vegetable is rabbits’ favorite food?

Get students’ thoughts on each question, then tell them the answers:

Tell students that even if they were wrong about one or more of those, they shouldn’t feel bad: most people would give the wrong answer for at least one. That’s because a lot of what we think we know about the world comes from media.

Sometimes that doesn’t matter too much (unless you have a pet rabbit) but media have a big impact on what we think is important what isn’t, what we think is “normal” and what isn’t, and what we think about different groups.