Politicians Are Manipulating What You See in the News

By Frank W. Baker

“We have a far more sophisticated audience today than in the past, one that sees more clearly behind the manipulations and stagecraft of its political leaders.” ~ Alissa Quart, media watcher, quoted in The Sarcastic Times

Watch out: you’re about to be manipulated—if you aren’t careful.

The political arena has borrowed the words “stagecraft” and “choreography” from the world of theatre. Stagecraft refers to the work of directors who arrange the elements of what is seen so that a coherent message is communicated and understood by the audience. Nowhere is stagecraft more at play than in today’s image-driven world of politics.

At the highest levels of politics, hundreds of people are routinely employed to manage everything from what a candidate wears, to what colors and symbols participants see, to what music they hear, to what people appear in the background.

Stagecraft is in play not only during election seasons, but also every day, especially when the President goes out on the road during a speaking engagement.

The manipulators know that to be in charge of the image is to control what the audience sees, hears and understands: show them the good stuff and make it look both upbeat and appealing. It’s a lot like commercial advertising, which puts carefully groomed products under the lights so they look polished and bright.

Ronald Reagan famously stuck his head into a room where admen were crafting one of his re-election commercials and reportedly declared: “Since you’re the ones who are selling the soap, I thought you’d like to see the bar.” (Source)

Yes, candidates are like products: today they are packaged and sold just like cars and trucks, via television commercials with high production values. Everybody does it. it’s a far cry from 1956, when Adlai Stevenson thought such marketing was undignified and refused the adman’s treatment. Of course, he lost the election to Dwight Eisenhower.

Josh King, a former White House image manipulator, takes credit for creating the word “polioptics” to describe how important it is to control the image in today’s media world. Polioptics comes into play in almost every presidential event, from giving a speech at a podium to kissing the baby at an election rally. (King now co-hosts a talk show about political image persuasion on the SiriusXM Satellite radio POTUS channel.)

Visual literacy is a critical 21st century skill

In a book I authored about the role of mass media in politics, I made note of the various ways presidents have used the media, and how media organizations cover elections. Standards for visual literacy emphasize the need for all of us to become more aware of how media messages are created, and sometimes staged, and how important it is to “read” what is happening (and what is not) in an image or video production.

Here is an example: President Obama is surrounded by what appear to be doctors at a Rose Garden ceremony concerning passage of the Health Care Act.

How do we know they are doctors? They’re wearing those white lab coats. Did they arrive at the White House wearing those coats, or did the White House distribute them? We don’t know; we weren’t there to witness this event and few members of the media reported on the white coats. News consumers depend upon journalists, including photojournalists, to document and report on news events. All too often they just snap the picture. (In this particular case, the White House invitation to the physicians requested they wear a white lab coat. But, in one news story critical of this photo-op, a New York newspaper published a photo of a White House staffer handing a coat to a doctor who neglected to bring his own.)

So, we might ask our students, what do you think the White House was trying to communicate via this image?

The Roots of Political Stagecraft: Some brief history

Photography was a new invention when Abraham Lincoln ran for president. Yet, the Man from Illinois posed in Mathew Brady’s photographic studio several times.  Brady knew how to make Lincoln look good: he raised Lincoln’s shirt collar in order to de-emphasize the candidate’s neck. That early photo shoot produced several Brady images of “Honest Abe” that some say helped get him elected.

When Franklin Roosevelt was President of the United States (1933-1945), photographers agreed not to show the chief executive in a wheelchair or with crutches (he had polio.) If you think about the various photos of FDR, often he was seated or standing: none showed his disability. Of the more than 35 thousand photos taken during his presidency, only a handful showed his disability. Controlling how the public, and the world, saw the president was paramount—and the White House did not want to give the impression that he was weak. FDR’s condition accelerated the sometimes cozy relationship between the White House and the Fifth Estate.

It was Richard Nixon who created the White House Office of Communications. His first hire was Roger Ailes, who now heads Fox News. Today that office is occupied by former advertising, news and television experts—all of whom know how to craft a message and use the media to their advantage.

But it was during Ronald Reagan’s time in office that presidential-level political stagecraft began to be noticed. Reagan’s chief image-maker was Michael Deaver whose mantra was “image trumps words.” Nancy Reagan said Deaver’s greatest skill was “arranging what were known as good visuals — televised events or scenes that would leave a powerful symbolic image in people’s minds.”  (Source: “Longtime Reagan Adviser Michael Deaver Dies From Cancer”. Fox News. August 19,  2007)

Deaver recalled the time Reagan campaigned in California at a B-1 Bomber assembly plant facing huge layoffs. Deaver, wanting to counter the idea that Reagan was a hawk, managed to have the plane, strategically placed behind the president’s podium, draped with a banner that declared “Prepared for Peace.” With the White House dictating where all of  the cameras would be positioned, the media all got the same shot: Reagan in the foreground, with the word “Peace” clearly visible in the background.

Frame grab from American Photography: A Century of Images (video series)

When President Bush declared (prematurely) that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, with the huge  “Mission Accomplished” banner hanging behind him, it was decided that the president should speak just as the sun was setting—creating what photographers call the “golden hour” just before sunset. Thus no TV lights had to be used—Mother Nature would provide the best lighting.

Today, when President Obama goes out on the road to speak, the background most often includes an audience especially selected by the White House Office of Communications to represent an ethnically and gender diverse group.

President Barack Obama at West Wilkes High School in Millers Creek, N.C. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Sometimes, the stagecraft backfires. When presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney delivered a major economic speech in Detroit in February 2012, the location was Detroit’s Ford Field, home of the pro football Lions.

But some in the media observed that the stadium was empty and the 1200 people in attendance actually appeared smaller when seen from the perspective of the 80-thousand seat arena.

Was Romney’s message lost due to poor stagecraft? Perhaps. One interesting exercise is to search for this photo using the Google Images search tool and examine the many ways the photo was presented, how it was cropped, and who chose to use which versions with what text. This popular second photo showing the vast empty arena is attributed to “Twitter” — suggesting someone might have captured the image with a cellphone and spread it via social media.

Ideas for the Classroom

The opportunities to teach about political and visual stagecraft are abundant, to say the least.

• Ask students to locate and select a photo from the website of a candidate running for local, regional or national office. For example, a Romney tumblr page or Obama’s current page. (If students cannot locate photos there, they should look for images on the web sites of local newspapers or political blogs that cover candidates and elections. If they use Google Images, be sure to have them follow the image to its source.) Students can work in groups, with each group analyzing one photo, or students can choose a photo to analyze individually.

• Since many students won’t have had any prior experience in “reading” a photo, print out and distribute this “Photo Analysis Worksheet” created by the National Archives. Give students time to complete the worksheet and then have them present their findings and observations to the entire class.

• Have students compare examples of commercial product placement and political candidate/message placement.

• If possible, invite a photojournalist into your class (live or via Skype) to discuss the challenges of covering a candidate on a daily basis.

For more about visual literacy, see the resources collected on the Media Literacy Clearinghouse website. Find more about the role of media in politics at my website.

Images: For image source, click on the image.

Frank W. Baker is a much sought-after media literacy education consultant. He is the author of three books; his most recent is Media Literacy In The K-12 Classroom (ISTE, 2012). He maintains the nationally recognized Media Literacy Clearinghouse website and he conducts media literacy workshops at schools and districts across the US. He is a consultant to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). He can be reached at fbaker1346@aol.com.

by Frank W. Baker

Every teacher I know uses “film” in the classroom, even if that film is a video or DVD. Effective teachers chose titles that supplement their instruction because they know that many of their students are visual learners.

At my website The Language of Film, I’ve gathered and created many resources that educators can use to teach with and about film. In this article, I’d like to focus on ways teachers can help students learn more of the “about” of movie-making.

Very soon, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) will hand out the Oscars. And while most of us know about the actors and directors involved in major films, we know quite a bit less about the behind-the-scenes work of literally thousands of other people who participate in Academy-nominated motion pictures and make the stars shine.

If you’ve watched the credits of any film lately, then you know there are hundreds of people who work on any major movie. As much as the director or the actors, it is their specialized skills and talents that make film the magical medium it is.

Not long ago I took the time to really peruse the credit roll of a movie I enjoyed. It’s amazing to read the job titles — some of them quite mysterious to the general public (gaffers, grips, best boys and wrangler managers, to name a few). These people do not appear on the marquee nor on the poster promoting a film, but they do a lion’s share of the work. So much so that in Canada, with the help of familiar stars like Eugene Levy, a new campaign is underway to educate film audiences about the important roles these people play.

What in the world is a Foley artist?

Since I teach the “languages of film,” I want to help teachers and students become familiar with many of the people, jobs, skills and techniques involved in movie-making. One of the most intriguing and engaging movie jobs — certainly to tweens and young teens — is that of the Foley artist.

“Foley” (named after early sound artist Jack Foley) traces its roots back to the 1930s and the emergence of movies with talking actors and realistic background sounds.

“On the film set nothing is real — the sword is made of plastic, the marble floor is painted plywood. Foley replaces or enhances live sound; the result is a sword that rings like metal and floors that echo like marble!” — Art of Foley

 

“There are many stories in the film industry about Jack Foley’s genius, such as the time Stanley Kubrick wanted to re-shoot a Roman army scene in Spartacus to get the sound (of armor and metal) right — instead Foley jangled a set of keys into a microphone and got the desired sound. — mediacollege.com

Gary A. Hecker is an award-winning Foley artist. On his resume are more than 200 films, including The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Angels & Demons, Watchmen, Master & Commander and the Spiderman trilogy.

In this L.A. Times Working Hollywood profile, Hecker describes the screen as his canvas. Yet he does not paint; instead, he recreates or invents sound. In this video feature you will see Hecker working on both Twilight and The Hunger Games. In another illustrative video clip — from the SoundWorks collection at Vimeo — you’ll see him create a sound sequence of Russell Crowe riding a horse in 2010′s Robin Hood.

In an interview with the PBS Newshour, Hecker described his job:

I work on a stage and they project an image of the film that we’re working on onto a screen, and I have live microphones and hand props and different things that I use to create sound effects. I watch the picture and mimic movements of the actors and also whatever is being portrayed on the scene of the film.

In another interview for the Los Angles Times, he further explained:

I have to also have a very creative mind. I’m out here in this studio, and I only have so many props to deal with. And sometimes on the screen, I don’t have that exact prop that the actor is using. So I have to come up with other things that suffice to make that sound.

There are two Oscar award categories that involve audio (excluding music): Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. Although Hecker is not nominated for an Oscar this year, he and his staff have been honored in the past for their work in films and television, including Django Unchained (2012) and War of the Worlds (2005).

In the truest sense, Foley artists are “filmmakers” — as are the lighting experts, set designers, screenwriters, storyboard artists, costume and makeup experts, and individuals in dozens of other roles. The Academy recognizes some of these film-making contributions among its 24 Oscar awards, including Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Original Song. (The other Oscars go to Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Short Film, Animated Short, Documentary, and Documentary Short.)

The Academy also recognizes important “out of the limelight” advances in motion picture science and technology at an annual ceremony several weeks before the red-carpeted main event. And there are also student Academy Awards given (since 1972) to the best work of college students in the United States.

The AMPAS Film Education Curriculum

Several years ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences created a complete film education program which is available in the Education and Outreach section of the Academy’s website. The series of Teacher’s Guides cover topics like screenwriting, cinematography, art direction, sound and music, costumes and makeup, and more. There’s also a cinema (media) literacy guide dubbed “Reading Between the Frames.”

Teaching Suggestion

Assign a student, or group of students, one of the Oscar categories for the current year. Bypass the actors and directors and limit their choices to the categories that involve movie professionals who work behind-the-scenes.

Have them choose a nominated person or team and use their research skills to create a multimedia profile of both the scope of work represented by the category (e.g., makeup and hairstyling, film editing) and short bios of the individual(s) nominated. Other than the current film, what else has the person (or team) done? What makes their work meaningful? What kind of college or career education might be required to do award-winning work in the category?

That memorable film

We can all recall favorite films — ones that we never tire of watching. There is something special and specific about such films that make them noteworthy. And behind their memorable scenes stand dozens of film artists and technicians who came together as a team to produce your out-of-the-ordinary viewing experience.

The next time you’re watching one of your favorites, take a few moments to scan those closing credits. Use Google or visit the Internet Movie DataBase (IMDB) and look up the people involved in those aspects of the film you most enjoyed — the foley artist, music composer, film editor, costume designer, etc. — and explore their careers. It’s a great way to not only find other movies you might enjoy but to gain a greater appreciation for an old movie cliché we often hear actors say: “I couldn’t have done it without all the people who collaborated to make this movie possible.”

Frank W. Baker is the author of three books; his most recent “Media Literacy In the K-12 Classroom” (ISTE, 2012). Previously he wrote “Political Campaigns & Political Advertising: A Media Literacy Guide” (Greenwood, 2009) and “Coming Distractions Questioning Movies” (Capstone Press, 2007) He maintains the nationally recognized Media Literacy Clearinghouse website and conducts media literacy workshops at conferences, schools and districts across the US. He is a consultant to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). He can be reached at fbaker1346@aol.com.

by Frank W. Baker

In the first part of this article on teaching visual media literacy, I told the story of a fourth grade class in New York City that sharpened their visual literacy skills significantly through a project that had them  create their own public service announcements. In this second installment, we’ll look a little deeper into the components of visual media that make up a special language and “literacy” — and suggest ways teachers can begin to meet Common Core standards for the English Language Arts that address visual literacy.

We can and should teach students that films and other visual media can be “read” in a conscious and deliberate way (just like we read words) to extract meaning.

Filmmaker George Lucas has been a long time advocate for visual media education: “We must accept the fact that learning how to communicate with graphics, with music, with cinema, is just as important as communicating with words,” he says. “Understanding these rules is as important as learning how to make a sentence work.”

The important role of writing & storyboarding

I like to remind educators that “all media started out as writing” and video/film is no exception. Before an inch (or megabyte) of film is shot, a script (called a screenplay) is produced. Having students write screenplays of scenes from a book they might be reading is one way to get them to appreciate film’s dependence on the written word.

Once their script/screenplay is final, students can begin the process of storyboarding the scenes. Many students are not familiar with the role of storyboarding. I want them to know that video games, TV commercials and movies are all storyboarded prior to production. (Today’s graphic novels are popular with Hollywood because potential studios can see the action and story already visualized, like a storyboard, in the graphic novel.)

Read a MiddleWeb book review about storyboarding.

Media Making & Meaning

All media makers, from political campaign consultants to toy commercial producers, understand that there is a language to film and video. Here’s one example of a way to help students get meaning out of some of that language.

Imagine you’re photographing “Jack & The Beanstalk” and you wish to shoot the giant. You probably would never do that from high above his head. Placing your camera at the giant’s shoes, and pointing up, would produce an image in which the giant appears even taller than he is really is — truly larger than life.

Filmmakers would tell you that when you position the camera to aim up at someone from a low angle, you’re also making that person more important. In the inverse, shooting down on someone takes their power away from them. With that simple understanding shared, I would turn students loose with newspapers and magazines and ask them to find photos that demonstrate the “high angle” and “low angle” techniques.

Where you put the camera has meaning. But there’s also meaning in the use of lighting, set design, sound, costume, makeup and more. These comprise “the languages of film.”

Surfacing visual clues

I like to use the opening scenes from the Pixar/Disney film Wall-E when I teach visual literacy to students in the middle grades.

If you’re familiar with the film, you might remember that when we first meet the robot Wall-E, he is finishing his day’s work as a trash compactor. As he moves down a skyscraper made of garbage, he passes a video billboard (the only dialogue provided) which reveals that humans have departed Earth for a life of leisure aboard space ships, leaving the robots to clean up the trash. Other visual information can help us discover that the humans have been gone for thousands of years, and Wall-E is the last surviving artificial intelligence remaining on Earth. Due to the lack of dialogue in this scene, students must watch carefully for clues which help reveal the plot.

I first show this opening scene to audiences with no instruction: they watch passively, as if they were sitting in a theatre, or watching at home from a comfortable chair. Before the second viewing, I will provide them with some guiding questions, printed on index cards, which require them to pay more attention. Some of the questions include:

• Does the action take place in the past, present or future: what are the clues?
• From what camera angle do we first see Wall E?
• Who is Wall-E’s sidekick? What role does he play?
• how does the music change as Wall E makes his way down the skyscraper of trash?

After the second viewing, participants share their observations, guided by the questions on the index cards. The second viewing responses make it a more enriching learning experience.

I also use clips from Toy Story and Over The Hedge to teach point-of-view (POV). Both of these animated films feature characters who are small: toys and animals. The animators for “Over The Hedge” have said they literally got down on the ground to see what life looks like from a raccoon’s point-of-view. Students begin to understand perspective and point-of-view when we help them to understand that where you position your camera is a big part of character POV.

In this way, I am using these popular culture texts as the hook to understanding film technique and to teaching Common Core standards. After they’re comfortable, then we can move on to more complex films.

Language of Film resources & the Common Core

Recently, I unveiled a Language of Film web site. On this site, you’ll find several categories (cinematography, lighting, costumes, audio–just to name a few). Each category includes links to recent news stories, teaching curriculum and resources, as well as recommended texts and videos.

My goal is to make it easier for educators to integrate important 21st century skills into existing and developing curriculum. Did you know that the new Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts actually include specific references to film and the techniques students should know and understand?

Reading Standards for Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

CC.7.R.L.7 – Compare and contrast a story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).

CC.8.R.L.7 – Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choice made by the director or actors.

With the buzz starting (already) about the Academy Awards (February 2013), movies, and those who make them, flim will be in the news frequently in the coming months. If you’re going to be teaching about film and/or film techniques, you’re sure to find plenty of material for student reading.

We all know that when we use video or film in the classroom, our students tend to sit up and pay attention. By going the extra mile, and teaching them screen education, we ensure that their viewing will not be passive, but rather active and critical.

Frank W. Baker is the author of three books; his most recent “Media Literacy In the K-12 Classroom” (ISTE, 2012). Previously he wrote “Political Campaigns & Political Advertising: A Media Literacy Guide” (Greenwood, 2009) and “Coming Distractions Questioning Movies” (Capstone Press, 2007) He maintains the nationally recognized Media Literacy Clearinghouse website and conducts media literacy workshops at schools and districts across the US. He is a consultant to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). He can be reached at fbaker1346@aol.com.

Media literacy educator Frank Baker reminds us that the annual season for movie awards has begun, with the 85th annual Academy Awards scheduled for February 24. In a new two-part article for MiddleWeb, Baker shares key ideas about ways teachers in grades 4-8 can develop students’ visual media literacy skills by (1) involving them in video production like the PSA project described here, and (2) by teaching them to “read” multimedia forms, from magazine layouts to major motion pictures — all of which ties into a pair of Common Core ELA standards.
 

by Frank W. Baker

Do your students love to pick up a camera? Take pictures with their mobile devices? Share photos?

If so, then you know they’re already using photography to communicate a message. Engaging students in taking pictures and having them create and analyze them are important 21st century skills. In education circles, it’s known as “visual literacy.”

I would argue that photographs, as well as moving images, are two of the “new literacies” that all teachers need to recognize and become comfortable with using. When I speak of “moving images” here, I mean internet video, television and motion pictures. We might even call this screen literacy, because they’re being exposed to this media via a screen, whether it’s an inch square or covers the wall of a theatre.

We know that our students love the movies. For the most part, they can recall the plot, the characters, the action and more. I like to say: they’ve already started down the road to “film literacy” — learning how films communicate.

When most of our students read a passage from a novel (for example) they visualize it by creating a mental image of what they’re reading. In this way, I maintain, they’re already film-makers of a sort but don’t really know it.

In this article, I’d like to zero in on film literacy, including film production by professionals and by students themselves.

The filmmaking process

It’s been my experience that students in classroom situations want to pick up a video recording device and start recording immediately. This often leads to a lot of wasted time that might be used more productively for learning with some front-end preparation and instruction.

With help, students can come to appreciate that filmmaking (e.g. digital storytelling) is a process. This process involves:

1. Writing a script
2. Creating storyboards (visual representations of the scenes in the script)
3. Pre-production
4. Production (shooting the action)
5. Editing to create the final finished product

Allow me to introduce you to some fourth graders from New York City. They worked in class to produce a Public Service Announcement (PSA) about global warming. But they also wanted their audience (teachers/students) to witness and understand the lengthy production process they followed BEFORE they could create their PSA. In the introduction to their 5-minute video, you’ll meet the students and hear them elaborate on the media making process before showing you their PSA.

It’s a great way to introduce students to the big idea of the film-making process. Teachers will also find links to the teacher’s class blog and to a PSA explaining how students were able to use images in their video, under the fair-use principle of copyright law.

Student PSA project steps

This information is drawn from notes made by the production company that supported the project at the above link.

Class 4-302 at PS 124 brainstormed ways of appealing to their specific audience, and once their attention was held, what they wanted to communicate. The class then divided into four “production units,” each with a specific element of the PSA to communicate: 1) Grab the audience’s attention; 2) define the issue and the audience’s role in it; 3) convey the importance of the issue; and 4) leave the audience with an action to take. Their video also includes an introduction that explains their production process.

Using a projector, laptop and examples of PSAs on the web, the class analyzed how the PSA video producers used words, images, sound and special effects to inspire their audience to take action.

Each group (production unit) of students then wrote a script and adapted it for the screen using storyboards. Three of the units shot video sequences based on their storyboards. All units searched for images on the Internet to support their scripts, saved the URL addresses on their class blog, and downloaded selections to experiment with during the editing process. Each unit presented rough cuts to the class on two occasions, and the class evaluated each other’s editing decisions using a rubric.

This production demonstrates how thoroughly a video production can be integrated into a social studies curriculum, while also supporting video editing, internet research basics, media literacy, and critical thinking skills.”

Comments from the adults involved

Teacher Julian Marsano says: “if students are downloading images, for use in a…Public Service Announcement about global warming, it’s really our primary focus that those images have something to do with the big idea of global warming and also with the particular method that the students have chosen to express that message.” Video production, he says, “dovetails with that nicely, because you have to address, in a very conscious way, issues of authorial intention, of objectivity, of tone, of mood, of message, and then, of course, the best way to actually get your message across.”

You can see and hear Marsano and his students here, talking about their teaching and learning.

According to media producer Rhys Daunic, who worked with the New York students, “The abundance of searchable, downloadable images on the Internet, the accessibility of digital music, and the ease with which kids can manipulate and create with them — using free, kid-friendly video editing software — have given teachers low-maintenance opportunities to set up students to experiment with digital productions in the classroom.” Daunic shows how the students learn about media literacy in this clip.

You don’t have to own or purchase thousands of dollars worth of equipment and software to teach students about film-making. Freely available software programs (e.g. Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Photo Story) are available and are user-friendly.

____

In the next installment of this two-part article, Frank Baker will write about the all-important role of writing and storyboarding in creating visual messages, consider ways to teach students more about “media making & meaning,” share ideas to help kids “read” visual media, and point to standards that tie visual literacy to the Common Core.

Frank W. Baker is the author of three books; his most recent “Media Literacy In the K-12 Classroom” (ISTE, 2012), is reviewed at MiddleWeb. Previously he wrote “Political Campaigns & Political Advertising: A Media Literacy Guide” (Greenwood, 2009) and “Coming Distractions Questioning Movies” (Capstone Press, 2007) He maintains the nationally recognized Media Literacy Clearinghouse website and conducts media literacy workshops at schools and districts across the US. He is a consultant to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). He can be reached at fbaker1346@aol.com.

by Frank W. Baker
Media Literacy Consultant

It’s early fall as I write this, and already toy advertisers and marketers have their holiday ad plans in place. Their priority: the placement and positioning of their commercial spots on all of the networks that carry children’s programs.

Despite the fascination with new media, children and their parents still watch television — lots of it. It’s the job of the advertisers to know their demographic, and as technology advances and more and more social media data become available, it’s easier than ever to target the toy-minded audience. You can be sure marketers know which TV shows kids of various ages (and their parents) watch most often.

As Holiday 2012 approaches, parents and educators have another one of those “teachable moments.” Using toy commercials in the classroom is a great way to jump-start media literacy. Media literacy, as I’ve defined it, is about applying critical thinking/viewing skills to media messages. And one of the most powerful media messages is the persuasive television commercial.

When most of us watch television, we’ve turned off the thinking parts of our brains. It’s the job of educators to teach students how to turn on those “thinking parts” while we watch and develop critical thinking skills. And once kids begin to be discerning consumers of media, they can have a lot of fun deconstructing what they see.

Looking behind the scenes

Media literacy is also about understanding the production process, because most of us only see the finished media product — we rarely get to go behind the scenes to witness how a production moves from conception to completion. In my own teaching, I help young people comprehend and appreciate the tools (camera, lights, sound, special effects) and the techniques (camera angles, masculine/feminine colors, soft/loud music) used to make toy ads which appeal to their emotions.

Toy advertisers, like most all other advertisers, know that they must showcase their products in the best possible light. Sometimes that means using tricks and hoping unsuspecting viewers won’t notice. These finely crafted messages are some of the most persuasive and influential ads on television.

Several years ago, one of the most popular toys of the holiday season was Cinderella’s Magical Talking Vanity. I happened to be video recording one  Saturday morning when a new ad for the product was broadcast during children’s programming. During the commercial (which I play back during my media literacy workshops for unsuspecting participants) we see two little girls, both seated and standing next to the vanity.

At the conclusion of the ad, I ask my audiences to indicate how tall they think the vanity is, and they all believe it is taller than it actually is. To demonstrate this, I unfurl a poster I had made showing the actual height of the toy — much shorter than anyone had guess-timated. Then I replay the commercial and point out the brief second which reveals that the toy has been placed on a platform. The commercial is deceptive, but many viewers (and most young people) are unaware. They’ve not been taught how to watch with a critical eye and see through the spin. This is where media literacy comes in.

Buy Me That

In 1990, HBO, in a collaboration with Consumer Reports Television, aired the first of three half-hour specials about children and advertising, entitled Buy Me That. The programs helped pull back the curtain on many of the techniques and tricks used in TV commercials. These videos, now unfortunately out of circulation, became favorites with media educators, myself included.

In one of the more popular segments, the producers of Buy Me That showcase the remote-controlled toy Typhoon 2, which the announcer proclaims loudly, “zooms around that rocky maze” and “glides over water like a cushion on air.” After playing the first few seconds of this toy ad, I ask kids who would like to own the Typhoon 2, and all hands shoot up.

The producers of the Buy Me That documentary decided to field test the toy. They gave an actual Typhoon 2 toy to some kids to test outside. We see them on a basketball court trying to maneuver the toy, but increasingly it does not perform. Next, we see these same children try to launch the toy onto a pool of water, like they saw in the commercial, but alas it sinks. One of the children summarizes the experience and advertising when he says: “we tried it many times, but it failed” and “even though it looks good in the commercial, it’s just not good.”

This segment is eye-opening for the young people who participate in my media literacy workshops. I’ve demonstrated that toy ads (which they’ve believed up till now) cannot be trusted. This is a critical lesson all young people should receive, and not just at holiday time.

Extending the learning

Invariably, after seeing this segment, children want to share a time when they received a birthday or holiday toy that also failed to live up to their expectations. This is a perfect opportunity to engage them in a writing activity.

I ask, “Who could you write to, in order to complain about deceptive toy advertising?” They brainstorm. Typical answers include the President of the United States, the toy store, the toy company. It’s rare that anyone suggests complaining to the TV network or station that aired the commercial.

Then I’ll ask, “don’t broadcasters have an obligation to run advertising that is truthful and not deceptive?” A follow-up question asks students to do the research: who in Washington DC is responsible for deceptive advertising? (The Federal Trade Commission) Then we brainstorm about other things young people can do when they encounter deceptive or false advertising. (One idea: write and publish toy reviews on the internet. Another: make substitute ads showing what toys really do.)

Here’s my lesson plan for the Typhoon II, which includes a link to a 3-minute excerpt from Buy Me That, showing the Typhoon II segment.

The Critical Inquiry process

At the heart of media literacy is asking questions — and not just any questions. To become media literate, we have to pursue a line of inquiry that helps reveal who’s behind the message.

Questions to consider include:

• who created the ad?
• for what purpose?
• using which techniques?
• for what audiences?

It’s not rocket-science. But it is important.

It’s up to adults to overcome media illiteracy

Students who are not media literate will fall into the trap of believing everything they see, read and hear. Today’s teachers tell me that most of their students don’t question: If something is on TV (or the Internet) they believe it.

This is where parents and educators come in: it’s our job to use the media, and popular culture, as the hooks to teaching critical thinking (and those all important curriculum standards.)

If you want to know more about media literacy, I suggest you spend some time on the website of The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). On their site, you’ll find the Core Principles of Media Literacy and the Key Questions students should consider when they encounter any media message. (NAMLE makes it easy to print these out and display.)

If you want to know more about toy advertising, surf over to my website page about How Toy Advertising Influences Kids. If everyone reading this would engage young people in media literacy education, we’d all be better because of it.

Frank W. Baker is the author of three books; the most recent “Media Literacy In the K-12 Classroom” (ISTE, 2012). He maintains the nationally recognized Media Literacy Clearinghouse website and conducts media literacy workshops at schools and districts across the US. He is a consultant to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and blogs at He blogs at http://www.ncte-ama.blogspot.com. Baker lives in Columbia, SC and can be reached at fbaker1346@aol.com.

What Students Should Know About Campaigns & the Media

by Frank W. Baker

For many years, I have been interested in the way the media reports on the presidential campaign and the way the candidates manipulate the media. Three years ago I wrote a book about the role of media in the political process.

Many people will say that this year’s campaign has turned negative, and they’d be correct. Negativity in campaigns has been a staple throughout our history as this recent news feature reminds us.

But negative ads have a purpose: they’re designed to get our attention and they provide candidates with opportunities not only to make charges and allegations but also to plant doubts in the minds of the potential voter.

Everywhere I go, teachers tell me that their students believe everything they see, read and hear. Many of our students are not applying the critical thinking skills to media messages, but we can help them. The websites that contain political campaign commericals, for example, make access and analysis easier than ever.  So, I believe educators should use actual ads in instruction to help students dissect and understand how they work and why they work.

Understanding political advertising and the media management tactics of candidates is an important element of effective citizenship. The Center For Civic Education recommends that “students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions, on the influence of the media on American political life.” Media literacy is necessary to achieve this goal.

I want students — our future voters, taxpayers, and civic leaders — to understand how political messages are crafted, so that they can see through the spin of the 30-second campaign commercial.

What students need to know

Here are some “givens” that students should know and acknowledge are facts.

Candidates need the media. Reaching voters means more than sending brochures by mail, or creating billboards and bumper stickers. Candidates know that millions of people (still) watch television despite the rise of social media. So they create photo-ops, hold news conferences, attend fairs and parades, all just to make sure the media will capture their every move and keep them in the public eye.

Candidates work hard to control their images (but they’re not always successful). Each candidate has dozens of people whose job it is to make sure all goes right at an event. Signage behind the candidate, for example, is carefully worded and positioned to make sure the media includes messages favorable to the candidate in their photographic shot. The right mix of people will be situated behind the candidate during speeches and the like. Standing in front of a school or business-type equipment is sure to send a symbolic message to the audience.

Sometimes, things don’t go as planned and the wrong image is conveyed. Mitt Romney made a speech inside a vast football stadium in Detroit — empty except for a few hundred folks there to witness the talk. Some said this looked silly and they might be right. Earlier, President Obama was photographed shirtless — a photo that the chief executive wished had not been published, but it was. There’s a new word for all of this: it’s called poli-optics, coined by the man who was in charge of President Clinton’s appearances.

Candidates depend on media consultants. It is the consultant who is constantly working on the message, the visuals, and the messenger. Media consultants often come out of the advertising and broadcasting businesses, so they know how to make the most of the product (the candidate). They also know how to appeal to various audiences, so messages will be targeted to a specific demographic sure to be watching, listening, surfing and hopefully paying attention.

Candidates raise millions of dollars for one major purpose: to purchase ad time on broadcast TV stations. Media literacy helps us understand that media are businesses, and during the year or so leading up to a presidential election, TV station bottom lines get fatter as campaigns gobble up airtime.

Political ads resemble traditional ads. So if you want to know how a particular technique works in a candidate’s ads, study traditional ads. How does Tide (detergent) or Toyota (automobile) convince consumers to be loyal to its brand? What ways do traditional advertisers use color, sound, and emotion to appeal to us? (See page 3 of this document for a list of ad types.)

Political ads (produced by the candidates) are considered “free speech.” They cannot be censored. In fact, candidates can and will say anything in an ad (even deceptive statements and outright lies). TV stations cannot refuse to air them. (The same is not true of the so-called “Super PAC” supported ads, but TV stations don’t have the research staffs to investigate every charge. Fact-checking organizations are now offering this service.)

New media have already proven themselves to be important and necessary communication tools to reach voters. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking venues are also being used to fundraise. The candidate whose staff is not proficient in new media will be left far behind. (If you watch the conventions and debates, you’ll see the frequent and creative ways social media is being used in the political world today.)

Begin with the basics

These basic media literacy questions are effective in getting young people to think critically about the content and techniques used in advertising, including political ads.

1. Who is responsible for the ad?
2. Who is the audience for the ad?
3. What is the purpose of the ad?
4. What techniques are used to make the message believable?
5. Who or what might be omitted and why?
6. How might people, different from me, understand this message differently?
7. Who benefits from, or makes money from, this message?
8. How can I verify the information contained in the ad?
9. What will you do with the information?

If I have piqued your curiosity, and you want to know more, I recommend you surf over to The Media Literacy Clearinghouse (my website) and the page on The Role of The Media In Politics. It contains hundreds of additional ideas and resources to help you get started or refine that lesson you’re already teaching.

Frank W. Baker is the author of three books; his most recent is Media Literacy In The K-12 Classroom (ISTE, 2012). Baker maintains the nationally recognized Media Literacy Clearinghouse website and is a consultant to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). He conducts media literacy workshops at schools and districts across the US.

 Presidential Debates Are Teachable Moments

by Frank W. Baker

Mark Your Calendars Now

If history is any gauge, voters (and students) usually perk up and begin paying more attention to the campaign for the presidency when the live televised debates are happening. Three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate are on the calendar for the month of October.

October 3:  First Presidential Debate,   University of Denver, Denver CO
October 11: Vice Presidential Debate,  Centre College, Danville, KY
October 16:  Second Presidential Debate,  Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
October 22: Third Presidential Debate,  Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL

The viewing audiences for these live television events has recovered somewhat from years past, and predictions are this year’s debates may draw some of the largest audiences ever. But does viewership translate into interest; does interest translate into engagement; does that mean more people will register to vote or vote at all? All of this remains to be seen.

Commission Selects Moderators

In mid-August, the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which manages the process, announced the moderators for each debate:

First presidential debate: Jim Lehrer, Executive Editor of the PBS NewsHour.

Vice presidential debate: Martha Raddatz, Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent, ABC News.

Second presidential debate (town meeting format): Candy Crowley, Chief Political Correspondent, CNN and Anchor, CNN’s State of the Union.

Third presidential debate: Bob Schieffer, Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News and Moderator, Face the Nation.

The announcement of the debate moderators generated some criticism in the media since no person of color was included. The New York Times reported that Univision, the Spanish language TV network, referenced the lack of bilingual moderators. Meantime, the Times said the National Association of Black Journalists bemoaned the lack of black moderators as “unacceptable.”

Responding to the criticism, a spokesman for the Commission told the Times, “We can’t make everybody happy.”

Apparently, third party candidates aren’t happy either, because they’re not allowed on the same stage as the two major candidates. The Nation acknowledged this fact, urging the Commission to open the process so that more voices and points of view not — just Democrat and Republican — could be heard.

Candidates Prepare

Right now in the weeks prior to the debates, both presidential candidates are rehearsing in realistic settings, fielding questions they can expect as well as some they might not anticipate. President Obama has reportedly been working with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, while GOP nominee Mitt Romney is working with Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.

Today’s students might need to know that the candidates have been rehearsed and that much of what they will say during debates “under the lights” is not spontaneous or extemporaneous. The moderators will attempt to get both men to move beyond their “talking points” and well-worn campaign speech and advertising points.

The town hall format, chosen for the second debate, will allow for more variety. Participants asking questions will be undecided voters chosen by the Gallup polling organization. The topics for the town hall include foreign and domestic issues.

Questions via the Web and YouTube are not being used as they had been in previous debates. Instead, the Commission is urging voters to communicate their concerns directly to the debate moderators. Details of this new program were to be announced in early September on the Commission’s webpage.

Engaging Your Students in the Debates

Students who might be studying the issues and the candidates would be wise to read the various positions of both candidates prior to each debate. Those positions are on their respective web sites and have been discussed in the press for much of the past year and more. (The Pro/Con website is also a valuable resource.)

Consultants for each campaign have a plethora of research which tells them which issues (e.g. economy, jobs, deficit, etc.) resonate with voters and undecided voters. Students should be attuned to how each candidate speaks to “his” issues and various constituencies.

During the past year, charges and counter-charges have been leveled by both candidates in their own ads as well as ads sponsored and paid for the so-called Super PACS.  During the debate students may wish to listen for how these issues are raised (if they are) and how each candidate deals with them in the live national telecasts.

Debate Watcher’s Worksheet

Four years ago, my media literacy partner Karen Zill and I wrote Lights, Camera…Debate and created a simple note-taking tool that students can use as they watch the presidential debates.

You can download a 2012 Presidential Debate worksheet to consider the setting, techniques of persuasion, favorite phrases, rehearsed responses, camera cutaways, and post-debate analysis. (A 2008 version of the worksheet appeared in Cable in the Classroom magazine.)

Following each debate, students may wish to survey various news outlets to see how each reports the debate. Are there one or two soundbites which seem to get the most press? Did one candidate say something “out of the ordinary” or say something blatantly false? With the advent of journalistic “fact-checking,” every word uttered by the candidates will come under scrutiny and be reported in the mainstream media as well as various blogs and twitter streams.

Students may wish to survey their classmates: did the performance of one candidate sway your opinion or make you more likely to support him? Is your own opinion/support swayed by classmates or by the media or both?

Last, ask students: if you were in charge of the debates, how would you alter the format or the moderators to change the way the candidates perform and the way the broadcast is seen and heard?

For more background information and ideas about helping students analyze political advertising, see Frank Baker’s MiddleWeb post on Media Literacy & Politics and our Resource Roundup on Learning about Elections.

Frank W. Baker is the author of three books; his most recent “Media Literacy In the K-12 Classroom” (ISTE, 2012). Previously he wrote “Political Campaigns & Political Advertising: A Media Literacy Guide” (Greenwood, 2009). He maintains the nationally recognized Media Literacy Clearinghouse website and conducts media literacy workshops at schools and districts across the US. He is a consultant to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).  He can be reached at fbaker1346@aol.com.