The Media Maze

Today, one of my AP Seminar students presented their individual multimedia presentation on the media effect of historical perception. She talked about collective memory and how media frames events and distorts what really happened. Smith's "Master the Media" talks about how the purpose of mass media is to make money which my student did a great job of highlighting in her presentation by talking about how history is often distorted to make the narrative more engaging for the audience. With attention spans rapidly declining (thanks TikTok!), the media has to find ways to keep the audience in engaged in order to keep their ratings up even if this means fabricating a piece of the story thus altering history and how we remember it. When taking the Easiest Quiz of All Time, this idea of collective memories was very present. I had thought I knew all the right answers but really I was believing the false truth the entire time due to what the media and other people have largely spread. My brother and I were just talking about one of these false memory incidents. We had both been lead to believe that Walt Disney was frozen. Somewhere in our childhood we had seen or heard that and had believed it all along without actually fact checking it. No one can actually pinpoint where this rumor came from, but many people believed it. Did you believe it? If I am just breaking the news to you right now that Walt Disney is not actually frozen, I am so sorry!


Image Source: WaynoBlog

I didn't actually think I was doing all that much to teach about media literacy but as I went through Hobbs' 5 competencies that all students should know, I realized I was actually doing a lot more with media literacy without terming it that. In AP Seminar, we use the CRAAP test to determine if sources are credible. Check out my CRAAP presentation lol. Students are using Hobbs' steps of access and analyze. They are able to locate relevant information to help them answer their research question while analyzing for elements of rhetoric such as the speaker, audience, and purpose to determine if the source is credible and unbiased. Students then use Hobbs' steps of create, reflect, and act. They create an essay and presentation about their topic in order to share their researched information while reflecting on why their research topic is important and why their audience should care about it. Lastly, they reach some sort of conclusion or solution for their research topic with a call to action for what we should do now. This task is extremely closely linked to Hobbs' 5 competencies. Even my core students are working closely with media literacy in their rhetorical analysis unit. They are analyzing advertisements, speeches, and even album covers using SPACE CAT (speaker, purpose, audience, context, exigence, choices, appeals, and tone). Students are looking at the intended purpose, audience, and appeals used to strategically create these pieces of media and what they are supposed to make the audience feel or do. Even with these elements in my curriculum, I do feel like I could do more to teach media literacy. It is so hard to teach students to spot false news or information when I myself sometimes get tripped up on what is actually real and what I have been led to believe!

Comments

  1. Lizzy PrainApril 25, 2025 at 2:03 PM

    Hello Anna!
    First off, I want to say that I love your choice of “Disney on Ice” meme! Great wordplay! I also really enjoyed reading your perspective on mass media and thank you for sharing your student’s multimedia presentation, it was very informative. I think you bring up very interesting points regarding collective memory in our society and how narratives have historically been made to be engaging for audiences. I agree with your point of view of how in the current digital era, in the time of TikTok and shorter attention span, as you descried, the people behind our modern media look for new ways to keep audience members engaged, and how that can lead to false news and the spread of misinformation, especially the more people who believe and keep sharing incorrect news with others. I think your discussion of collective memory and use of the rumors of Walt Disney’s body being frozen is an excellent example of collective memory and how it ties back to media literacy or the lack thereof. It’s a great example, as it highlights how often times false information isn’t the result of malice, or can be tracked back to one individual, its often well-intended or hopeful people who believe something incorrect, share and it simply spreads until its treated as common knowledge. Great post, Anna!

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  2. IsaacHermanApril 27, 2025 at 6:53 PM

    I thought your post was really insightful and funny. It’s crazy how much media shapes what we believe without us even realizing it; Your example about Walt Disney being frozen made me laugh — I 100% thought that was true for years. It's also cool how much media literacy you’re actually teaching without even labeling it that. I bet using those tools like CRAAP and SPACE CAT really helps students break things down intelligently. Honestly, spotting false info is so tricky now, even for adults, It's cool that you're giving students the skills to question and dig deeper.

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