Posted by Jenna S

Program Host	Chapter
Host Region and Chapter	Eastern Etta Spier BBG
Program Type	Education Israel Social Action
Time Required	Less then 2 hours
Target Population(s)	Girls (BBG)
Folds Targeted	Social Action
People Participating	10-30

Program Summary:

In this program, the media was presented in a way that showed the effects that is has on people's views of different topics around the world (including the situation in Israel) and encouraged girls to think before believing everything they hear.

Full Description:

The media can have an enormous effect on what we believe, whether it's about a certain product, a controversial issue, or a global conflict.  The scary thing is, often these biases that the media produces happen without our knowledge when we perceive certain things as fact.  This program illustrates the biases that the media can create by presenting an unknown conflict between Latvia and Estonia.  Discussion after the program will reveal that this situation is fake, but was used so all previous biases would be eliminated.  Then, the media's affect on the opinion about the made-up situation in Latvia and Estonia can be compared to the situation in Israel.

How to conduct the program:
1. Explain that there is a conflict right now going on between two small countries, Latvia and Estonia.  Say that you chose to present this conflict because we are unbiased toward it.  Pass around the map of Estonia and Latvia.

2. Divide the group in half.  Give half the "Changing the Rules of War" and "Latvia Should Pay" articles.  Give the other half the "Palva Post Article" and "A Palva War Full of Traps and Trickery".  Give everyone a few minutes to read the articles that they have.

3. Then, ask each side questions such as, "who is the bad guy in this situation?", "how did these articles make you feel?", "who do you think the U.S. supports" (say that the U.S. supports Latvia), "who SHOULD the U.S. support?", and "why?".  Each side will most likely form distinct opinions, as each article is incredibly biased toward one side.

4. Now comes the reveal.  Explain that: Estonia = Palestine, Latvia = Israel, Palva = Gaza, Western Region = West Bank, and Kolivah = Hamas.  Explain that they did not get a purely factual and subjective view of this situation, as each article was written mainly based on emotion and the facts were chosen solely to support the case.  Then ask everyone why they felt so strongly.  

5.  Discussion- this is the interesting part!  You can talk about anything that comes up.  I started by talking about what we consider facts (often pictures b/c our eyes can't lie), most people only get news from one source (also government censorship).  Show how it was interesting that each group thought they had the facts and that their opinion was the more humane one.  Don't forget to compare Latvia and Estonia's (made-up) situation with the one in Irael and how the media polarizes our opinion (especially as Americans, as Jews, etc.).  Show the Gaza Strip picture.

6. Segue: Articles are not the only way that people get their news.  Pass out the "pictures" handout (powerpoint document- print as handout).  Ask "raise your hand if you have seen some of these before," "who can tell me what is going on in each picture?", "how does it make you feel?", and "who is the victim?".  

7. Discussion: Talk about why pictures can be more powerful than words.  Pictures can be left up to your interpretation, which can be swayed based on the angle, who looks like the victim, and the exact moment it was taken.  Then ask "what type of person is the subject in all of these pictures?".  The answer is a victim, which greatly changes what we feel about the situation in the picture.

8. Wrap it up!  Ask what the moral of this program was.  Tell girls not to believe everything they read and see in the media.  The main point here is that not everything that is presented as fact IS fact.

Submitter's Suggestions:

This was program was really interesting and I think people came out of it with a different perspective on the media.  If you have any questions, email me!
jschleien@greensboroday.org

For the attached documents, the "WORDS" documents are the ones that you should pass out to the participants (everything is substituted).  

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