Looking at media critically can produce anger, frustration, or even a sense of helplessness. One way to help students move past those feelings is to help them act on what they have learned. Obviously, actions that provide aid to victims are appropriate, but those don't necessarily involve media literacy. Here are a few suggestions that do involve media literacy:

• Do an exercise on Internet credibility and have students apply what they have learned to assess websites collecting donations for Hurricane Katrina survivors. Encourage them to send lists of phony sites to local newspapers, listservs, blogs, etc., as well as to post information in school where classmates can access it.
• Help students identify news sources they think are doing a good job as well as those that are not. Have them post the results of their analysis on the school or classroom website so that other members of the community can benefit from what the students have learned.
• Facilitate student media production that helps survivors tell their own stories and/or that helps students share their opinions and experiences.
• Develop lists of questions that you want reporters to ask the people they interview. Send those questions to media outlets. Contact information is available for cable stations and companies from Cable in the Classroom. Contact for other media outlets is available at newslink.org.
• Encourage students to write a letter to their Senators and Congressional Representatives about what they have learned from their media literacy education activities and what they want their representatives to do.
• Have students write and submit or post op/ed pieces on topics related to Hurricane Katrina (e.g., the role of racism, the job performance of FEMA Director Michael Brown or other local, state, or federal officials, the responsibility of other Americans to provide assistance, etc.)
• Track how long coverage continues relative to the continuation of problems on the ground. If coverage of issues important to students wanes, create public events or submit letters to the editor to revive the discussion.
• Compare standard public health recommendations about things like dehydration or avoiding potential water-born diseases with statements made by public officials. Find ways to make sure your community has basic health and emergency preparedness information. One source for public health information is the Center for Disease Control.
• In New Orleans, many poor residents did not get the message to evacuate. Do a media-access assessment of your community. In the event of an emergency, what kinds of media would have to be used to reach everybody and not just those with cable or satellite TV or Internet access? Help your community emergency response agencies develop a critical information media plan that would reach everyone.

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