The malleability of media raises issues that must be addressed and questions that must be discussed with students.

Figures 5 and 6 offer a whimsical example of a serious discussion being held by ethical, legal, technology, and communications scholars. Figure 5 is an image of the authors in the early stages of a collaborative effort. Figure 6 represents changes made in the image by one author later in the project, after a particularly contentious editorial dispute.

When WiggleWorks: The Scholastic Beginning Literacy System (see below), and WiggleWorks Plus were created, we deliberately worked with authors and illustrators to ensure that students would be able to use the text and illustrations in the WiggleWorks books to create new work of their own. But many copyrighted materials do not provide for such uses and therefore, although often malleable, cannot be changed or disseminated without the express consent of the copyright holder unless specific classroom uses are provided for in the copyright information. The power of malleable media raises important legal questions that teachers must become aware of. While publishers are beginning to provide malleable usage in classroom materials, it is important to check the copyrights of the new media, just as it is in the "old media" to determine what constitutes fair use in classrooms.

Other questions concern communications ethics. Figures 5 and 6 provide a lighthearted look at what could happen when the two authors of this paper disagree. More serious ethical issues are raised when a magazine "morphs" a photo of its cover subject; when a publication melds two photos so that it appears the President appears to be holding a conversation with a person at a certain time and place when in fact the conversation didn't occur; when TV news reports use editing technologies to create news scenes that are actually re-enactments or show their reporters standing in the cold in front of the White House when in fact they actually are inside a cozy studio. These questions, at developmentally appropriate points, are all part of necessary discussions teachers must have with students about the ethical issues the new technologies raise. This is part of a new civic literacy we must help students develop as they expand their communications skills.