Conclusion: Wrap Up of Channel One

Channel One's presence in schools is not appropriate in the classroom environment due to its commercialism. Shown in almost half of the U.S. middle schools and high schools, Channel One is not the daily news show its owners claim. Rather, Channel One is simply a promotional vehicle for its sponsors' products. It is true that schools have the option to enter into a contract with Channel One. However, with the recent explosion of technology and its educational benefits, it is perfectly understandable that less fortunate schools enters into these contracts to receive an upgrade in technology. According to Channel One's advertising policy, the ads presented through this program will be "truthful and tasteful". Through studies and analysis of this program, it is clear that Channel One has not lived up to its policy. Although portrayed as a news program, Channel One seems to be heavy on the fluff/ads and light on the news. Although there is potential for teachers to engage students in classroom discussions of current events shown on Channel One, this rarely occurs as the program airs during non-instructional class periods. To many, Channel One has not added value to students academics and has mostly brought up issues concerning wasted class time and taxpayers' dollars, its emphasis on materialistic values, promotion of unhealthy messages, etc among parents, educators, and policymakers. Originally started in New York, it has recently been banned from all New York public schools and other states such as Oregon and California soon followed. Taking all of this into consideration, what does this tell us about Channel One's educational benefits? Although some may argue a number of points to support this program ,it is clear that it is not appropriate for classroom learning.

Argument 4: Organizations For & Against Channel One + State Bans on Channel One

Reaction to [Channel One] was both swift and passionate. "A friend of mine called me and he went, 'Commercials in school televisions? You out of your mind?'" recalls Ed Winter, a former executive producer of Channel One who now heads his own marketing firm. "'You just declared war on education.'" The controversy soon spread nationwide, and both California and New York banned Channel One from their classrooms
~ PBS Frontline.


Main Points:

• Institutions and arguments in favor of Channel One are mostly coming from the company itself and lobbyists.
  
• Institutions and arguments against Channel One are coming from parties composed of legislators, parents, teachers, and civilians.
  
• Several states have already moved to ban Channel One from entering public schools.
  

More In Depth:
Typical arguments in favor of Channel One include the following:
Channel One news programming goals claim to support these 5 educational goals:
              a. Enhance cultural literacy
              b. Promote cultural thinking
              c. Provide common language & shared experience
              d. Provide relevance and motivation  
              e. Strengthen character and build a sense of responsibility

• The producers claim that it increases children's public-affairs knowledge
  
• Channel One is part of the media literacy movement: more and more health advocates and scholars argue that in a media-saturated society, educators must provide young people with the ability to understand visual elements and message subtexts that are communicated to them in media message
  
• Channel One advocates assert that it provides young people with news information in an enlightening and age-appropriate style, and its Web site promises everything from "issues in the news to what happens in school" (www.channelone.com).
  
• Some studies have shown that male students, high academic performers, older students, and those who discuss Channel One with teachers and parents are more likely to benefit from the programming.
  

Typical arguments against Channel One include the following:

• Critics argue that Channel One accomplishes little beyond providing a captive audience for teen-targeted advertising, forcing children to watch ads
  
• Channel One wastes precious time in schools. Schools showing Channel One spend the equivalent of one full week each school year watching Channel One, including nearly one class day watching ads.
  
• Channel One misuses tax dollars spent on schools.
  
• Channel One—not parents or school boards—chooses its ads and program content, taking the parents’ say on what affects their children’s lives.
  

Banning Channel One from Public Schools:

• When Channel One was in its early stages, the owner, Whittle, spent 6 months lobbying to obtain access to New York State’s student market, the second largest in the U.S.

In New York State, Whittle has also had to contend with the ardent and unwavering opposition of the State Commissioner of Education, Thomas Sobol. "What message would we send to students if we removed the ban?" Mr. Sobol asked today. "That we value you as consumers more than we value you as students."                 ~NY Times

• California has also banned Channel One
  
• In 2001, Seattle began to phase out Channel One news in middle schools and high schools by the end of 2004-05 school year.
  

After reviewing the business side, the content, and the effects of Channel One, we must wonder which institution is on the side of the students' best interests. From the analysis of the organizations that are for and against Channel One, it seems like the business commercial interests are overwhelmingly biased by their personal interests and gains. To the point where any content can be manipulated and claimed useful to the student and the advertisements used as educational tools, and not as the influential mechanisms that they are. As for the states and schools that have banned Channel One, they deserve a round of applause for holding to their convictions.


~ Chin-Shan Jeanne Lee


Please look in the comments section for more information.

Argument 3: Channel One's Many, Many Issues

Who would’ve thought that a simple 12 minute program designed to provide an educational service to update students on current events would lead to so many problems? What was a brilliant idea for its creators and sponsors has turned into virtually a nightmare for parents, educators, and policy makers. If someone listed every single Channel One issue, the list would probably be endless. However after much research and analysis, the main issues include the following:

• Wasted valuable class time
  
• Undermining of public school system/Emphasis on materialistic values
  
• Wasted tax payer dollars/ promotion of inappropriate health messages
  

Please find below a detailed explanation of each issue as well as counterarguments:

1. Wasted valuable class time: Channel One requires that their program be aired during homeroom and non instructional periods; therefore no classroom instruction time is wasted. By airing Channel One during instructional periods, is this helping to educate students on current affairs? Studies have shown that in order for students to learn about a particular topic, teachers’ facilitation of classroom discussion as well as relating the topic to regular classroom instruction is necessary. Teachers are not engaging their students in discussion as that time is usually used for administrative tasks. Therefore, Channel One is not adding any educational value to students’ curriculum.
   
2. Undermining of public system authority/Emphasis on materialistic values: What are the latest Nikes? What are the hot new celebrities wearing? So, it turns out that a majority of Channel One’s program is mostly a mix fluff pieces combined with advertisements. Students exposed to Channel One are more materialistic, place more emphasis on material object, are more likely to remember several ads featured on the program, have improvements in their product evaluations and a greater desire to buy products featured on the program. Channel One is mostly found in schools that are located in poorer communities. The public school systems are turning over its students to advertisers on a daily basis. Essentially, Channel One is sending the message to students that possession of material objects defines success. Is this the message we want to send to students who are underprivileged?
   
3. Wasted tax payer dollars/ inappropriate health messages: Channel One’s cost to taxpayers in lost class time is a whooping $1.8 billion per year. It is one thing for this amount of money to be spent on a program that is actually increasing students’ knowledge and prompting an in-depth discussion about issues presented; however, it is another for such a significant amount of money to be spent on promotion after promotion of unhealthy snacks such as soda, junk food, candy, etc. Obesity, particularly, childhood obesity, is a major concern in America. Policymakers have taken action in order to prevent schools from providing healthy snacks in on-campus machines. Some people claim that the airing of Channel One’s advertisements should not affect students’ because they would encounter these message in their everyday lives. Yes … it is correct that people are bombarded with an overwhelming amount of ads on a daily basis. However, shouldn’t the classroom be a place dedicated solely to academic instruction and not product promotion?
   

~ Hauwa Otori

Please look in the comments section for more information.

Argument 2: Channel One content and a dichotomy between interests

According to a study published in Pediatrics (Weintraub-Austin, et al., 2006), teenagers are more likely to remember the content of advertisements displayed on Channel One News than that of the programming. This news is especially unsettling when one realizes that advertisements comprise less than 20% of the 12-minute program. As a consequence of studies like this one and many others, parents, teachers and various special interest groups are wary of Channel One's implementation of an advertising-based model. Furthermore, many of these groups have called for such companies as Procter & Gamble to pull their ads out of Channel One's lineup, and some states such as New York have even gone as far as banning the use of Channel One in NYS public schools altogether. This type of conflict exemplifies the dichotomy between advertisers and the private rights of individuals. Where should the line be drawn when it comes to when and where an advertiser can communicate a sponsored message? In the case of educational institutions, sponsorships can be found on athletic clothing, scoreboards, school newspapers, and even special projects such as the Pizza Hut Book-It! club. Therefore, many advertisers would argue that advertising-based Channel One is no worse a medium for ads than any other that are in the school system. However, many argue that the Channel One advertising approach is a blatant attempt to prime children for additional consumptive practices later on in life. Additionally, many claim that the existing ads are hedonistic in scope and sensationalistic in nature (Johnston, 2001).

However, it is clear that an advertising-based economy is a pervasive force in America and it will not simply be undone by the protestations of angry consumers. Therefore, it is imperative that advertising companies find less-invasive ways to convey their messages. If they do not, their businesses may take a hit because of the controversy and ensuing pull-out by advertisers. Additionally, if private individuals want to see change in the way advertisers can access such private institutions as the school, then individuals must work to educate the teachers and the institutions themselves.

~ Patrick Castrenze


Please look in the comments section for more information

Argument 1: "funny" business behind advertising

What does it mean and how does a business effect an educational program when they are prominently an advertising business? Just to give some interesting facts and background on the business behind Channel One.

• KKR is best known for its leveraged buyout of RJR-Nabisco. R.J. Reynolds (the RJR portion of the company) is the parent of Camel Cigarettes, whose skillful advertising made its "Joe Camel" mascot universally known and widely popular among school-age children.
  
• 
  
• Channel One is an advertising vehicle owned by Primedia (formerly K-III Communications), a property of Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts (KKR), which is well known for corporate takeovers. Channel One broadcasts into 40 percent of U.S. middle and high schools.
  
• 
  
• Prior to acquiring Channel One, neither Primedia nor KKR were in the daily news-gathering business. Yet Channel One promotes itself as the primary news delivery system for school-age Americans.
  

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=888

From the structure of and make-up of the business behind Channel One, a clear distinction of conflict can be seen. Obviously a business will want to promote their products to increase revenue. It seems that Primedia is using Channel One as just another marketing and advertising tool to promote their products through advertisements on Channel One. It would not make sense for Channel One to promote other products that they do not own or represent, so their advertisement segments definitely take advantage of THEIR products and only theirs.

This brings us back to the idea of Channel One advertising being a very biased marketing tool that is creating a monopoly specifically when it comes to the rights to advertising. Similar issues to this arises when companies such as Coca-Cola sign contracts with schools to serve only products produced by Coca-Cola on school property. The question arises, when does this cross the line? Is it fair to only have Coca-Cola products? Is it fair to only have advertisements on Channel One by products OWNED by Channel One? Does the fact that because it is the advertising portion justify the fact that it is biased....as long as it is not the news portion?

An even more general question comes into play. Is it OKAY for an advertising company to own an educational program like Channel One? Or are there too many hidden agendas that goes with this agreement? I guess it is up to the citizens of America to decide, but I believe it is just not right.

~ Grace Oh



Look for more information in the comments section of this post.

Useful Book Resources on the Topic of Channel One

The following books are helpful to look at to get a better idea of what impact Channel One has on society, especially in schools and children.  Many of these books can also be found on Google books previews or Amazon.  I've included the descriptions that can be found on the book details.

 
By Ann De Vaney.  Published 1994.  
Watching Channel One: The Convergence of Students, Technology, and Private Business
Description: The book covers case studies, research studies, as well as personal stories from parents, teachers, and students.  The book comes from an approach analyzing commercial interests (advertising), social, political, and ethical implications of Channel One.


By Randall Curren.   Published 2006.
Philosophy of Education
Description: An Anthology brings together the essential historical and contemporary readings in the philosophy of education. Addresses topical issues such as teacher professionalism and accountability, the commercialization of schooling, multicultural education, and parental choice.


By Brian Goldfarb.  Published 2002.
Visual Pedagogy: Media Cultures in and Beyond the Classroom
Description: Combining media studies, pedagogical theory, and art history, and including an appendix of visual media resources and ideas about the most productive ways to utilize visual technologies for educational purposes, Visual Pedagogy will be useful to educators, administrators, and activists.


By Juliet B. Schor.  Published 2004.
Born to Buy
Description: Sophisticated advertising strategies convince kids that products are necessary to their social survival. Ads affect not just what they want to buy, but who they think they are and how they feel about themselves. Based on long-term analysis, Schor reverses the conventional notion of causality: it's not just that problem kids become overly involved in the values of consumerism; it's that kids who are overly involved in the values of consumerism become problem kids. In this revelatory and crucial book, Schor also provides guidelines for parents and teachers.


By Deron Boyles.  Published 1998.
American Education and Corporations: The Free Market Goes to School  
Description: This work argues that private businesses use public schools as worker training sites, resulting in a devalued teaching force, students as uncritical consumers, and schools as economic markets. Boyles analyzes school-business partnerships, revealing false philanthropy and the ulterior motives behind fast-food reading campaigns and supermarket "sales for schools" promotions.



By Roy F. Fox.  Published 1996. 
Harvesting Minds: How TV Commercials Control Kids
Description: (Review) In this eye-opening work, Fox explores the impact of the commercials carried by Channel One--and, by extension, all media--on children, how children respond to these commercials, and what we can do about the situation.   Publishers Weekly

A general picture of Channel One

Taking a snapshot look at the Channel One company from the words of multiple sources in recent news and research:

Google Finance & Hoover:

"This company hopes when students need news, they'll tune in to its TV channel first. Channel One operates the Channel One Network, a satellite channel that reaches about 7 million students in more than 300,000 classrooms with daily newscasts and educational videos. Launched in 1990, Channel One provides schools with the necessary broadcast equipment (TVs, monitors, satellite dishes) to view its programs free of charge. It also offers news and programming on its Web site. Most of the company's revenues come from advertising. Marketing and media company Alloy acquired Channel One from magazine publisher PRIMEDIA in 2007. "

http://finance.google.com/finance?cid=7634939

Media Post:

"In addition to interactivity and a crisper picture, digital distribution also benefits advertisers--making it easier to change the geographic coverage, creative content, and frequency of their ad campaigns. Channel One's 12-minute morning newscast, including two minutes of advertising, reaches about 6 million teenagers in 10,000 high schools across the country.

Last year, Channel One also struck a deal with NBC News for branded news content produced specially for Channel One, and tailored to the teenaged classroom audience. Channel One next plans to introduce student feedback and journalism platforms, giving students a chance to participate in news production.

If they haven't already, place-based and out-of-home video networks are hurrying to upgrade to digital distribution, in part because of the flexibility and control it offers advertisers. "

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=81880

IPTV Technology:


By upgrading to digital technology, the Channel One Network will be able to deliver a sharper viewing experience of its news programming and it will ensure content can be easily integrated into today’s learning environment.

...Channel One News programming has been featured on leading networks and news programs, including NBC's Nightly News and The Today Show, CNN, ABC News, and Nightline.

With this movement to digital infrastructure, Channel One Network schools received a digital receiver head-end that is more flexible and has increased storage capabilities. It also allows programming to be burned directly to DVDs.

The investment in new technology this school year adds to a number of steps taken to make sure Channel One Network continues to provide high-quality programming and content, including upgrades to ChannelOne.com’s 24/7 broadband video news channel, ‘Livewire’, and a relationship with NBC News that allows the network to reach more global viewers.
According to Chief Executive Officer of Channel One Network, Kent Haehl, “We will continue to invest in technologies that allow us to stay on pace with a changing media environment, and provide an engaging, viewing experience to the many who rely on Channel One as their only source of news.”

Paul Folkemer, senior vice president of education at Channel One Network added, “With the new digital format, we will be able to provide a more engaging current events program for our students. Video-based learning improves the ability to understand and recall information. The new digital Channel One format will enhance an already valuable resource for educators who are using our program to ensure that their students know what is happening in the world.”  "

http://iptv.tmcnet.com/topics/iptv-technology/articles/26746-channel-one-enhances-viewing-learning-with-digital-technology.htm

Channel One Revisited: Prospective Teachers and the Role of American Higher Education:
A. J. Angulo & Susan K. Green

"Channel One is a privately-owned technology and news broadcast company that reaches...almost one-third of the nation’s middle and high school students between the ages of 12 and 17 (Channel One, 2006). Due to its size and scope, Channel One represents one of the single most successful diffusions of technology in public school history. Schools that enroll in Channel One’s services receive technology (i.e., televisions, VCRs, satellite dishes) and a direct link to the company’s 12-minute daily news and advertising broadcast. These schools receive the equipment in exchange for a contractual agreement stipulating that the televised news and advertisements will be shown to at least 90% of the school’s classrooms every day of the academic year."

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w33723h0117u6522/fulltext.pdf

Whoa! Does Channel One have something good going on?

On Channel One's Network website, it is now featuring a correlation litmus test

"To ensure that our offerings meet the highest educational standards, Channel One Network has partnered with EdGate Correlation Services to identify how the issues and topics explored on Channel One News align with your school's requisite state and national course curriculum and teaching mandates."

This tool is pretty neat. You can do either a standards or a content search.  In the standards search, you first go to the state mandate that you want to comply with, then click on the grade you're targeting and then click on the educational subject you're interested in.  With the content search, you can just click on the grade you want to look up and then content of the educational subject you need to see.  

Based on the statistical findings, it seems like Channel One may offer quite a bit to students that achieve both the purpose of educating them on various subjects and also with making it easy 
to justify Channel One's role in helping schools achieve state mandates. 

One search I ran on a standards search:

• Standards: New York Standards
  
• Grade: 9
  
• Subject: Health and PE
  

These results showed up that met the standard 1:
PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 1.1.2. Students demonstrate the necessary knowledge and skills to promote healthy development into adulthood.  

These 7 archived news stories from Channel One claim to help facilitate that goal:

Archived News Stories ( 7 correlated items )
2007/09/06: Healthier Meals when Eating with Family
2007/09/26: Eating healthy at fast food restaurants
2007/10/15: Food preferences may be genetic
2007/11/27: School lunch sales don't decline when healthy choices available
2008/01/31: School Stress
2008/02/05: Teens and stress
2008/04/21: Calorie counts will be required at New York fast food restaurants


Maybe there is something to this Channel One? Perhaps it may not be completely at odds with the unified educational intentions behind the schools of individual states.  Perhaps it could even be a unification across state boundaries.  

What are your thoughts?

Consumer Teens & Teaching Tools

In my last review, I brought up resources that described how the education in the schools of the U.S. is either becoming more unified or divided because of Channel One.  
One way that Channel One may be unifying the school education is through how kids are 
educated as consumers.

As Darby Saxby in the Yale Journal of Ethics put it: “Today’s schools must develop thinkers, not mere consumers, or they’ll help to produce a society in which everything is for sale - and nothing is worth buying.” 
http://www.yale.edu/yje/ch1.html

On Channel One's website, they describe themselves what Channel One is:
What is Channel One?
Viewed by more than 6 million teens a day, Channel One News is a Peabody Award-winning newscast shown in more than 11,000 high schools and junior highs. It is the most highly rated teen show in the country, covering news and public affairs that matter most to young people in America.

Does this create a unified educated public amongst the adolescent age group?

If we recall Bachen's article on "Channel One and the Education of American Youths," she mentions that the program has potential to advance students' knowledge of current events and increase their interest in news, it is highly conditioned on the teachers to create supplementary activities to encourage those interests.  Channel One has responded...

Teaching Tools presented on Channel One's website:
These tools are resources for teachers to use to supplement their learning materials and to reinforce in their students what is seen on Channel One.  Whether its providing the daily news 
script or weekly quizzes, teachers have these pre-packaged convenient short lesson plans on 
hand to give to students.  But what sort of material does Channel One encourage students retain?

Try this quiz:
CHANNEL ONE NEWS WEEKLY QUIZ
WEEK OF 4/14/08

1. Where does the Dalai Lama live?                 A. Tibet B. India C. Pakistan D. New York
   
2. True or False The “stolen generation” took place from 1869 – 1969 and was a group of British convicts that were forced to live in Australia.
   
3. True or False Last year, scientists discovered a frog with no lungs that can breathe entirely through its skin?
   
4. Which animal is not considered native to Australia?            A. Koala B. Emu C. Dingo D. Echidna
   
5. According to Amnesty International, what country executed more people than any other country last year?                   A. China B. United States C. Soviet Union D. India
   
6. True or False The Kilauea Volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is located on the island of Fiji.
   
7. What is the name of the current Pope?             A. St. Peter B. Pius VII C. John Paul II D. Benedict XVI
   
8. True or False The Prime Minister of Australia recently issued an apology to the Aboriginal people for the government’s stolen generation policies.
   
9. Misty Trainer and Kerri Walsh won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics for what sport?         A. Volleyball B. Basketball C. Soccer D. Gymnastics
   
10. True or False According to researchers at the University of Chicago, people actually grow happier as they grow older.

Answers: 1) B 2) F 3) T 4) C 5) A 6) F 7)D 8) T 9)A 10) T 11)

Is this what the teenagers need to remember? Sounds a bit like trivia to me. But do the teachers even have time to make it through these materials? Again, most times, Channel One is found in schools that are low in financial and physical resources.  These schools are likely also trying to make sure that their students pass state mandates on math, science, and English proficiency tests. What role does Channel One play in this? Does it make students more interested in learning? Are they more excited about school when there is Channel One?


These are only a few of the many questions to ask and to consider.