X-Rated ads
will
never appear on Channel One. Caveat
For delivering their 8 million students as an audience for ads
targeted at youth (candy, colas, cereals, cosmetics, clothes), some 12,000 schools
get "free" TV/VCR hardware and a 10 minute daily "infotainment"
news program, and 2 minutes of ads. Currently, advertisers pay Channel One over
$200,000 to air a 30-second spot.
When Channel One started, they promised schools that will be no x-rated ads, no pornography, cigarette and alcohol ads, no illegal drugs or "head shops." (As if a local dealer could afford to pay $200,000 for a 30-second national ad!) This was a diversion from the real issue
Obviously, if they were to put up any such ad, it would create a storm of controversy, with parents demanding the removal of Channel One bringing such harms to their children.
Note how this diverts attention away from other key issues: that not all harmful effects are direct, immediate, and visible.
Note that all current controversies -- about nutrition, obesity, junk foods -- the very products heavily advertised on Channel One -- involve harmful effects that are indirect, delayed, and cumulative.
American schools are controlled locally: decision making is in the power of the 50 states and over 26,000 independent local school districts. There is no national curriculum, but the one thing all local districts share is their need for money.
Big multi-national corporations (such as Primedia, and their multi-national advertisers, such as Pepsi, Coke ) take advantage of this. They are able (with their large staff, big budgets) to go to the needy individual school districts, and offer them "gifts" (critics say "bribes") of "free" TV/VCR sets, packaged programs, money, in exchange for exclusive contracts to permit their Channel One ads, vending machines, scoreboards, bulletin boards, and so on.
Good intentions, bad results.
Many administrators and school board members defend allowing Channel
One into their classrooms for altruistic reasons -- "for the good
of the children" -- as providing needed money that they can't get
from the local voters.
Many teachers deny that it's a problem: TV ads may be annoying at times, they say, but insignificant, not very effective, and not very harmful: a reasonable trade-off for useful school supplies. (More)
Many teachers avoid these issues: they're already very busy, they simply don't have the time or energy to battle with administrators. (Some harried teachers even welcome Channel One as a 12 minute rest break.)
Many teachers defend using Channel One for news because
it provides current events. Two
issues here: other options available for news, and program content.
Other options
Many teachers rightly claim that students need more exposure to current events, but such news is available elsewhere. For example, CNN Student News (shown in 18,000 schools) does provide the news (but, doesn't give schools the "free" TV hardware) as a service without commercials. In 2002, when CNN's new parent company (AOL Time Warner) planned to change this policy and insert ads, the angry public response from parents and consumer organizations caused them to drop this plan.
Program content
Many critics charge that Channel One's superficial content
(lots of celebrity and pop culture news) and glitzy format is
infotainment, a soft-news, a dumbing down of current
events. Channel One counters this occasionally with some hard news features
to satisfy some critics. But, program content is a side-issue:
the main issue is venue - ads in the classroom to a captive audience.
Commercials belong on commercial TV.
Most students enjoy Channel One -- both program and ads --as
entertainment.
So, what's wrong with Channel One?
Ethically, it is wrong to exploit children, to deliver them as captive audiences, to act as Channel One's agent or functionary.
Educationally, it is wrong to blur the distinction between the school and the marketplace, to weaken the credibility, the objectivity, and the neutrality of the schools.
To sign a "Commercial Alert" petition in opposition to Channel One
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