All summer long and as recently
as this past Labor Day weekend, Channel One had opportunities
to bring their students the news and didn’t. The self-proclaimed
"only source of news for millions of kids" has failed
to use their web site (www.channelone.com) to keep children up-to-date
on breaking news.
Jim Metrock said, "Channel
One could easily get their anchors to cover stories on the weekend
and then webcast them on their web site. They have never done
this. This underscores the fact that Channel One isn’t, and never
has been, serious about providing news to children. They could
also update children visitors to their web site with news updates
throughout the night, but all this would cost money and gathering
news isn’t their main purpose anyhow."
Channel One’s web site will often
have three headlines and a few sentences about each of them in
their "News" section. Usually these headlines are not
about breaking news and they are usually very dated. The company
is currently not using its webcasting ability at all. In the past
they had provided video clips of portions of their daily show
but the last web video on their site is from May.
Metrock said, "This marketing
company will not do continuous updates of their news, they will
not run a web version of their show on weekends because there
is little chance for advertising review. If there is still anyone
in this country who thinks Channel One cares about children learning
current events, then this ought to convince them otherwise. Children
watch Channel One because they are under contract to watch the
show so their school can keep the TV sets. When it becomes voluntary,
Channel One knows they will attract few viewers."
