November 2002, the Nashville Metro school district overwhelming
voted to kick Channel One News out of all its schools. The cost to
replace Channel One’s old junky 19" TV sets with brand new 27" TVs
for the entire metropolitan system was about $1 million. For that
amount of money, Nashville gained the equivalent of an extra week
of school for all its secondary students.
That is what you call "a
lot of bang for the buck."
It is so incredibly inexpensive
for any school system to remove Channel One’s rental TV equipment,
that it is no surprise that
schools all
over the country are dumping this controversial company.
Metro Schools Cancel Channel
One
by Natalia Mielczarek
The Tennessean, November 25,
2002
Metro schools are getting rid
of Channel One monitors and replacing them with new 27-inch televisions
after the administration pulled
the plug on Channel One service this school year.
Channel One officials said they
respect Metro’s decision to end a decade-long
partnership but are disappointed.
Until this school year, Metro
students watched 12-minute programs every day that featured 10
minutes of news and two minutes of commercials. With
that came optional two-hour specials that covered a variety of topics,
from AIDS to world hunger.
In the early 1990s, after Channel
One launched its free programming, a number of parents, teachers
and educational organizations nationwide protested against exposing
children to commercials
in a school setting.
Many schools decided against
teaming up with Channel One because of the ads. Some parents sued
their school systems for forcing children to be exposed to commercials.
"
There are people who philosophically agree with commercials in schools," said
Lance Lott, chief technology officer with Metro schools. "We’re
landing on the other side of this argument."
Channel One monitors were provided
to Metro high and some middle schools in the early 1990s.
In return, the schools committed to airing the programs every morning.
Now, with no agreement, the
monitors are being taken back by Channel One and replaced by Metro
to provide teachers with equipment to continue showing instructional
videos and school announcements.
The project will cost $1 million, Lott said…
