Bjorn “Hey, I’m a news anchor!” Leines.
The beginning of Monday’s Channel One News:
MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2004
January 27, 2004 [QUOTE OF THE DAY]
[AIRDATE=1/26/04]
JOSHUA: THE BEST ACTION SPORTS ATHLETES IN THE WORLD HAVE DESCENDED ON THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS FOR THE WINTER X GAMES, AND WE’RE HERE TO SEE IT ALL UP CLOSE.
HEY EVERYBODY. I’M JOSHUA TOOLE.
JANET: AND I’M JANET CHOI – WE’RE HERE IN BEAUTIFUL ASPEN, COLORADO WITH SOMEONE WHO KNOWS ALL ABOUT THE X GAMES, PROFESSIONAL SNOWBOARDER BJORN LINUS. THANKS FOR JOINING US.
BJORN LEINES: YEAH. GLAD TO BE HERE.JOSHUA: YOU GUYS ARE WATCHING CHANNEL ONE NEWS FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 26TH.
The ending of Monday’s Channel One News:
JANET: AND THAT ABOUT WRAPS IT UP FOR US. SO BJORN, THIS YEAR FOR THE X GAMES YOU’RE DOING COMMENTARY FOR ESPN. WHO’S THE FAVORITE TO WIN THIS YEAR?
BJORN: I’D HAVE TO GO WITH SHAUN WHITE OR DANNY KASS IN THE SUPER PIPE. YOU GUYS SHOULD TUNE IN TONIGHT TO ESPN TO WATCH THESE GUYS AND MORE GOING OFF.
JANET: ABSOLUTELY.
JOSH: VERY COOL. WELL, WE’RE ALMOST OUT OF TIME FOR TODAY’S SHOW, BUT TOMORROW DERRICK AND ALEXANDRA WILL HAVE THE SHOW FROM ANOTHER SNOWY DESTINATION — NEW HAMPSHIRE, WHERE THEY’LL HAVE MORE ON THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY. SEE YOU GUYS LATER.
JANET: BYE-BYE.
Who the heck is Bjorn Leines? Why was he chosen to be a news anchor for up to eight million children?
Well, he’s a pro snowboarder and he is he using public school time to promote the Winter X Games, a long-time advertiser on Channel One News. It’s a powerful combination to have both commercials on Channel One News urging children to see this ESPN TV show and to a have a guest news anchor pushing the show too.
There is absolutely no definitive line between advertising and editorial content on Channel One News.
As we reported before, Channel One is very aggressively promoting ABC News to students. ABC News should be considered not only a Channel One partner (could they buy Channel One in the future?) but also a major advertiser on Channel One. This guest anchor is asking students to watch ESPN on Monday night. ESPN is owned by ABC.
Students, of course, don’t know this connection. They don’t know the real reason why Bjorn is talking to them in their classrooms. Channel One should at least run a crawler across the screen telling students that this guest anchor is on the show for advertising purposes and that there is a financial relationship between ABC and Channel One News.
Obligation’s Jim Metrock said, “If there are any true journalists left at Channel One News, I feel sorry for them. It must be very demoralizing to work for a company that has so little regard for news standards.”
