This inflammatory image was broadcast on Channel One to millions of students ages 18 to 10.
This is a staged photo. The noose was prepared for benefit of the camera crew.
From Jim Metrock:
Why would Channel One News seek to inflame racial tensions in high schools and middle schools?
Channel One has jumped into the Jena 6 controversy with both feet and they are taking students along with them.
Why show a hangman’s noose on the classroom TV? This is the very image that rightfully upset so many in the Louisiana town. Channel One’s producer showed total disregard for the sensitivities of the young captive audience that has to watch this show. Few students watch Channel One because they WANT to watch it. They watch because Channel One has a contractual agreement with their school – the school can keep the Channel One loaner TV sets as long as students are shown the Channel One TV show with commercials. When you audience has little choice about viewing, a producer should be extremely cautious about what is shown.
Channel One lost a lot of schools this past summer. The remaining schools ought to review Channel One’s reckless Jena 6 story and their recent "Ahmadinejad’s First Amendment Story" and seriously consider joining the vast majority of other secondary schools in the U.S. and remove Channel One from the classroom.
Channel One News Jena 6 Transcripts | ||||||||||
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From the CHANNEL ONE NEWS SHOW SCRIPT 9/21/07 DEMONSTRATORS: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” BROWNE (Channel One reporter): THIS WAS THE SCENE YESTERDAY IN JENA, LOUISIANA. DEMONSTRATOR: “Support of the Jena 6. It’s injustice. We’re coming for BROWNE: HUNDREDS OF BUSES ROLLED INTO THE NORMALLY SLEEPY TOWN AS TONY: IT ALL STARTED LAST YEAR AT JENA HIGH, WHEN A BLACK STUDENT ASKED BROWNE: AS RACIAL TENSION MOUNTED IN JENA, FIGHTS BROKE OUT BETWEEN TONY: FIVE OF THE SIX STUDENTS WERE CHARGED AS ADULTS WITH ATTEMPTED BROWNE: SUPPORTERS OF THE JENA SIX SAY THAT RACE WAS A FACTOR IN THE DEMONSTRATOR: “We have a District Attorney who charged these young men TONY: THE CHARGES AGAINST THREE OF THE JENA 6 HAVE BEEN REDUCED. BUT BROWNE: YESTERDAY, WHEN DEMONSTRATORS WALKED TO JENA HIGH TO SEE THE BROWNE: THE JENA 6 CASE IS COMPLICATED BECAUSE IT RAISES TOUGH Channel One reporter Tony Anderson on the right, on cue, makes two fists as he asks children if the Jena 6 story makes them angry. Everything in a Channel One News story, including facial expressions and making a fist, is scripted and rehearsed. Channel One is a taped show. What message did Channel One’s black reporter want to send to students? to black students? If you are angry about something you should hit somebody? Why didn’t the producer or the camera person tell Mr. Anderson to repeat his lines but don’t hold his fists up?
TONY: WE’RE GOING TO JENA LOUISIANA AND WE WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU FEEL
CHANNEL ONE NEWS SHOW SCRIPT 9/27/07
TONY: IT’S THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2007, WE’RE AT JENA, LOUISIANA, AND Hold it: Channel One News devotes the ENTIRE SHOW on September 27 to the Jena 6 story. There is apparently nothing happening in any other part of the world. By the context of the show, Channel One News is telling students that there is nothing more important than the Jena 6 story. BY NOW, MOST OF YOU HAVE ALREADY HEARD ABOUT JENA, LOUISIANA. THIS TONY: IT ALL BEGAN ABOUT A YEAR AGO, SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2006. THREE NOOSES Why show this picture to students? In virtually all schools that still show Channel One there is no time for teachers to help students deal with these images. The school in Jena, LA isn’t the only school with racial tension. What if another one of those schools watched this broadcast? Parts of the show might tend to easy tensions but other parts are just inflammatory.
TINA JONES: “We’re not treated equal in this town, you know, so I’ll TONY: THE CHARGES WERE LATER REDUCED. BUT SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD MYCHAL PROTESTERS: "No justice, no peace…" Isn’t this a little over the top? Why did Channel One’s producer pick this image from hundreds of protesters? Are students to think the mayor of Jena, LA is a member of the Ku Klux Klan? Channel One appears to be using hot button words and images to arouse their students to watch their TV sets. Many schools simply don’t show Channel One even though they are suppose to. Many turn the sound down or off and leave the picture on. Kids seeing dead bodies, and a beaten up student, and "KKK" might ask for the sound to be turned up. Violence always gets our attention.
TONY: WHICH BRINGS US TO LAST THURSDAY, WHEN TENS OF THOUSANDS OF REV. AL SHARPTON: “We sit and stand in a city that says it’s a prank to
TONY: STEPHANIE, WHO PREFERED WE DIDN’T USE HER LAST NAME, IS A JENA STEPHANIE: “He was unconscious the whole time, he couldn’t fight back, TONY: SHE BELIEVES PROTESTERS AND THE NEWS MEDIA HAVE BLOWN THIS STORY STEPHANIE: “Justin was walking out of school and six people jumped him. TONY: WHILE EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ATTACK REMAINS UNCLEAR, MANY TIFFANY THOMPSON: “I just feel like our town is just being seen as a TONY: BUT FOR MANY AMERICANS, THE EVENTS IN JENA HAVE AROUSED THEM TO MALE PROTESTER: “I think that this Jena Six movement is gonna be the TONY: THE BARRICADES ARE STILL HERE AT THE LA SALLE PARISH COURT HOUSE. JESSICA: WE’VE BEEN FLOODED WITH EMAILS ABOUT THE JENA 6 CASE FROM ALL BREANA FROM LOUISIANA WRITES: "IT IS SAD TO SEE THAT IN TODAY’S SPEAKING ABOUT MYCHAL BELL, THE BLACK STUDENT IMPRISONED FOR ASSAULTING AND FROM SOUTH CAROLINA, DISIREE TOLD US: "RACIAL TENSION BETWEEN JESSICA: WE’LL SHARE SOME MORE OF YOUR THOUGHTS A LITTLE LATER ON. ANNOUNCER: TO SEE IMAGES OF PREJUDICE AND STEREOTYPES FROM THE PAST AND [COMMERCIAL BREAK] BROWNE: MANY BELIEVE THE CONTROVERSY BEHIND THE JENA 6 CASE BEGAN WITH FOR MANY, IT STILL REPRESENTS AN UGLY SCAR ON THE FACE OF AMERICAN BROWNE: LYNCHING WAS ONCE CALLED "OUR COUNTRY’S NATIONAL CRIME." IT WRAY: “The noose is a part of my American history, it’s my heritage of BROWNE: LYNCHINGS WERE SEEN AS A WAY OF "PUNISHING" AFRICAN AMERICANS TONY: WE WANTED TO TALK TO YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE SOUTH ABOUT THE RECENT
Hold it: Why is Channel One interviewing college students? from another city? Possibly because no high school wanted Channel One stirring up racial trouble. TONY: SO WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE WHOLE JENA 6 SITUATION? MALE STUDENT #1: “The media has over-hyped what a small situation MALE STUDENT #2: “I actually don’t believe the media blew it out of MALE STUDENT #3: “Their attitude towards the little town of Jena in TONY: DO YOU FEEL AS THOUGH, YOU KNOW, COMING FROM THE SOUTH, AND BEING FEMALE STUDENT #1: “People think Louisiana is just a bunch of rednecks. TONY: HAVE YOU EVER ENCOUNTERED ANY RACISM? ANYBODY CALLING YOU A NAME? MALE STUDENT #1: “Yeah, I have, I’ve actually had at my grandmother’s TONY: HAS ANYBODY HERE GONE TO THE RALLIES? HOW DID IT MAKE YOU FEEL FEMALE STUDENT #1: “I was there. I had a white lady on the side of me, PROTESTERS: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” FEMALE STUDENT #2: “Once you got in that crowd, Al Sharpton was MALE STUDENT #1: “Black and white people do not represent this country. TONY: DO YOU FEEL THAT THIS JENA 6 SITUATION IS GOING TO CHANGE MALE STUDENT #1: “If Jena 6 never came up, and we never known about it, FEMALE STUDENT #1: “In 6 months, I don’t think there’s going to be any FEMALE STUDENT #2: “It has made history. And I think it’s gonna go down TONY: HEY GUYS, WHEN WE WENT TO LOUISIANA, WE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO [COMMERCIAL BREAK] CORRESPONDENT: EARLIER WE SHARED SOME EMAILS WITH YOU ABOUT THE JENA 6 CHANDLER FROM NEW ROADS, LOUISIANA, WROTE: “IF MYCHAL BELL WAS GOING TO AND 16-YEAR-OLD KATELYN, ALSO FROM LOUSIANA: "TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A AND DARNELL FROM NORTH CAROLINA SHARED THIS COMMENT: "I THINK THAT IS TONY: ALRIGHT GUYS, THAT’S OUR SHOW FOR TODAY. REPORTING FROM JENA,
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