April 22, 2011 – Ms. Teegarden is wrong. Channel One News doesn’t start after her movie plug, it started when the students saw the number TEN appear on screen. That’s when Channel One automatically appeared on classroom TV screens.
You see, Channel One News never trusted classroom teachers to actually turn on their program each day, so they programmed the TV sets to automatically turn on. Over the years, more than a few substitute teachers, unfamiliar with Channel One, have told me how shocking it was for this blaring TV program to come on when no one was near the TV set.
Why would a school allow this actress to use up precious school time to pitch a movie to students?
It’s because schools have absolutely no control over what Channel One News advertises. That is one big reason thousands of schools have dumped Channel One’s TV show.
Disney’s Prom movie comes out today April 22 three days after this commercial. Channel One has promoted this movie for weeks. You can easily see that Channel One News offers movie studios a very effective way to build up anticipation for their films.
In Spring 2011, schools are hurting for funding. Districts are laying teachers off and making drastic cuts to make their tax money go further. Yet in schools that still have Channel One News, tax money is being burned up as students watch a hyper-commercial TV show instead of learning. Taxpayers are in effect subsidizing Disney to help make sure their new movie is a success. Disney makes enough money off children they can afford to advertise in other ways than in a public school.
You see anchor Jessica Kumari say, “Thanks, Aimee” and by doing so gives Channel One’s implicit endorsement to the movie.
Now High School students generally think of Channel One News as a dorky, middle school show. A high school student would rather be caught having a birthday party at Chuckie Cheese than to be caught watching Channel One News. But when Ms. Kumari, who has aided several advertisers before, acknowledges the Disney actress, she is telling middle school students I just heard what Amy Teegarden said and I like what she said. I like
Younger middle school students may not fully appreciate the fact that Ms. Teegarden’s movie studio is helping to pay Jessica Kumari’s salary and that is why she is all smiles about this movie pitch.
