From Jim Metrock:
I have been researching and reporting on Channel One News since 1996. I have written over 1,500 articles about the youth marketing/news program.
I have purposefully not written about bias in the small amount of news that appears on the Channel One News classroom TV show or on their official website Channelone.com for several reasons. First, all news is biased somehow. It is almost unavoidable. There are so many other problems with Channel One that bias is not that big of a deal. Also, I don’t have the time to analyze the TV show and website to determine with scientific accuracy if there is long term political bias.
That said I offer up one simple observation for whatever it is worth.
Here is today’s Channelone.com front page:
Channelone.com front page April 25, 2012
The box that says “The Obama Administration” rotates with other content so it is not on the screen all the time. However clicking on “The Obama Administration” takes a young person to a special section of Channelone.com devoted to all things Obama. The video that is queued up has Channel One anchor Jessica Kumari reporting about how so many students on various campuses are lining up across the country to see the President as he courts younger voters. There is nothing wrong with this. We’re talking about the President of the United States. So much of the news is centered on the President and his Administration. Here’s the Channel One “Obama Administration” front page as of April 25, 2012:
Giving Channel One every benefit of the doubt, I think most people would have no trouble with this section. BUT Channel One News did not have a similar “Bush Administration” page. That still might not bother some people.
Here is a snapshot of the April 25, 2007 Channelone.com front page:
Channelone.com front page April 25, 2007 (Disregard "2006 copyright. Channel One did not update the year.)
There is a website called the Internet Archive. It is the home to the Wayback Machine. If you are old enough to remember Rocky and Bullwinkle (and I hope you are not) you will think this is a joke. It’s no joke. This is a fabulous site where you can go back in time and view snapshots of various websites and how they looked in the past. From 2001 to 2008 I saw no indication that Channel One treated President Bush the way they are treating President Obama. Even at the end of the Bush Administration, in 2007 and 2008, after two terms, Channel One News had no “Bush Administration” page or any standing section dealing with the Republican president.
It may be a minor thing, but it stands out.
Channel One News is produced in New York City by CBS News. CBS News took over production in the summer of 2009. (For financial reasons, Channel One dismissed their own production crew in 2006.) If one sees any political bias with CBS News it could help explain why Channel One News does what it does. Then again there is bias everywhere.
