From
Jim Metrock:
Channel One News is a news show that promises a lot, but delivers
little.
In their press releases Channel One calls their own company " the
preeminent news and public affairs content provider to teens." Nobody
else calls them "preeminent" but America is a great
country and you can pretty much call yourself or your company
anything you want.
Actually, Channel One may have crafted this self-praise in such
a way as to be true. They didn’t say they were the "preeminent
news provider to teens." If they did, I doubt few, even
at Channel One itself, would argue that Channel One News is more "preeminent" than CNN’s
Student News, which is a competitor in far more schools than
Channel One. (Student News has no commercials except the CNN
logo.) CNN is a renown news gathering organization; Channel One
is not. Channel One often uses film footage from the AP or the
major networks. Most of Channel One’s news on their web site
is simply "cut and paste" articles from the AP wire.
By adding "preeminent news and public affairs content provider" Channel
One may have created a category that consists of only one company
– their own. When you do that, you have a lock on "preeminent." (Channel
One appears to have a very broad definition of what "public
affairs" means.)
Channel One only broadcasts 200 days a year. They would say
they are only responsible for providing news during the school
year. Yet the company has always said Channel One News is necessary
for young people because it’s there only source for news. They
say young people don’t read newspapers or watch news on their
home TVs. If they believed what they were saying, Channel One
would be committed to providing video news reports on their web
site.
Channel One has the capabilities of having a news anchor report
on the latest news throughout the day. They could stream their
after-school newscasts so that young people who might be engaged
by something they had seen on the in-school TV show could follow
up on stories.
Anyone that watches a random Channel One News show (channelonenetwork.com)
or visits their web site (channelone.com)
will realize there is little news to be found.
Except for five AP wire stories on their web site, each weekend
marks a total shutdown of news delivery. The summer months? the
same. Holiday breaks? the same. All these days, Channel One News
reporters are not delivering news to the young people. If young
people depend on Channel One News as their only, or major, source
of news, they will not know much about current events.
The first show each January always starts off with a quick-cut
collection of news stories that broke over the holiday period.
The C1N anchors always say the same thing: Here are news stories
you missed while out of school. This is how it was phrased on
the January 3, 2006 show:
"CALI (anchor): YOU MAY HAVE BEEN ON VACATION, BUT NEWS CONTINUED TO HAPPEN.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE EVENTS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED WHILE ON BREAK.
Cali Carlin has it backwards: the students didn’t miss the stories,
Channel One missed the stories. Nobody needs to remind a student
that there is no "day off" for news. It is Channel
One’s lazy programming staff that refused to film one news report
to be delivered on their web site for students at home for the
holidays.
That said, what are we to make of Channel One’s April 12th show?
Below is the transcript from Channel One’s web site. The anchor
tells students it is a "special edition" but the point
is there is no news today. There are no current events. This
is one part of a multi-part series on "Cliques." Schools
did not agree to this type of content. Channel One NEWS sold
themselves as a news show. That is why the put "News" in "Channel
One News."
Channel One News only broadcasts 54% of the year. One would
think they would maximize the news they deliver on the days they
are on air.
Beginning of Channel One’s transcript:
April 12, 2006
COLD OPEN
GIRL: YOU HAVE THE BAND CLIQUES,
THE CHOIR CLIQUES, THE ORCHESTRA CLIQUES, THE AG CLIQUE, THE
JOCK CLIQUE… ANY KIND OF CLIQUE YOU CAN GET THEN YEAH THAT’S
PRETTY MUCH WHAT WE HAVE HERE.
MELISSA: HIGH SCHOOL CLIQUES…
GO INSIDE AS A GROUP OF TEENS TURN THE CAMERAS ON THEMSELVES.
BUT, JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT… WE THROW IN A TWIST!
HELLO
MELISSA: HI GUYS WELCOME TO
THIS SPECIAL EDITION OF CHANNEL ONE NEWS, COMING TO YOU FROM
J. FRANK DOBIE HIGH SCHOOL IN HOUSTON, TEXAS.
RICH: TODAY, OUR WHOLE SHOW
WILL EXPLORE AND EXPOSE THE CLIQUES RIGHT HERE AT DOBIE. NOW
THIS IS A PROJECT THAT I STARTED WORKING ON AT THIS SCHOOL
ABOUT SIX MONTHS AGO. MELISSA: AND SINCE WE ARE HERE AT DOBIE,
WE DECIDED TO PUT THEIR NEWS CREW TO WORK.
TAKE A LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES. THE GUYS SHOOTING OUR SHOW TODAY ARE THE
STUDENT JOURNALISTS WITH DOBIE NEWS.
INTRO TO CLIQUES
RICH: AND IT’S THAT SAME NEWS CREW ALSO HELPED US SHOOT SOME OF THE VIDEO
IN THIS SERIES OF REPORTS.
TODAY, WE GO INSIDE SOME OF DOBIE’S MOST IDENTIFIABLE CLIQUES AS WE HAND
OVER THE CAMERAS AND ASK THEM TO DO THE RECORDING.
CLIQUES
EDWARD: WHO’S IT GOING TO BE FOR HOMECOMING KING?
XAVIER: IT’S ME!RICH: MEET XAVIER…
A STAR FOOTBALL PLAYER.
PAIGE: I’M READY AND IT’S ALMOST
8:30.RICH: THIS IS PAIGE… AN OFFICER WITH THE LARIAETTES…
A POPULAR DANCE TEAM AT DOBIE.CLINT: THEY’RE THE GIRLIE GIRLS.
THEY WANT TO LOOK GOOD.
RICH: NOW, THE "COUNTRY
BOYS"…
CODY: WE’RE GOING MUDDIN’
RICH: MEET CODY. HE’S IN A LOT
OF THE AGRICULTURAL CLASSES, AND HERE, "AG" IS A
CLIQUE OF ITS OWN.CODY COOLEY?
RICH: BAND IS PROBABLY THE LARGEST
CLIQUE AT THIS HIGH SCHOOL… AND THAT’S WHERE YOU’LL FIND
JUSTIN.
GIRL: YOU’RE MY FAVORITE BAND
GEEK JUSTIN.RICH: NOW, MEET TINA A SELF-DESCRIBED NERD…TINA:
OKAY, I’M AT SCHOOL RIGHT NOW. RICH: AND HERE’S ANDREA… AN
ATHLETE WHO’S ALSO IN THE BAND… BUT ANDREA’S GROUP TENDS
TO BE MORE DEFINED BY RACE THAN ACTIVITY.
ANDREA: AHH.RICH: AT DOBIE,
THESE TEENS ARE IN THE MOST IDENTIFIABLE CLIQUES.
SO, WE GAVE THEM CAMERAS AND ASKED THEM TO TURN THE CAMERAS ON THEMSELVES
AND THEIR FRIENDS… VIDEO TAPING ONE ENTIRE DAY.
CODY: IT’S 6:18 AND NOW IT’S
TIME TO GET READY FOR SCHOOL.TINA: I’M IN MATH RIGHT NOW. I
AM WAITING FOR MY TEACHER TO COME IN SO I CAN DO SOME CALCULUS.
ANDREA: OKAY, NOW I’M IN MY
CLASS ABOUT TO DO MY JOURNAL. WE DO ONE EVERY DAY AND TODAY
OUR JOURNAL IS: SEVEN THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL. I
MIGHT ONLY BE ABLE TO THINK OF TWO.
XAVIER: HEY PORK CHOP DO A DANCE
FOR ME.
TINA: IT’S TIME FOR LUNCH. SO,
YOU’LL GET TO SEE WHO I SIT WITH AT LUNCH…THE NERDS.PAIGE:
NOW I’M GOING BACK INTO THE DANCE ROOM FOR MY 3RD DANCE CLASS.JUSTIN:
IT’S 7TH PERIOD NOW AND COLOR GUARD IS IN THE BAND ROOM. A
BUNCH OF MY BUDDIES…
XAVIER: I’M ABOUT TO GET DRESSED.
GET OUT ON THE FIELD.PAIGE: SO, WE’RE ALWAYS TOGETHER. WE ALL
LOOK THE SAME. WE ALL DRESS THE SAME. SADLY, WE START TO TALK
THE SAME.
RICH: COMING UP NEXT… THE
GROUPS WRAP-UP THE SCHOOL DAY AND HEAD OUT AT NIGHT… TAKING
OUR CAMERAS ALONG.
WHAT THEY DIDN’T KNOW IS THAT WE HAD A SURPRISE WAITING FOR THEM.
INTRO 3 CLIQUES
RICH: RIGHT BEFORE THE BREAK WE CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF A REGULAR DAY HERE
AT DOBIE. NOW, OUR GROUPS ARE WATCHING WRAP UP SCHOOLDAY, HEADING
OUT AT NIGHT AND TAKE OUR CAMERAS ALONG.
BUT, WHAT THEY CAPTURED ON TAPE WASN’T HALF AS GOOD AS THE SURPRISE WE
HAD WAITING FOR THEM WHEN THEY CAME BACK.
HERE’S HOW IT ALL PLAYED OUT.
CLIQUES 3
RICH: RIGHT BEFORE THE BREAK WE CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF A REGULAR DAY HERE
AT DOBIE. NOW, OUR GROUPS ARE WATCHING WRAP UP SCHOOLDAY, HEADING OUT
AT NIGHT AND TAKE OUR CAMERAS ALONG.
BUT, WHAT THEY CAPTURED ON TAPE WASN’T HALF AS GOOD AS THE SURPRISE WE
HAD WAITING FOR THEM WHEN THEY CAME BACK.
HERE’S HOW IT ALL PLAYED OUT.
BE BACK
MELISSA: OKAY RICH. JUST AHEAD, IT’S YOUR TURN TO SPEAK UP ABOUT CLIQUES.
OUR CINGULAR QUESTION OF THE DAY IS NEXT.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
MELISSA: WELCOME BACK. SO, YOU’VE HEARD FROM THE STUDENTS HERE AT DOBIE
AND SEEN SOME OF THEIR CLIQUES IN ACTION, BUT WHAT IS YOUR VIEW OF CLIQUES?
IT’S OUR CINGULAR QUESTION OF THE DAY.
AT YOUR SCHOOL, ARE CLIQUES A POSITIVE OR A NEGATIVE? YOU CAN POST YOUR
RESPONSE AT CHANNELONE.COM — OR SEND A TEXT MESSAGE FROM A CINGULAR
WIRELESS PHONE… JUST TEXT A BLANK MESSAGE TO "CH1." OR YOU
CAN ALSO CALL 877-CH1-VOTE.
ANNOUNCER: IF CHANNEL ONE NEWS
USES YOUR COMMENTS ON THE AIR, CINGULAR WILL SEND YOU A GOPHONE
PAY AS YOU GO WITH THREE MONTHS OF SERVICE. FOR COMPLETE RULES
AND REGULATIONS, GO TO CHANNELONE.COM.
LOOK AHEAD
RICH: AFTER CASTING YOUR VOTE, BE SURE TO TRY OUT OUR INTERACTIVE CLIQUE
FEATURE.
IN IT, YOU CAN BUILD YOUR VERY OWN CLIQUES AROUND FOUR OF THE STUDENTS
WE FEATURED IN THIS SERIES. THEN, SEE HOW YOUR CHOICES STACK UP AGAINST
OTHER CHANNELONE.COM USERS. TAKE THE CHALLENGE TODAY AT CHANNELONE.COM.
YOU’LL FIND IT ON THE HOME PAGE UNDER ‘CLIQUES EXPOSED.’
GOODBYE
RICH: TOMORROW, OUR GROUP SWITCHES IT UP AT LUNCH. SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
THEY’RE FORCED OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE. TINA: OKAY GUYS, I TOLD YOU
EARLIER THAT WE ARE SWITCHING SPOTS TODAY FOR DIFFERENT CLIQUES SO HE
KNOWS A DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT. AND SO, THIS IS XAVIER BOWMAN.
MELISSA: PLUS, WE’LL BRING THEM
BACK TOGETHER NEARLY SIX MONTHS AFTER THESE STORIES WERE SHOT.
HAS ANYTHING CHANGED? YOU BET!
XAVIER: IT’S FOR THE GIRLS!
MELISSA: BUT YOU’LL HAVE TO
WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW TO FIND OUT.
RICH: OK, WE’LL SEE YOU THEN…
BYE-BYE.
MELISSA: TAKE CARE, BYE-BYE.
End of April 12, 2006 transcript
Schools didn’t trade away an instructional week of school for this filler
material. Does this content have value? Sure it does. Everything on
Channel One News has some value. The reason schools are ending their
contracts with Channel One is because the value from the show is nowhere
near the value of the time it takes to show Channel One.
Channel One News saved a lot of money running this "Cliques" series.
This sure beats actually covering news events around the country.
The high school students even shot a lot of the footage for Channel
One. As this company continues cutting back on costs, schools
will see more of these type stories and less and less news.
