Channel
One ads mean more to kids than news
Monday, March 06, 2006 • BY
CARLA K. JOHNSON • Associated
Press
CHICAGO -- Students remember more of the
advertising than they do the news stories shown on Channel
One, the daily public affairs program shown in 12,000 U.S.
schools, a study has found.
Students reported buying -- or having
their parents buy -- teen- oriented products advertised on
the show, including fast food and video games, researchers
said.
Schools that agree to show Channel One on
90 percent of school days receive free televisions and
satellite dishes, a deal critics say turns students into a
captive audience for advertisers. Nearly 8 million students
see the program, according to Channel One's parent company,
Primedia.
"The benefits of having Channel One in
schools seem to have some real costs that should create an
ethical dilemma for schools," said study co-author Erica
Austin of Washington State University. The study appears
today in the journal Pediatrics.
Channel One CEO Judy Harris questioned
whether the students' purchases were influenced exclusively
by Channel One ads or by other advertising and the
preferences of their peers.
"These children weren't in an isolation
box," Harris said.
Advertising pays for Channel One's news,
health and fitness content, Harris said. Advertisers don't
influence the news content, and the company has high
standards that keep ads appropriate for students, she
said.
The show won a Peabody Award for
reporting on Sudan's civil war last year. The 12-minute
daily broadcast has 10 minutes of news and two minutes of
either ads or public service announcements.
Channel One produces some of its own news
programming, but it also airs Associated Press Television
News video. Associated Press news service stories appear on
Channel One's Web site.
Researchers surveyed 240 seventh- and
eighth-graders at a school in Washington state. The students
reported that during the previous three months they bought
an average of 2.5 products advertised on Channel
One.
The students remembered, on average, 3.5
ads compared to 2.7 news stories. However, they didn't
remember much about either, retaining only 13 percent of the
news stories and 11 percent of the ads shown during one
week.
The principal of a Chicago Catholic
school said free TV equipment is the reason her school
signed up for Channel One. The equipment also is used for a
student-produced school news program.
"It's one of the tradeoffs," said Maria
High School Principal Sister Nancy Gannon. "You have to have
the commercials in order to have that equipment
available."
Maria High student Angela Young, 16, said
she doesn't pay much attention to Channel One, which airs
every morning during homeroom.
"When Channel One is on, I do my homework
or I talk with my friends," she said.
© 2006 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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