ED366688 UD029710
Title: Channel One in the Public Schools: Widening the Gaps.
Author(s): Morgan, Michael
Pages: 32
Publication Date: October 13, 1993
Notes: A research report prepared for UNPLUG.
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC02 Plus Postage.
Language: English
Document Type: Opinion papers (120); Reports--Research (143)
Geographic Source: U.S.; Massachusetts
Journal Announcement: RIEJUN1994
Target Audience: Administrators; Teachers; Practitioners
Channel One,
an in-school television program, provides a centrally prepared,
10-minute daily newscast accompanied by 2 minutes of commercials.
Several states ban Channel One because of concerns about providing
advertisers such direct access to students within the walls of tax-supported
public school buildings. This paper examines what kinds of schools
and what sorts of communities choose to receive Channel One, and
where Channel One fits in the pool of educational resources. The
study used the data archives of Market Data Retrieval, which involves
17,344 public schools and covers grades 7 through 12, revealing
some of the following items: (1) Channel One is most often found
in low income area schools, where it is often used instead of traditional
educational materials when resources are scarcest; (2) schools that
can afford to spend more on their students are much less likely
to utilize Channel One; (3) Channel One is more often shown to the
students who are least able to afford to buy all the products advertised,
thus increasing a sense of alienation and frustration; and (4) increasing
commercialization of the culture and the schools suggests a shutting
out of other voices and interests of the educational system. The
study suggests that the use of Channel One in low-income, socioeconomically
deprived schools presents an illusion of providing more and better
educational facilities which only contributes to widening the societal
gap. (Contains six references.) (GLR)
Descriptors: *Advertising; *Closed Circuit Television; *Economically
Disadvantaged; Expenditure per Student; High Schools; Junior High
Schools; Low Income Groups; Public Schools; School Business Relationship;
Secondary Education; Secondary School Students; *Social Problems;
Tables (Data); *Urban Schools
Identifiers: *Channel One
