After 28 years of being on the air, Channel One News is shutting down. So what was Channel One News? Well in exchange for free TV sets and a satellite dish for the school, Channel One got to broadcast 180 days directly into classrooms. The show would bring a daily news show to classrooms around the United States. Well, it was free many parent groups were upset with the two minutes of ads each show aired during school hours.
“We believe that young people bring vital and unique perspectives to the table, and we have worked to give students access to quality reporting that prioritizes their points of view while covering some of the most challenging topics of our day. We were one of the first news organizations to send a journalist to North Korea to report on the secretive nation; we have covered conflict in Chechnya, Iraq, and Afghanistan; we have exposed atrocities occurring globally, from the Rwanda genocide to the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.” Said Angela Hunter SVP and Executive Producer at Channel One News.
Now though with the rise of online streaming and free news broadcasts on a wide range of services many schools have dropped the service. When many schools use projectors connected to computers the need for a service like Chanel One News has come to an end.
Back in the 1990s a service like Channel One News was groundbreaking. The news created explicitly for school-aged children. Now though it is just one option in a growing list of such news shows. Back in the 1990s targeting school-aged children meant expensive satellite dishes and TVs in every classroom. Now it means putting a show on YouTube for teachers and students to find.
Clearly, streaming has changed how TV reached people around the world. Now that impact is starting to change services like Channel One News.
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