CONTENTS

The two daily television news programs used in classrooms are Channel One and CNN Newsroom. CU studied the two programs for the weeks of March 28-April 1 and April 4-8, 1994.

Commercials. Channel One has up to two minutes of commercials; CNN Newsroom has none. (Probably because they're aimed at teenagers rather than a general audience, Channel One's commercials seem more frenetic and fast-paced than the run of commercials seen on television in prime time.)

Length. Channel One is roughly 12-minutes long (including ads). CNN Newsroom runs for 15 minutes.

Style. Both Channel One and CNN Newsroom use special video effects and catchy music to grab a young viewer's attention. Channel One features bouncy young announcers who seem at home with the argot of today's youth. CNN Newsroom goes with an older but equally attractive and upbeat generation.

Content. Throughout the sampled weeks, neither program touched on all the week's major headline stories. Channel One featured one or at most two major news highlights of the day. CNN Newsroom covered a greater variety of news items each day. One of CNN's techniques was to run "headline" news as a series of film clips, with a strip of moving text underneath for viewers to read.

CNN Newsroom covered international news more extensively, leading 8 of its 10 newscasts with international events. Channel One took a decidedly domestic view of the world; all but two of its major news pieces dealt with developments in the United States.

Both programs tried to provide students with background and to put stories in a context to make the news understandable. But both often used simple, direct statements that at times seemed to oversimplify or distort, although there were few outright misstatements of fact. (CNN Newsroom made one whopper, however, when it erroneously identified Italy's right-centered Christian Democrat party as "Communist.") In general, the two programs were relatively even-handed, at least by the conventions of U.S. television news. However, a supporter of the Clinton administration might have been offended by that fact that in its 10-minute special on Whitewater, Channel One interviewed several Clinton critics but didn't give equal time to presenting the president's case.

Both programs made a determined effort to hold kids' attention. For example, both sprinkled featurish segments in among the straight news material and ran multipart series on topics of interest to kids. For example, Channel One ran a three-part study of depression and a four-part study of drinking and driving during the weeks we were watching; CNN Newsroom had a five-part series on the history of baseball (tied in with the opening of baseball season).

Help for Teachers. Both Channel One and CNN Newsroom offer teaching guides to integrate their programs into the curriculum. Channel One is covered in the network's monthly guide, along with the network's other programming. This guide provides lesson plans for only a couple of Channel One programs per month. These plans include background information, discussion and activity ideas, and references. They may also include a quiz and a map or other visual that can be reproduced. CNN Newsroom provides a four-page daily guide that schools receive via computer. It describes each segment of the day's newscast and provides discussion questions, vocabulary terms, teaching strategies, and classroom activities for the day's major segments. The last page is usually a quiz or worksheet that can be duplicated and handed out to students.