4 ms·

I thought for a moment this was about the propaganda "Channel 1" I was forced to watch every morning in home class in my Texan middle-school.

by oneJob 11y ago

michael_h 11y ago
Propaganda?
- ams6110 11y ago
  Maybe not so much propaganda as being fairly heavy on advertising. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_One_News#Controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_One_News#Controversy Though I would not be surprised to learn that it has the same sort of biased reporting we see in other news media.
  - noxToken 11y ago
    Yeah. There were always a lot of commercials, but they were always enjoyable commercials. If you're going to eat up air time with commercials, at least make them entertaining. Middle school me loved most their selection - especially a specific soda's advertising campaign.
    - Someone1234 11y ago
      > If you're going to eat up air time with commercials You mean education time, right? You're using up classroom time to watch commercials. I don't understand how enjoyable they were is relevant. Of course a bunch of eight year olds getting sold sugary drinks to enjoyed them more than learning, that doesn't remotely address why it is wrong.
      - noxToken 11y ago
        I'm not trying to address whether or not advertising belongs at all. I'm speaking from the viewpoint of a child aged 10-13. Targeted advertising back then (can't speak for that same age group today) was largely boring. They may have moved units by showing us how fun their toys were or how deliciously awesome their products tasted, but they were still just filler between programming in our eyes. The commercials for Channel One were largely entertaining. Yes, they pushed a product in hopes of us getting our parents to line their pockets during education time. I don't think that anyone can deny that that's pretty scummy. Point is that at least their scummy practices were entertaining. Silver lining and all that junk.
  - gherkin0 11y ago
    > Though I would not be surprised to learn that it has the same sort of biased reporting we see in other news media. I remember it as not being very biased, just watered down, often with some kind of "teen" angle. Channel 1 was basically a vehicle to deliver captive audiences of teenage schoolchildren directly to advertisers. They bribed schools with TVs and justified the programming with the minimum proportion of educational news content, so they could use school to force feed teenagers Clearasil ads. The news content was just the sugar coating on the pill to make it palatable to schools and teachers. IIRC, Anderson Cooper (of CNN) got his start there in the 90s.
    - tsuru 11y ago
      Yep, Anderson Cooper constantly talking about his flak jacket and Lisa Ling. And the force feeding worked. I still remember the damn Pepsi Clear commercials and some big vote for a new m&m's color. ugh.
      - mlucero 11y ago
        You are probably right about the forced advertising but I have mostly positive memories of Channel 1. I actually think those programs/TVs probably help peak a lot of kid's interest in media. The school I went to had their own news broadcast that came on every Friday. It was entirely produced by the students and everyone really enjoyed it. A good friend of mine was a part of that program and went on to become a TV camera man. It wasn't all bad and we probably could have used some Clearasil.
- minimuffins 11y ago
  Sort of. Daily news lite, pronouncements from the principal, appeals to school spirit and patriotism, pledge of allegiance, school accomplishments, etc.
  - minimuffins 11y ago
    Oh, right, it ran after the school's local news for us, I'm mis-remembering. Fun stuff, though. Texas!
- ipsin 11y ago
  Advertising you're required to watch, woven into a "Daily News for Young People" program. The schools likely constrain how interesting the subject matter can be, so you probably get a lot of "Hey, kids are doing interesting things" mixed in with dry news. Never saw it, but I can imagine it feeling like propaganda.

I thought for a moment this was about the propaganda "Channel 1" I was forced to watch every morning in home class in my Texan middle-school.

by oneJob 11y ago

I thought for a moment this was about the propaganda "Channel 1" I was forced to watch every morning in home class in my Texan middle-school.

michael_h 11y ago

Propaganda?

ams6110 11y ago
Maybe not so much propaganda as being fairly heavy on advertising. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_One_News#Controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_One_News#Controversy Though I would not be surprised to learn that it has the same sort of biased reporting we see in other news media.
- noxToken 11y ago
  Yeah. There were always a lot of commercials, but they were always enjoyable commercials. If you're going to eat up air time with commercials, at least make them entertaining. Middle school me loved most their selection - especially a specific soda's advertising campaign.
  - Someone1234 11y ago
    > If you're going to eat up air time with commercials You mean education time, right? You're using up classroom time to watch commercials. I don't understand how enjoyable they were is relevant. Of course a bunch of eight year olds getting sold sugary drinks to enjoyed them more than learning, that doesn't remotely address why it is wrong.
    - noxToken 11y ago
      I'm not trying to address whether or not advertising belongs at all. I'm speaking from the viewpoint of a child aged 10-13. Targeted advertising back then (can't speak for that same age group today) was largely boring. They may have moved units by showing us how fun their toys were or how deliciously awesome their products tasted, but they were still just filler between programming in our eyes. The commercials for Channel One were largely entertaining. Yes, they pushed a product in hopes of us getting our parents to line their pockets during education time. I don't think that anyone can deny that that's pretty scummy. Point is that at least their scummy practices were entertaining. Silver lining and all that junk.
- gherkin0 11y ago
  > Though I would not be surprised to learn that it has the same sort of biased reporting we see in other news media. I remember it as not being very biased, just watered down, often with some kind of "teen" angle. Channel 1 was basically a vehicle to deliver captive audiences of teenage schoolchildren directly to advertisers. They bribed schools with TVs and justified the programming with the minimum proportion of educational news content, so they could use school to force feed teenagers Clearasil ads. The news content was just the sugar coating on the pill to make it palatable to schools and teachers. IIRC, Anderson Cooper (of CNN) got his start there in the 90s.
  - tsuru 11y ago
    Yep, Anderson Cooper constantly talking about his flak jacket and Lisa Ling. And the force feeding worked. I still remember the damn Pepsi Clear commercials and some big vote for a new m&m's color. ugh.
    - mlucero 11y ago
      You are probably right about the forced advertising but I have mostly positive memories of Channel 1. I actually think those programs/TVs probably help peak a lot of kid's interest in media. The school I went to had their own news broadcast that came on every Friday. It was entirely produced by the students and everyone really enjoyed it. A good friend of mine was a part of that program and went on to become a TV camera man. It wasn't all bad and we probably could have used some Clearasil.
minimuffins 11y ago
Sort of. Daily news lite, pronouncements from the principal, appeals to school spirit and patriotism, pledge of allegiance, school accomplishments, etc.
- minimuffins 11y ago
  Oh, right, it ran after the school's local news for us, I'm mis-remembering. Fun stuff, though. Texas!
ipsin 11y ago
Advertising you're required to watch, woven into a "Daily News for Young People" program. The schools likely constrain how interesting the subject matter can be, so you probably get a lot of "Hey, kids are doing interesting things" mixed in with dry news. Never saw it, but I can imagine it feeling like propaganda.