Parents for Responsible Advertising & Media Policy

About Lunenburg Parents for RAMP

Few aspects of our daily lives have undergone such rapid and encompassing changes as the areas of mass media and communication technology, and these technologies have quickly become an integral part of the daily classroom experience. 

Given these recent changes, it is important to step back and re-evaluate our practices to ensure that these  technologies are used safely, responsibly, and effectively.  This is especially important in light of emerging research on the adolescent brain and the effects of media on our youth.

Recently, when parents expressed concerns about student reactions to televised media at Turkey Hill Middle School, school administrators began to take a closer look at this issue.  They have said that it is time to review the policies regarding the use of television and advertising in our schools.

Parents for Responsible Advertising and Media Policy is a Lunenburg group formed to support school administrators, school committee members, and parents in gathering the data necessary to formulate up-to-date, district-wide Advertising and Media policies and practices so that we are working in the best interest of our children.

This web site is our vehicle for sharing research that influenced our thinking about the use of Channel One in school, the effects of televised media on the adolescent brain, and best practices for using televised media as a powerful educational tool.

Channel One: Compulsory TV for a "Captive Audience"

Every morning the children at Turkey Hill Middle School begin the day by watching 12 minutes of "news" and advertising brought to them by Channel One.

Because school attendance is compulsory, and Channel One is broadcast to every homeroom in our middle school, every 11 to 13-year old child in Lunenburg will watch Channel One, unless they opt out of the Lunenburg school system, or choose to join other students who are sitting out.

During the broadcast, students are a captive audience for advertisers; they are not free to mute the audio, change the channel, leave the room, or turn the TV off.

Attend Related Meetings

Channel One
A Hot Topic at THMS

   School Committee Meeting
             Channel One

            Oct 18 @ Brooks House

                    The School Committee
     will examine how Channel One relates to our
           policies on donations and advertising
                           in the schools.

If you cannot attend, but wish to contact a School Committee member or School Administrator, use the contact information below.

School Committee Members

• Dr. David Reif, Chairperson

• Milree Keeling, Vice Chairperson (milrees@aol.com)
  

• Christine Tenneson, Secretary (ChristineTenneson@comcast.net)
  

• Jennifer Benson

• Michael Clark (mikec1959@aol.com) 582-1055
  

School Administrators

• Loxi Jo Calmes, Superintendent
  Lunenburg Public Schools
  582.4100 x211
  lcalmes@lunenburgonline.com

• Keith Hochstein, Principal
  Turkey Hill Middle School
  582.4110
  khochstein@lunenburgonline.com

Mind Over Media: Helping Kids Get the Message

The following guide talks about how educators, community leaders, parents, and administrators can all help young people become discerning media consumers.

Mind Over Media: Helping Kids Get the Message

Classroom Activities for Media Literacy

The following framework for learning and teaching in a media age was developed by educators at the Center for Media Literacy.

This framework includes a practical approach to Media Literacy in the K-12 classroom. It is useful for all grade levels and across the curriculum:

• Language Arts
• Social Studies
• Health
• Math
• The Arts

Classroom Activities for Media Literacy

How Much TV at School

Televised media is a valuable teaching tool, especially important for showing material that would otherwise be impossible for children to view. However, because middle school students spend time with several teachers throughout the school week and often don't tell parents what they watch, it is likely that few teachers or parents have the full picture of how much TV students are watching.

For example, parents were surprised when students on one sixth grade team recalled watching movies and other shows 34 different times during the year. Teachers may be surprised as well.

Between Channel One and these other segments, the total time spent watching televised media adds up to the equivalent of 9 full days of school:

• 5 school days (equivalent) watching Channel One
• 4 school days (equivalent) watching other movies and shows

The Adolescent Brain

When scientists began looking at brain function in adolescents using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), they found that teenage brains work differently than adult brains.

Teens and adults use different parts of the brain to process information.  Teens primarily use the amygdala, an almond-shaped region that guides instinctual, or gut, reactions, while adults rely on the frontal cortex, which governs reason and planning.  For this reason the brain inside a teenager's skull is in some ways closer to a child's brain than to an adult's.

 

As media has become more pervasive, especially violent media, this brings to mind a serious question: Can violent media have a negative effect on brain development and function in adolescents?

For more information, see:

• Behavior Can Be Baffling When Young Minds Are Taking Shape

• The Adolescent Brain (PBS)

• Deciphering the Adolescent Brain

• Brain's Inability To Regulate Emotion Linked To Impulsive Violence
  

Channel One: Targeted Marketing

Channel One is a proprietary television network that delivers news, filler, and advertising to school children; it is a property of Primedia, Inc,  the leading targeted media company in the United States. 

As a property of Primedia, Channel One exists to generate revenue through the sale of add space. It does so by connecting "buyers and sellers through ... Internet, events, ...and video programs." The target market is our school children.

The Channel One network and its affiliated website,  www.channelone.com, are part of a larger Push-pull strategy to connect sellers with teens.

The TV network pushes ads out to students via daily "appointment viewings," while the website pulls them in 24/7. Through interactive questionnaires, games, and opinion polls, the site entices children too share their personal information.

The network and the site together are Primedia's "Formula for Teen Connectivity."

Why Are Parents Concerned?

Lunenburg parents are concerned that:

• Students remember more ads from Channel One than news stories.  See the study on Benefits and Costs of Channel One in a Middle School Setting.
  
  
• Channel One (not parents or educators) decides its ads and program content.
  
  
• Channel One exposes our preteens to age-inappropriate stories.
  
  
• Channel One forces children to watch ads, and drives them to the Channel One website to fill out opinion polls and share personal data.
  
  
• Channel One advertises unhealthy foods, plus  movies, TV shows, and web sites intended for older adolescents.
  
  
• Channel One uses our school's class time (a public trust) and our children to bring in hundreds of millions in advertising dollars.

What Is Your Child's Attention Worth?

Channel One's guarantee of a daily "captive audience" of 11 to 18 year olds is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Joel Bababit, a former president of Channel One, told a trade audience in 1994 that:

"The biggest selling point to advertisers lies in forcing kids to watch two minutes of commercials. The atmosphere of the school is an advertiser's dream. The advertiser gets a group of kids who cannot go to the bathroom, who cannot change the station, who can not listen to their mother yell in the background, who cannot be playing Nintendo, who cannot have their headsets on."

Equally valuable to advertisers, every candy, junk food, teen soap opera, video game, cell phone, ring tone, and PG-13 movie advertised on Channel One in the classroom has the implicit backing of the school.

"The School System is where you build brand loyalty." John Alm, President of Coca Cola

Source: Scott Leith, “A Lesson for Coke; Atlanta-based CCE Takes on Critics, Defends Soft-drink Sales in Schools,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 6, 2003