Channel one : a case study of the controversial introduction of commercially sponsored educational programming

The purpose of this study was to determine why Channel One, a commercially sponsored news and information program for teenagers that is produced by Whittle Communications of Knoxville, Tennessee and delivered via satellite to schools nationwide, was developed and to investigate the plan that Whittle Communications used to introduce Channel One to the public. The study also explored the policy-influencing groups that were opposed to Channel One and the reasons for their opposition, and examined the company's response to the adverse publicity generated by the program. The thesis was based primarily on interviews with Whittle Communications personnel and on reports of the project that appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Knoxville Journal, and The Knoxville News-Sentinel. The study revealed that, because the company had an inadequate plan for introducing Channel One, vehement opposition by policy-influencing groups coincided with media coverage of the project. It also showed that the tactics used by Whittle Communications to respond to the adverse publicity about Channel One and to accommodate public sentiment toward it were sufficient to make the project profitable for the company and successful for at least the three-year period stipulated in the contracts signed by school administrators and advertisers.