Cable News Network’s Show for Schools Gets a Trial in Tierrasanta

Birney Groom’s seventh-grade social studies class at Farb Middle School on Tuesday became one of the first in California to use television news as a regular tool to improve understanding of current events.

The Tierrasanta class is using the Atlanta-based Cable News Network show “CNN Newsroom,” a 15-minute weekday newscast produced for secondary school students. It is provided free to any school equipped for cable transmission.

Because the show has no commercials, it has been approved for classroom use by state schools Supt. Bill Honig. A classroom news show, “Channel One,” was banned by Honig because it contains three minutes of commercials. Channel One is produced by Whittle Communications of Knoxville, Tenn.

‘Not Against Technology’

“I’m not against technology,” Honig said in an interview Tuesday. “This one (CNN) is not a conduit to make sales at schools.”

Honig aide Bill Rukeyser said CNN administrators met with Honig and educational consultants from the California State University system to integrate the news program with state educational guidelines.

“We received assurances that it won’t be ‘dumbed down’ news, but will be a quality presentation,” Rukeyser said. “We’ll follow this closely, but what we like is that CNN doesn’t require the show to be aired every day . . . because it is non-commercial, (CNN) doesn’t need a guaranteed number of viewers every day.”

In San Diego County, 400 out of 490 schools are equipped to receive cable transmissions through the county Office of Education’s Instructional Television system.

The CNN news program, a fast-paced summary of major news stories followed by features ranging from business to science, is broadcast at 1:45 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time each weekday from Atlanta and taped for use later in the day.

Teacher Curriculum Guide Provided

CNN also provides electronically a daily curriculum guide for teachers, to help guide discussions following the program.

Groom’s class will watch the program as a pilot project this week. Then Groom will talk with Farb’s other teachers about the benefits and drawbacks to expanding it schoolwide.

On Tuesday, Groom divided his students into six groups to talk about which stories on the broadcast--hurricane Hugo, Colombian drug wars, Arabic and Chinese instruction in high school, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict--seemed to be most important. Groom pushed the students not to view the news as entertainment, to try to relate the hurricane’s damage, for example, to their own concepts of human and environmental costs.

The fact that only one of Groom’s 32 students reads a newspaper each morning--compared to almost all who said they watch television at some point during the day--reinforced the view of educators, both locally and statewide, that the program, if used properly, will fill a major gap in student awareness of current events.

“It draws together (the link) between schooling and democracy,” county schools Supt. Tom Boysen said.