Media buys new hype from YNN, but story hasn't changed

Commercial classroom TV spins a new line to get Trojan horse in the schoolhouse door

By: Barrie Zwicker

  The so-called network is being misrepresented in the media as never before.
  But first some background. The Youth News Network doesn't live up to its name. It's not a true news network for youth with major input by youth for the good of youth first and foremost. Rather, YNN from the outset has been a Trojan horse to deliver commercial messages to captive audiences of Canadian students, in school, during school hours. The purpose is profits for YNN's owners and investors. It's part of the push to corporatize the educational system.
 

YNN has met stiff opposition: In eight years it's installed in only 16 Canadian schools, soon will be down to nine and banned outright by six provincial education ministers

  Education cutbacks have created the best inroad for YNN. It lures cash-strapped schools with freebies - computers, tv monitors and other trendy gear. The schools, in return, sign an agreement to sit a minimum number of students in front of YNN monitors, set to a minimum volume, for a minimum 12 and a half minutes a day, to watch YNN's version of the news - laced with commercials.
  YNN is sort of off the air, and up in the air. In eight years it's managed to install itself in only 16 schools countrywide. It soon will be down to nine. It's banned outright by the education ministers of six provinces. The list of organizations that oppose YNN's purpose and tactics is long, national and impressive. YNN's not much wanted.
  And definitely not needed. There's a real alternative. It's called Cable In The Classroom, or CITC, a non-profit co-operative of most of the country's TV broadcasters. Through CITC Canadian public schools can get copyright-cleared, commercial-free educational programming ­ 360 hours a month of it ­ at no cost. In English and French. In some cases, with teaching aids thrown in. This programming, stripped of commercials, is available for teachers to show in whole or in part, with the volume at any level, to criticize, use as an example, or not use at all..
 

Major news outlets including the Toronto Star media uncritically have accepted company hype at face value

  There's more. Fifty-three cable companies provide free CITC cable connections and free monthly service.
  Now enter YNN again. Incredibly, YNN has a new lease on life. Athena Educational Partners, its parent, has been bought out by SKG Interactive Inc., a company with deeper pockets but similar corporate aims.
  In the corporate world if you can't succeed on the ground you can always succeed in your press releases. One from SKG reads: "SKG will have an incredibly strong position in the Canadian educational technology space. The Athena pilot project is involved with schools across Canada, and has met with great success and endorsements from educators and administrators alike." What's incredible about claims like these is that publicly-listed companies are allowed to distribute them and that newspapers print them as news.
  Especially when the same papers have already carried detailed information about the extent and nature of the opposition to YNN.
  Then there's the OISE study that isn't. OISE stands for Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. It's part of the University of Toronto. A person faintly associated with OISE initiated on his own a "study" of YNN which found it a wonderful idea and popular with educators. You won't find it listed on OISE's website because OISE has confirmed it does not endorse the study. Its author admits this, and to a long association with YNN, and that YNN funded his study 100 per cent. But again, some media uncritically accepted it at face value. The Toronto Star, Canada's largest circulation daily, called it an "independent survey by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education."
  A classroom assignment: Are potential investors misled by these corporate releases and media reports?
  Until recently many investors were mesmerized by hi-tech industry hypsters, and bankrolled intrusions of gadgetry into new areas ­ in this case schools. Educators in general, on the other hand, have been much more cautious. Especially when technology is a decoy for corporatization.
  When media propel hype without applying skepticism, "buyer beware" must be the warning on YNN's corporatization program, for investors and the public as well as educators.

Barrie Zwicker is Media Critic with the Vision TV [www.visiontv.ca] program Skylight. This commentary, in broadcast form, first aired Monday, 22 January 2001.

Posted: February 12, 2001

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