Students: Oh, hello! This is Ms. Gainer's eighth-grade class from Warren Middle, and Channel One News starts right now!
Keith: What is up, everyone? I am Keith Kocinski, and it is Monday, March 6. And thanks to Warren Middle School for kicking us off today. Now let's get to it. Over the weekend Twitter blew up with some fiery tweets coming from President Donald Trump accusing President Obama of wiretapping his telephone. But when asked for proof, the White House didn't give any. Instead, it asked Congress to get involved.
The president's tweets started around 6:35 a.m. on Saturday morning with this: “Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower … Nothing found.” Minutes later, he asked, “Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president …? A NEW LOW.”
And offering no evidence or proof, President Trump suggested a good lawyer could make a great case out of the issue. Ten minutes later, he tweeted President Obama is a “bad (or sick) guy.”
A spokesman for President Obama released a statement saying, in part, "Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."
The tweets followed a similar story posted Friday on the controversial website Breitbart that has published articles considered hate speech and conspiracy theories, or intentionally misleading stories. But the former director of national intelligence said no such thing happened from his department or the FBI.
James Clapper: There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time or as a candidate or against his campaign.
Keith: The White House is asking Congress to move forward and investigate the matter, and it looks like the House Intelligence Committee will, so we will probably hear more about this during the week.
Okay, next up, we are heading to the Middle East and the country of Iraq, where there has been a fierce battle between Iraqi troops and the terror group ISIS. Well, over the weekend, the United Nations said it was looking into reports of war crimes.
The U.N. said at least 12 people were being treated in an Iraqi hospital and were likely the victims of a chemical attack. Using chemical weapons in war is against international rules and considered a war crime.
1 | P a g e Officials said they were waiting for confirmation on what chemicals, if any, were used. Victims on the ground say they were sprayed by an oily substance as rockets crashed down around them, and they broke out in painful blisters and other serious symptoms.
The attacks took place in eastern Mosul; that is where Iraqi troops, with the help of the U.S., are trying to push out ISIS. It is still unclear who is to blame, but the rockets were apparently fired from an area still controlled by ISIS. Because of the heavy fighting, thousands of people have fled the region, creating lots of problems because there is not enough food, clothing or shelter.
All right, coming up, trying to get it right: We take a look at what the next generation of journalists are learning in high school.
Keith: So we don't have to tell you these days, news is under fire.
President Donald Trump: I also want to speak to you without the filter of the fake news.
The news is fake because so much of the news is fake.
A few days ago, I called the fake news the enemy of the people — and they are.
Keith: And there is no doubt fake news does exist, but legitimate journalists take pride in providing the facts and keeping the public informed. Emily Reppert shows us there is a standard all journalists should follow.
Emily: At World Journalism Preparatory School in New York, students are passionate about storytelling.
Giovanna Esposito: Well, ever since I was little, I used to love to write, and I still do. I always had a passion for it, like being able to express my feelings.
Emily: But they also know being a journalist is about much more than that.
Tydian Sylla: We play a very important role in society because we give people the information, and our job is to stay unbiased and give people that information and allow them to make their own opinions. We’re only here to give them that news that they need.
Emily: A job these students start training for on the first day of class.
Mohammed Shah: The No. 1 things that we learn is definitely accuracy and objectivity — making sure that your news is credible.
Giovanna: A hundred percent accuracy — always to be objective and never, ever to be biased. We learned that since ninth grade.
2 | P a g e Emily: So how do they make sure they are following the rules of journalism? Well, we decided to do what any good journalist would do: ask an expert.
Ari Goldman: The first job of a journalist is to be a witness and to tell the story, and that's really the foundation of what we do as journalists: to be truthful.
Emily: And what is the process like of teaching that?
Goldman: Well, you want to let the reader into the process. More and more journalists are talking about being transparent. We need transparency. We have to show what we know and how we got it.
Emily: And when it comes to finding your information, Goldman says credibility is key.
Goldman: One way for the reader to do it is to go to news sites that they trust. If you feel you can trust the “New York Times” or the “Washington Post” — what’s become known as legacy media — then that's the place that you turn because you know the information that you’re going to get there is credible.
Emily: But what makes a traditional news agency — big name ones you know — different than, say, a blogger or someone who doesn't have any journalism credibility? Well, for one, this: ethics and standards, rules that a legit journalist has to follow. These are ours here at Channel One News.
So what is in this thing? Well, for starters, a lot about truth and accuracy in reporting. Some others: You can't donate money to a political campaign or activist group. Some journalists even choose not to vote because they don't want to take a side in their own head.
You can't have your opinion as part of the story, or even on social media. In fact, most journalists won't even talk about their opinion in a newsroom. And if there are differing takes on a topic, then you need to represent the different sides to that story. And another big no-no: accepting money or gifts for a story or faking a story and representing it as real.
And of course, to make sure you are getting the story right, double-check your experts; make sure they don't have a certain agenda. And if you don't follow these rules? Well, you will get in big trouble — or even fired.
Just because you can post online doesn’t mean you know what you are talking about.
3 | P a g e Goldman: Everybody can do media today. Everyone knows how to put out a tweet, how to put out a Facebook post. But that's not journalism.
Giovanna: It's hard because it’s always tempting to go look at, like, believe the first thing that you see, but then we learned endlessly to always double-check and check again.
Emily: And no matter what career path these students decide to take, they say their journalism training will put them at the head of the class in the school of life.
Tydian: I feel that journalism, no matter what career you decide to pursue outside of high school, is always going to be beneficial.
Emily: Emily Reppert, Channel One News.
Keith: Tomorrow, Emily helps us figure out the difference between real and fake news.
And we asked the Channel One team why they became a journalist and what made them decide to follow a career of reporting, so check out the videos and the responses on ChannelOne.com, including mine.
All right, when we come back, we are going head first into this week's Next Big Thing.
Keith: All right, today, it is hair that lights up a room, but before we comb into that NBT, let's see what you guys thought about last week's.
We told you about the new type of lodging where some of the guests walk around on four legs — giraffe hotels. Is it the next big thing? Well, 75 percent said, “Yes — check me in!” Twenty-five percent said, “No — this idea is wild!”
Class: This is Ms. Littleton's senior economics class, and we think giraffe hotels are the next big thing!
Class: We are Ms. Rogers’ sixth-grade history class from Utah at American Academy of Innovation, and we think giraffe hotels are the next big thing!
Class: Hi, we're Ms. Gilmore's advisory class from Union Township Middle School in Valparaiso, Indiana, and we think that giraffe hotels are the next big thing!
Keith: But Maddie said, “No, let's interact with our family, not some wild animal.”
Great responses! Keep them coming, guys.
All right, so I have my deskmate here, Cassie Hudson, and she booked us an appointment at the hair salon for this week’s Next Big Thing.
4 | P a g e Cassie: That is right, Keith. You know the saying “new hair, new you”?
Keith: You know, I have heard it once or twice.
Cassie: I believe that. Well, it is makeover time. Check it out.
It is the newest trend lighting up the beauty world — phoenix hair. The glow-in-the-dark do has grown in popularity thanks to celebrity hairstylist Guy Tang's recent creations. His colorful hairstyles have been making the rounds on social media.
From the extreme — rainbow — to the functional — fiery red — he uses special hair dye that is designed to glow under a black light. During the daytime, it is a vibrant hairstyle, but at night and under a black light — it is lit!
Keith: So what do you think, Cass? Should I try it out the next time I am at a Deadmau5 or Calvin Harris concert?
Cassie: I don't know. But what do you guys think? Is glow-in-the-dark hair the next big thing? Head to ChannelOne.com to vote and leave us a comment. Or …
Keith: … send us your video responses to [email protected].
All right, that is going to do it for us today, but we will catch you right back here tomorrow.
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