CNN 10

Teacher and parent here. While, CNN itself does have a left lean, CNN10 is truly reporting the facts, no opinion and no analysis added. It does talk about what is actually going on in the world so I do recommend it for middle school and up, but not elementary school. Some reviews falsely claim that there is “graphic footage” of war or violence. There may be footage of police responding to the scene, interviews with victims, or views of war torn areas but nothing close to what is shown on the local and national stations, and certainly nothing graphic. In terms of bias, it truly is devoid of the lean its’ parent station has. I’ve even had students fond of former President Trump watch episodes and say that it wasn’t what they were expecting in a good way because it seem “unpolitical.” We must inform our students of what is happening in the world and CNN10 is the most accessible way to do so.

I am a middle school Social Studies teacher and like to show CNN in 10 occasionally in my classroom. Personally I think it is an unbiased source of information although I do receive flak from parents and students that CNN is "garbage" and "too liberal" of a news source. I cannot find any other program geared for kids that creates a daily current events news program since Channel 1 went defunct. And if it was very obviously left-leaning, I wouldn't show it. Just like if it was very obviously right-leaning. It basically just tells you the facts of what is going on in the world today with about two to three other short stories about animals, people doing good things, etc. I haven't personally seen the anchor or the news programs lean one way or the other - and I try give students multiple sources. I will pause the video to explain more about certain stories and to take questions the students might have. If I feel the story that day is too complex for 5th or 6th graders to understand, I'll skip it. Some stories do contain violence but it is a show geared for pre-teens and teens so they don't show anything really ridiculous. It is what is going on in our world today and I don't personally believe we should shield our students from current events but rather debate and discuss their thoughts on the issue. Again, teachers do need to take time to either pause the video and discuss controversial or topics about war, etc. or discuss with the class afterwards. Again, I can find no other news source that makes a 10 minute or less video program daily on current events. Not only global current events but new breakthroughs and new research in science, sports, etc. that the kids really get into. Reading through the rest of these reviews is disheartening and has made me wonder if I should be showing this to middle schoolers. I used to teach high school and would also show this program to them but some of the stories, jokes, and puns the anchor uses - some of my Juniors and Seniors thought was "kiddish" and "corny" so really I thought this would be more appropriate for the middle grades. Anyway that is my take on it. I have yet to have serious conflict with CNN in 10 in my classroom but have had some complaints. After reading through these reviews I would just assure you that I don't believe the CNN in 10 Student News programs are extremely liberal or left-leaning. They do include some violence and topics such as war because that is current events folks. And I am a strong believer of keeping current events within the social studies curriculum. Students need to know what is going on in the world today and then start asking questions, coming up with solutions, etc.