Obligation has yet to receive
a reply to our November 7 letter (below) to David Tanzer, president
of Channel One. We, however, have heard indirectly from two teachers
in two Midwestern states that have contacted Channel One and
the PR people have told them that Marilyn Manson will not be
played again. One teacher said that Channel One called the playing
of Manson (at least twice in 1996) a "mistake".
One teacher asked us if Manson
was played this year. We have not heard any songs on this year’s
programs, but the school that was providing us and our community
with tapes of Channel One has developed a "bunker mentality"
and has sharply curtailed the taping of the show for parental
review. (Note: This is outrageous conduct by public servants
that receive a paycheck from parents/taxpayers.) So we only saw
2 shows for the entire month of September 1997. (Four episodes
were taped for parental review in October – double September’s
figure!) Even this spring, when our school was still allowing
parents to check out a tape of each Channel One show that was
shown to students, an average of only 50% of each week’s shows
were taped.
With such a small sampling of
Channel One shows, we can’t report with accuracy that certain
things are not happening on the show.
Obligation is having a music
store review Channel One’s on-air music selections over the last
two years. The initial findings are disturbing. We will report
back later with a full report on the music Channel One made our
children and grandchildren listen to during their school day.
