For years, Channel One reviewed R-rated movies for children on their web site. They would encourage children to write their own reviews of violent and raunchy movies like “How To Be A Player” and “Kiss The Girls.” That ended because of pressure from Obligation, but now their is an alarming new trend on the in-school Channel One News.
Over the past year and a half, Channel One has made a clearly documented move to advertising much sexier and more violent movies to their 9th- 12th grade audience.
Obligation’s Jim Metrock said, “It appears that Jim Ritts, Jeff Ballabon and the others at Channel One’s New York headquarters have made a decision to broaden the scope of movies they will advertise to children. This month’s ultra-violent Rollerball is the latest punch in the stomach to schoolchildren.”
An except from the February 8 Daily Variety review of the Channel One-advertised Rollerball: “…the final game, as in the original, is to the death, but this time, Klein is garishly turned into Charles Bronson on roller skates, butchering the bad guys … Much of this appears to have been frantically shortened for time, but any violence – as well as Romijn-Stamos’ carefully silhouetted breasts – are kept just this side of an R rating.”
Metrock said, “This is child abuse. Using school time to allow Channel One to urge children to see an ultra-violent movie is almost criminal. The Channel One executives have run amok. If I had a child in a school that ran ads for this movie, I would sue my school board. And if I didn’t win, at least, I know Channel One would be turned off.”
“A school district that still is honoring their contract to Channel One is dumping violence into the lives of their students,” Metrock said. “Channel One hopes hundreds of thousands of kids go see this piece of trash. If they do, then the movie studio will spend even more money for ads on Channel One News when their next sleazy or violent movie comes out. The teachers who sit back, like mindless robots, and allow the Channel One TV set to come on automatically in their class should do some serious soul searching – now.”
Watch the violent commercial for the ultra-violent movie that Channel One thought was appropriate for its audience. This is the actual footage taken from Channel One’s February 6, 2002 show. Call your principal, school board members, superintendent and demand that Channel One be turned off immediately.
