This
article is from Ken McNatt, a high school student in Pennsylvania,
who has done important research on Channel One over the last
four years. The use of "guest hosts" or "guest
anchors" has allowed Channel One to greatly expand their
commercial content and increase ad revenue. These guest anchors
pitch their movies and CDs during the 10-minute "news" portion
of the show. It is a scam of monumental proportions since it
violates the contract Channel One has with 12,000 schools. Mr.
McNatt has documented this practice for all to see.
Promotion – Guest Hosts
What are they? – Channel One frequently has guest
hosts come on and pitch a product they are involved with. These
products are usually CDs, movies, or TV shows.
I do not know how long this practice has been going
on, but it has been going on at least since 2000.
In February 2002, Sportscaster Bob Costas was on
the program to pitch NBC’s Olympic coverage. Mr. Costas went as
far as saying that the students watching did not have to study
if they watch the Olympic coverage that weekend (this was a Friday
show).
The NBA has a contract with Channel One, (that was
not approved by the schools that have a contract with Channel One),
which allows NBA and WNBA players to appear on the show as guest
hosts. Some of the players that have appeared on the program include
Speedy Claxton, Shane Battier, and Tamecka Dixon.
In the 2002-2003 school year, Channel One is continuing
this practice.
Below is a pretty comprehensive list of who has
been on the program as part of this promotion since the 2000-2001
school year:
Note: Channel One does not count these promotional
efforts as commercial time.
2000-2001 Guest Hosts:
Holly Beck, teen surfer (9-29-2000)
Justin Berfield, actor, promoting his TV
show Malcolm in the Middle (10-17-2000)
Shar Jackson, actress, promoting her TV show
Moesha (10-23-2000)
Vertical Horizon,
music group, promoting their CD "Everything You Want" (11-14-2000)
Jon Bon Jovi, singer (12-6-2000)
O-Town,
music group, promoting their new CD, and their TV show "Making the Band" (1-8-2001)
Rachael Leigh Cook, actress, promoting
her new movie Anti Trust (PG13)(1-16-2001)
Barrett Christy and Kevin Jones, extreme
athletes (2-2-2001)
Vitamin C,
singer, promoting her new CD "More",
and her movie "Get Over It" (2-16-2001)
Martin Sheen,
actor, from the show NBC show "The
West Wing" – He anchored the President’s Day "Pop Quiz" on
this episode (2-19-2001)
Nicole Scherzinger, Maile Misajon, Rosanna
Tavarez, Ivette Sosa, Ana Maria Lombo, from
the TV show Pop Stars, promoting their single, album, and TV
show (2-23-2001)
98 Degrees, music group, promoting
their tour (3-12-2001)
Melissa Joan Hart, actress, promoting
her TV show Sabrina the Teenage Witch (3-15-2001)
Kirsten Dunst,
actress, promoting her soon-to-be released movie "Get Over
It", and the upcoming project
Spiderman (3-22-2001) (Although she did not mention the movie’s
name, her appearance helped promote her movie "Crazy/Beautiful" which
had just premiered before her appearance on Channel One. The movie
had strong drug and alcohol content and heavy sexual content.)
Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain, Women’s
Professional Soccer Players representing their teams and their
new league, the WUSA (4-6-2001)
Kaci,
singer, promoted her new song "Paradise" and
her website (4-10-2001)
Jamie Kennedy, actor/host, promoting his
TV show Facetime on the WB Network(5-11-2001)
Paul Pierce, NBA player, first of many to
come on the show as part of the NBA/C1 contract (5-14-2001) (While
there was a hint of the connection between the NBA and Channel
One, there was no mention that a contract was signed between the
two parties. The purpose of this agreement is to promote
the NBA to Channel One’s captive audience of students.)
2001-2002 Guest Hosts:
Chamique Holdsclaw, WNBA Player, representing
her team and promoting the WNBA playoffs (8-31-2001)
Bucky Lasek, pro skateboarder, promoting
the Gravity Games (9-7-2001)
David Gallagher, actor, promoting his TV
show 7th Heaven (10-1-2001)
Soleil Moon Frye, actress, promoting the
season premiere of her TV show Sabrina the Teenage Witch (10-5-2001)
Aaron Carter, singer, promoting his
new CD Oh Aaron (10-15-2001)
Bush, rock
band, promoting their new CD (10-22-2001)
Reagan Dale Neis,
actress, promoting her new TV show "Maybe It’s Me" (10-26-2001)
Derek Fisher, NBA player, on as part of the
C1/NBA contract (10-29-2001)
Jewel,
singer, promoting her new CD "This
Way" (11-13-2001) (2nd time on the show to guest host (1995,
2001))
Antonio Davis, NBA player, on as part of
the C1/NBA contract (11-16-2001)
Dakota Moon, music group, promoting their
new CD (1-29-2002)
Bob Costas, sports anchor, promoting NBC,
the Olympics and told students that they did not have to study
if they watched the Olympics (2-8-2002)
Tamecka Dixon, WNBA player, promoting her
team and her league, and also did the Cingular Question of the
Day (3-13-2002)
Michelle Branch,
singer, promoting her CD and her C1 contest Branching Out, the beginning of the concert
she gave to the winner of said contest was also shown. (4-30-2002)
Michael Olowokandi, NBA player, on as part
of the C1/NBA contract (5-14-2002)
Jay Williams,
Duke University Basketball player, promoting himself, Channel
One said that he is ìcertain
to be one of the top picks in the NBA draft.î (5-24-2002)
Lilí Romeo, rapper, promoting his
music (5-30-2002)
2002-2003 Guest Hosts:
Monica, singer, promoting her new album All
Eyez on Me (9-5-2002)
Desmond Mason, NBA Player, on as part of
the C1/NBA contract (10-11-2002)
T.J. Lavin,
BMX Biker, promoting the Gravity Games, himself, NBC, and a contest
(10-18-2002) (Channel One’s
parent company, Primedia, shares ownership of the "Gravity
Games" with NBC. Primedia has used Channel One News many times
to promote this extreme sport event.
Brittany Snow,
actress, promoting her new NBC TV show "American Dreams" (10-21-2002)
Paul Oakenfold, D.J., promoting his new CD
Bunkka (10-23-2002)
Craig Jackson, former Channel One Anchor,
promoting his new TV show 30 Seconds to Fame (10-29-2002)
Vanessa Carlton, singer, promoting her music
(11-13-2002), (Errol Barnett even led in the beginning of the show
using the title of one of her songs, Ordinary Day.)
Josh Groban, singer, promoting his music,
and a contest (11-15-2002)
Bob Burnquist,
pro skateboarder, promoting the Gravity Games (11-22-2002) (Primedia
and NBC have a partnership
to promote the Gravity Games, a partnership which was never disclosed
on this program. The link will take you to a press release
regarding this on Primediaís website)
OK GO, music group (11-26-2002)
Alanis Morissette, singer, promoting her
new album Feast on Scraps (12-10-2002)
Kelly Clark and Ross Powers, pro Snowboarders,
Promoting NBC, the Olympics, and the Grand Prix of Snowboarding
(12-19-2002)
Frankie Muniz, actor, promoting his new movie
Agent Cody Banks (2-27-2003)
Mark Madsen, NBA Player, on as part of the
C1/NBA contract (3-5-2003)
Amanda Bynes, actress, promoting her new
movie What a Girl Wants (4-7-2003)
Craig David, singer, promoting himself, his
music, and gave a concert, the very beginning of which was shown
on the program (4-11-2003)
Beverley Mitchell,
actress, promoting the 150th episode of her show 7th Heaven
(4-21-2003)
Jeff Gordon, NASCAR driver, promoting himself,
the upcoming race, and his foundation (4-25-2003)
The time that the guest hosts use up on Channel One is indeed
commercial time, thus breaching the contractually agreed upon
2 minutes of commercial time.
Channel One says that they devote their coverage to hard news. Taking
time out of the news portion of the program to promote entertainment is not
hard news. These guest host segments are part of the news portion of the
program, and there is a commercial interest here, thus breaking their "Code
of Conduct."
Ken McNatt
Because of space considerations this is a partial
list. For the full list of guest news anchors visit Ken McNatt’s
web site at http://iceman_km.tripod.com/
