News About Channel One – Jan. to May 2003

A nude woman is one of the stars of the Channel One News-promoted X-Men 2 movie. The movie has sex talk, violence and profanity. This movie promotion may result in massive contract terminations over the summer. Why did Channel One advertise this movie to children as young as ten and eleven? MONEY! To see what was in this C1N-approved movie go to Screenit.com.

In 2000, Channel One gave in to public pressure (much of it from Obligation) and promised that, in the future, no commercials for PG13 movies would be shown to students in middle school grades. It was a very small bone thrown to parents who believed no movie should be advertised to children during school time.

Many educators who tried to defend Channel One found themselves struggling to accept Channel One’s ugly Hollywood connection. Why was it "OK" to advertise raunchy and violent movies to children in high school? Some of those students are as young as 13 and 14.

So in 2000, Channel One began to send a different signal to middle schools. The middle schools would be shown ads for PG and G-rated movies. The high schools would get the ads for the rougher more sexualized and violent movies.

All schools, both middle and high schools, get the same "news" content. Everything outside the two commercial blocks is the same for all schools. So when a guest anchor hosts the show it goes to everyone. A different signal is sent out for the commercial breaks and that is where there is a difference between high schools and middle schools.

But now Channel One has found a way around their promise to school officials and parents by using guest hosts to plug the forbidden PG13 mov ies. They did this is 2001 with AntiTrust. The middle schools did not see the ad for the PG13 AntiTrust but they did see an entire show hosted by one of the main stars of AntiTrust. The Channel One anchor encouraged the middle school students to see AntiTrust when it premiered. Slick.

Channel One mouthpieces like Jeff Ballabon could tell a reporter that Channel One News did not show commercials for PG13 movies to middle school students and he would be technically correct. He would of course fail to mention that Channel One News allowed much more effective promotion of such offensive movies by use of guest hosts.

This week, Channel One allowed an actor from the PG13 X-Men 2 movie to host the Channel One News show. X-Men 2 is a violent and sexy movie that will land Channel One in trouble again.

Obligation’s Jim Metrock said, "Channel One needs money and they apparently can’t hold themselves to their promise to spare middle school kids the ads for raunchier and more violent movies. Having a guest host from a PG13 movie is nothing more than a very long ad for that movie. The actor mentions the movie by name and the Channel One anchor, on cue, gushes over the movie and the guest host. Janet Choi was the Channel One anchor on this show that promoted the X-Men movie. She shameless used her position of trust with the student audience to hawk this product.

Channel One News is looking to hire new anchors immediately to:
Work in our Los Angeles studio
Interview story characters and experts
Report stories from all over the U.S. and foreign countries
Stay on top of current news events
Pitch story ideas
Respond to correspondence from the audience

Qualifications:
A high school diploma is required, as well as enrollment in a college or university. Broadcast experience is NOT required. We’re looking for someone who our teen audience will find interesting. You must have an outgoing personality, be knowledgeable about news and a range of topics, and want to express your opinion about story coverage in editorial meetings.

As a Reporter, you will have the opportunity to travel the world to cover stories ranging from topics of international interest, such as the conflicts in the Middle East, to major political conventions. You’ll also be involved in covering issues related directly to the teen experience, such as ketamine use and surviving divorce. You will do more than "report" the facts. You will interview experts and teens in America and abroad, and relate stories to the audience.

Our news broadcast is unique– we use maps and graphics, present historical information and represent more than one perspective on an issue.

Channel One News launches amazing TV careers: Lisa Ling ( The View, National Geographic Explorer ), Serena Altschul ( CNN, MTV News ), Anderson Cooper ( CNN ), Maria Menounos ( Entertainment Tonight ).

How to Apply:
Send a cover letter, resume and a brief audition tape (vhs, beta, dv or cd format) to:

Channel One News
New Talent
5300 Melrose Ave., Ste. 400E
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Audition tapes may be "home-video" quality. Just tell us what news stories and topics interest you, and why you would be a great Channel One reporter. Be sure to speak naturally.

Because of the large volume of applicants, we can’t take calls.

Above are Chris Gaylor, Nick Wheeler, Mike Kennerty, and Tyson Ritter – members of the All-American Rejects. These are the four newest Rejects who have anchored Channel One News. They join Gotham Chopra, Alexandra Panther, Seth Doane, Derrick Shore, Errol Barnett, Krystal Greene, Andrew Yani and Janet Choi.

There was no news on Channel One this Wednesday (see story below). Yesterday, was All-Request Thursday and Channel One News played snippets of the latest rock and rap songs for students. Wrapping up the week, Channel One devoted a major portion of their show today, Friday, to promote Dreamworks Records recording artists, the All-American Rejects.

Obligation’s Jim Metrock said, "Today four Rejects joined the regular crew of Channel One rejects. It seems any ole reject can get a job anchoring the news at the Hacienda. Nobody gave Channel One News the right to sell news anchor positions to sponsors. This violates Channel One’s contract because these Rejects get to plug their new CD all during the show. How appropriate for a band named ‘All-American Rejects’ to become news anchors on a TV show that has been overwhelmingly rejected by American schools."

"No news is good news." That might be the new motto at Channel One News.

Today there was no news on Channel One News.

Today Channel One News reran a feature story on the Holocaust that was shown to students in 2000. Channel One has increasingly been using old footage to fill up many of their reports. Today they filled up an entire program.

Obviously, it is less expensive to use canned video from years before than to send reporters out to news stories and film new material. Channel One’s financial situation may be forcing them to take such actions. (Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Channel One was using an entertainment merger/acquisition firm, Allen and Company, to find new investors or a purchaser.)

Channel One likes to say they are the ONLY source of news for many young people. One has to feel sorry for those young people. Already Channel One NEWS refuses to stream news updates after school, on the weekends, and all summer long. Every holiday, Channel One employees turn off the lights in their newsroom and disappear. (Many school districts have a regular school day on Good Friday. Channel One News was "dark" on that day. Their employees enjoyed a long weekend, even though they consider themselves a "news organization."

It would be overstating it to call Channel One News a "part-time news show." They are much less than that.

Channel One’s producer is Jim Morris. He made the decision that no news from the previous day, April 29, would be reported to students on the 30th. I imagine he considered the money the company could save and the fact that, hey, the kids probably already know what happened the day before.

Channel One could easily have replayed the Holocaust story on its Classroom Connection channel, but they didn’t.

Of course, Channel One would defend itself by saying kids could go to their web site and read all the news of the day. For those of you who haven’t visited "The Best News Site" for young people, you will have a big laugh when you visit channelone.com. The little news you will find are cut and paste AP stories and it will be difficult to find these few stories. Channel One is about entertainment and their web site documents that fact.

So there was no news today, Wednesday, April 30, just like there is no news on Saturdays and Sundays. Pretty soon the hard-nosed reporters at Channel One can take a really long vacation. They need it.

For the script of the April 30 show click on channeloneteacher.com

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/

Is Jeff Gordon saying "I love Channel One!"? Gordon became a Channel One news anchor on April 25.

Most children who are compelled to watch Channel One know Jeff Gordon from his Pepsi commercials on the show. Now NASCAR needs help in getting younger viewers to watch their car racing on the FOX network.

NASCAR is big in Alabama and other parts of the country but the West Coast isn’t falling in line as planned. California TV ratings for NASCAR racing have fallen for the past two years according to a Virginia newspaper. NASCAR is getting aggressive in their marketing.

From the Roanoke Times "NASCAR’S L.A. Story One To Watch" (April 266, 2003):

"So, NASCAR is trying many things. Wheel of Fortune" recently had a NASCAR week, helping promote the sport to those who might not be familiar with stock-car racing. IMAX is filming a movie about NASCAR to be released next year. This week, Cup drivers traveled throughout the area, promoting the sport. Stewart threw out the first pitch at the Angels’ baseball game Friday. Points leader Matt Kenseth had appearances at a couple of local businesses. NASCAR asked four-time series champ Jeff Gordon to anchor Channel One News, a nationwide news program shown in public and private schools with an estimated 8.5 million students daily."

Is it that simple? A company wants to increase sales (in this case "ratings") and they just have to hand Channel One News some money and Bingo! your sales rep is now a Guest News Anchor on the show? Yes, it is that easy. Below is part of the script from Friday, April 25 (the day before NASCAR weekend racing). Young people might think Gordon was on to promote his foundation, but that was secondary to pushing NASCAR.

Gordon appeared throughout the show. He also did the Gatorade "Play of the Week" which means Gordon, on the show to plug one product (NASCAR) also plugged another product (PepsiCo’s Gatorade). Nothing Gordon said was considered by Channel One News as "commercial content." However, every second Gordon was on the screen was a commercial for NASCAR. That was the whole purpose of getting him in the studio. There were two minutes of ads on this show in addition to Gordon. People who continue to believe Channel One News has "only" two minutes of ads have never taken the time to see the program.

An Oregon parent is using a lawsuit to bring common sense to his school system. Gary Boyes is challenging his school district’s waste of resources that results from having a contract with Channel One. Commercial Alert has information on this lawsuit. Here is an editorial in today’s Salem (OR) Statesman Journal. The writers understand the problem Mr. Boyes has laid out but they get tripped up when they attack the wrong party.

The editors clearly understand Channel One is wasteful of student time and taxpayer money, but they decide to throw the punches at the father who is trying to save the school district untold dollars of tax money. If these editors took just a moment longer to do some math before their deadline they would have understood the cost of losing one week of school per year per child for 12 years. (I’ll get them started: Channel One is 13 minutes long and must be shown 90% of the school year. The school never earns title to the pathetically small 19" TV sets.)

Newspapers are suppose to dig and find those who steal and waste the people’s money. Where was the Stateman Journal staff during the last 12 years? Are they embarrassed that a citizen has done what they refused to do for over a decade? Would this paper have written this editorial condemning the school district’s waste of tax money, if Mr. Boyes hadn’t filed this lawsuit?

The paper wrings its hands over the expense of defending this lawsuit. Oh, it will waste SO MUCH MONEY. Excuse me, editorial writers, last week, each child in the schools that have a contract with Channel One spent one hour watching TV in order to keep their $140 rental TV set in their classroom. No investigative reporter from the paper bothered to ask one question…last week, or the week before or the year before.

Taxpapers in Oregon should be riding Mr. Boyes on their shoulders.

One more thing this editorial board got wrong. They said, "But the lawsuit he filed last week in Marion County Circuit Court is a waste of taxpayers’ money. He is not doing anyone a favor by forcing the financially struggling district to spend money arguing about Channel One in court."

The editorial writers clearly state that Channel One should be yanked from the schools, but then they assume the school district will surely fight hard to defend its use of Channel One. They worry about the cost of this defense. That doesn’t make sense. The school district should NOT defend this lawsuit. They are caught doing a bad thing. The school district should send a letter to Channel One and tell them the contract is ended. (The contract can be ended at any time during the three year contract period without any added penalties.) The school board will soon find out about the reckless junk food ads and the ads for violent and sexually-charged movies and the unethical mixing of news with advertising messages.

Wait until the school board attorney sees some of the sexually suggestive commercials on Channel One News. That is the area where we see the bulk of future lawsuits against school districts. By allowing Channel One to bring in their "topless girl" ad by Clearasil or their "nice package" ad by Old Spice or their "Stealing Harvard" movie ad, etc. etc into the classroom, school boards are intentionally increasing the sexual tension in middle and high schools. Mr. Boyes didn’t mention this is his lawsuit., probably because he has enough reasons to remove Channel One already.

This editorial board is obviously concerned about taxpayer money being wasted. They should write one more editorial which will guarantee the saving of Oregon tax money. That editorial won’t take much time to write or proof-read. A one-word editorial will do the job: "Settle."