Why did Channel One News allow the actress pictured above to
host its TV show on Friday, December 6? Does a school risk legal
problems by encouraging students to see a movie that normalizes
drug and alcohol usage among young people? What justification can
a principal have for allowing school time to be used to advertise
this, or any, movie?
SETH: SO, JESSICA, TELL US ABOUT THE MOVIE THAT OPENS
TODAY.
JESSICA: IT’S, UH, IT’S CALLED "HONEY" AND
I PLAY HONEY, AND IT’S ABOUT A GIRL WHO, UH, HAS A DREAM, AND SHE’S
INDEPENDENT, SHE’S A FREE THINKER, SHE – THERE’S SOME ADVERSITY AND
SHE OVERCOMES IT, AND, UH, IT’S JUST A REAL POSITIVE MOVIE. IT’S
A GOOD TIME, GREAT SOUNDTRACK, AND, UH, AND-AND ANYBODY WHO HAS A
DREAM AND-AND WANTS TO FOLLOW THEIR HEART, THIS MOVIE IS FOR YOU.
SETH: SO IT’S A GOOD MESSAGE, TOO.
JESSICA: YEAH.
SETH: WELL, THANKS FOR JOINING US TODAY.
JESSICA: THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME.
SETH: AND IF YOU WANT TO CHECK OUT OUR INTERVIEW WITH
JESSICA AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES PHOTOS, YOU CAN GO TO CHANNELONE.COM AND
CLICK ON ‘CELEB Q&A.’
THAT’S ALL THE TIME WE HAVE, YOU GUYS.
JESSICA: TAKE CARE.
SETH: BYE-BYE.
From Jim Metrock: The movie they are talking about and advertising
to students is a PG13 movie. This guest host was seen by middle school
students. Channel One is advertising this PG13 movie directly to preteens.
This is something Jim Ritts, the current president of Channel One,
swore he would never let the company do again. Ritts has lied to America’s
educators and parents. The high school students may see a regular movie
ad for this movie but both the high school and the middle school will
see Seth Doane fall over himself to help this actress plug her movie.
(High schools get a different "feed" for advertisements than
the middle schools, but both see the "news" portion which
has the guest host.)
The public cannot trust the people at Channel One. They have a long
history of distorting the truth. Why is any public school continuing
to advertise any movie to students? Here is yet another movie, advertised
on Channel One, that has a strong parental warning about its drug content.
Additional note (12/06/03): I went this afternoon to
see this latest Channel One-advertised movie. It was disturbing to
see a movie that put drinking alcohol by young people into such a positive
light. The main character (age 22 in the movie) is a part-time bartender
who appears to have been a drinker for a long time. There is a comment
made in the film about the main character getting drunk and it normalizes
such behavior for the young people who watch this film. Channel One
has made yet another terrible, terrible decision by advertising this
PG-13 trash to not only high school students but to middle school students.
