NOTE FROM APRIL 21, 2011: This outrageous story for middle school students didn’t make any sense at the time. We only found out later when Derrick Shore left Channel One the information that Channel One knew all along: that Derrick Shore was a gay rights activist. I have since talked with former Channel One News production people who said Shore was pushing gay stories on the program. Currently, Mr. Shore is a contributing writer to the gay magazine The Advocate.
No matter how you feel about gay marriage, when it comes to middle school students and some fifth grade students forced to watch Channel One News, parents should have been warned about stories like this. A community – not Channel One News – should decide what is appropriate for their students.
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From Jim Metrock:
As you have read in the previous article below, Channel One News has turned its children’s message board into a vulgar cesspool for the discussion of the gay lifestyle, anal sex, gay teachers, gay marriage and many other questionable subjects.
Channel One’s web site once ran a picture of two men holding hands when it ran one of its stories on gay issues.
Today’s show is yet another indicator that Channel One’s executives are pushing their pro-gay rights agenda on 8 million impressionable schoolchildren down to the ages of ten and eleven.
Here is the script that was aired in middle and high schools. Of all the events in the world that happened yesterday, February 4, 2004, Channel One News considered the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision on gay marriage the NUMBER ONE story for sixth graders and other secondary students.
[HELLOS][AIRDATE=2/05/04][PRO=ENAS]
[TALENT=DERRICK & JANET]
DERRICK: HEY EVERYBODY. HOW ‘YA DOIN? I’M DERRICK SHORE.
JANET: AND I’M JANET CHOI. IT’S ALL-REQUEST THURSDAY. [from Obligation: Yeah, that’s right, another school day with Channel One News playing rock and rap music for the students]
DERRICK: THAT IS RIGHT. THE MUSIC IN TODAY’S SHOW IS BY THE ARTISTS YOU CHOSE ON OUR WEBSITE.
JANET: IT’S CHANNEL ONE NEWS ON FEBRUARY 5TH.
[INTRO MARRIAGE][AIRDATE=02/05/04][TAL=SHORE][PRO=CRAWFORD]
[from Obligation: Teachers must have been shocked to hear gay marriage was Channel One’s idea of a Top Story for kids. By making it their lead story on a very busy news day, Channel One’s liberal news team sent students a clear message that “We think this is important and if you, as a seventh-grader haven’t been thinking about gay love, gay rights and gay marriage, well, we are going to make you think. And hey, kids, you could win a phone!]
DERRICK: ACROSS THE COUNTRY, 38 STATES AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAVE PASSED LAWS BARRING RECOGNITION OF ANY SAME-SEX MARRIAGES. BUT NOW, THE HIGHEST COURT IN MASSACHUSETTS HAS RULED THAT IT WOULD BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL TO DENY SAME-SEX COUPLES THE RIGHT TO MARRY. THAT CLEARS THE WAY FOR GAY MARRIAGES TO BE PERFORMED THERE WITHIN A FEW MONTHS.
[GAY MARRIAGE][AIRDATE=02/05/04][TAL=SHORE][PRO=CRAWFORD]
DERRICK: IN 2001, SEVEN GAY COUPLES SUED THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS AFTER THEY WERE DENIED MARRIAGE LICENSES. THEN LAST NOVEMBER, THE MASSACHUSETTS SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT RULED THAT SAME-SEX COUPLES DID HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO MARRY.
“WE WANT TO THANK THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT FOR FINALLY SEEING WHAT WE’VE KNOWN FOR UMM FIFTEEN YEARS — THAT, UH, WE SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE MARRIED IN THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.”
DERRICK: AFTER THE RULING, THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE HAD SOME QUESTIONS FOR THE COURT. DID THE JUSTICES MEAN THAT GAYS COULD HAVE THE SAME MARRIAGE RIGHTS AS HETEROSEXUALS? RIGHT NOW, SAME-SEX COUPLES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MARRY, BUT ONE PROPOSAL WAS THAT THEY COULD ENTER INTO CIVIL UNIONS, WHICH WOULD PROVIDE THEM SOME OF THE LEGAL BENEFITS OF MARRIAGE.
YESTERDAY, THE COURT MADE IT CLEAR. IT WOULD BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL FOR MASSACHUSETTS TO ALLOW ANYTHING LESS THAN MARRIAGE FOR SAME-SEX COUPLES. IN ITS RULING, THE COURT SAID THE CIVIL UNION PROPOSAL: CONTINUES TO RELEGATE SAME-SEX COUPLES TO A DIFFERENT STATUS.
“THE HISTORY OF OUR NATION HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT SEPARATE IS SELDOM, IF EVER, EQUAL. NO AMOUNT OF TINKERING WILL ERADICATE THAT STAIN.”
NEXT WEDNESDAY, THE LEGISLATURE WILL CONSIDER A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT THAT WOULD LEGALLY DEFINE MARRIAGE AS A UNION ONLY BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN. SOME MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS FELT THE COURT MADE THE RIGHT DECISION.
STATE REP. JAY KAUFMAN–DEM., MASSACHUSETTS: I-I ANTICIPATED THAT OPINION BECAUSE I THINK THE SJC WAS VERY CLEAR IN ITS RULING, UH, IN NOVEMBER THAT UMM OUR CONSTITUTION REQUIRES EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL AND WE CAN’T HAVE SECOND-CLASS STATUS FOR ANY CITIZENS IN THE COMMONWEALTH.
DERRICK: OTHERS FELT IT WAS WRONG.
STATE REP. PHILLIP TRAVIS–DEM., MASSACHUSETTS: THE CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS SAID MARRIAGE AND CIVIL LAW SHALL BE WRITTEN BY THE GOVERNOR AND THE HOUSE AND SENATE OF MASSACHUSETTS, NOT THE SUPREME COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS. SO WE’RE GOING TO GIVE THEM A LAW THAT THEY CAN’T CHANGE. [from Obligation: What a weak opposing view. This is the best Channel One could find? Was there nobody that would say this is under minding the moral fabric of the state? Children are given the impression that gay marriage is nothing more than a “Coke/Pepsi” issue – about half like one or the other – no one is right, no one is wrong.]
[TAG AND QUESTION][AIRDATE=2/05/04][PRO=ENAS]
[TALENT=DERRICK& JANET]
DERRICK: NOW WE ARE CERTAIN YOU HAVE YOUR OWN OPINIONS ABOUT THIS MATTER AND WE’D LIKE FOR YOU TO SHARE THEM IN OUR CINGULAR QUESTION OF THE DAY.
SHOULD GAY COUPLES BE ALLOWED TO GET MARRIED?
YES OR NO?
[from Obligation: Cingular Wireless is a major supporter of gay activities. The gay magazine The Advocate lists Cingular as one of the best companies supporting gays. Cingular support goes beyond what most large companies have done and they financially support gay pride parades. Cingular is probably more than happy to be sponsoring this question.]
YOU CAN GO TO CHANNELONE.COM OR CALL 877-CH1-VOTE. YOU HAVE UNTIL 7 PM EASTERN, 4 PM PACIFIC TIME TODAY TO MAKE YOUR CALL.
ANNOUNCER: IF CHANNEL ONE NEWS USES YOUR COMMENTS FROM THE WEBSITE OR TOLL FREE NUMBER ON THE AIR, CINGULAR WILL BE SENDING YOU A NOKIA CELL PHONE WITH THREE MONTHS OF PRE-PAID SERVICE. FOR COMPLETE RULES AND REGULATIONS, GO TO CHANNELONE.COM.
[BE BACK] [AIRDATE=][PRO=ENAS][TALENT=JANET]
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If this biased story isn’t bad enough. Tonight, the moderator of Channel One’s raunchy web message boards posed this question to the children visiting the boards (remember, there are probably a lot of younger children on the Channel One web site than watching the TV show at school.)
| In the Headlines – Gay marriage: Should it be allowed?
From: Moderator 7:32 pm [February 5, 2004] |
This is outrageous. The Channel One employee – the “moderator” – is suppose to be there to make sure everybody is behaving. Yet he or she is asking children to comment on homosexuals marrying each other. It is no wonder the message boards are filled with disturbing content.
So Channel One rubs gay rights into the face of up to 8 million schoolchildren, then asks them to go their web site to voteon gay marriage and then while at the web site, the Channel One moderator wants even more from the kids – he wants them to share their feeling about men who want to marry men and women who want to marry women.
Notice the Cingular Question of the Day. “SHOULD GAY COUPLES BE ALLOWED TO GET MARRIED? YES OR NO?’
All of Channel One’s questions are values neutral. One could argue that is the way journalism should be, but Channel One News has a special audience. Preteens are a huge portion of their audience. These preteens are just beginning to deal with their own natural sexuality and it must be very disturbing for Channel One News to be rushing them into thinking, voting and commenting on men having sex with one another.
Let’s turn the tables on Channel One News. Let’s have a little fun with them, since they are having a great time having “fun” with our children. Let’s ask Channel One News executives what THEY think about gay marriage. Let’s ask them a “Cingular Question of the Day.”
I will send Jim Ritts, Jeff Ballabon, Morgan Wandell, Jim Morris, and all the Channel One News anchors an email asking them, “Should gay couples be allowed to get married? Yes or No?”
I will report their responses.
|
This is the graphic that children see tonight (February 5) on the home page of Channelone.com. They have run a similar photo before that shows two men holding hands as if they are swinging their arms. To Channel One News homosexuality is neither right or wrong. It’s up to each person, each child to decide, to vote. There is no “wrong answer.” Everything is morally neutral. |
