At the beginning of 2002, after years of pressure from Obligation, Inc., Channel One News FINALLY began rebroadcasting their in-school TV show on Channelone.com. All of a sudden for the first time parents could watch the whole TV show AND the commercials their children were forced to watch in their classroom.
Channel One is still webcasting their daily TV show on their website but now they are censoring the ads. All commercials in the two commercial breaks (usually two 30-second ads in each break) are edited out.
The decision to keep what is being advertised to kids a secret from parents and the public was made by Matt Diamond the CEO of Channel One’s parent company Alloy Media and Marketing. To Mr. Diamond, what Channel One News advertises to young people should be between Channel One and the student. The public has no right to know what is being pitched to students. Parents, if they are interested, can make arrangements with their school and come and sit in a classroom and watch an episode of Channel One News to see what’s being advertise.
Clearly the "New Channel One News" doesn’t want the public to know what is being advertised in middle and high schools that are still watching the show.
When one views the webcast at Channelone.com a few minutes into the show you see these type of screens
Above: When you see this, Channel One’s censors are preventing you from seeing commercials being shown in classrooms.
pop up and that represents the commercial break. Parents and others who view the webcast only see a few seconds of blue or other color circles and then another story begins. What students see are usually two or three commercials.
Here is one commercial that Channel One News executives didn’t want you to see. It is a military recruitment ad for the Marines. (This is from the October 11 show. Go to Channelone.com and go back to this day’s show and you won’t see an ad for the Marines. You won’t see any ads.) Channel One has greatly ramped up their military recruitment ads. These ads are very effective in getting students to consider a military career. They have air virtually every day this fall.
Screen shot from the Marine ad that Channel One deleted from the public version of its October 11, 2007 show.
Channel One’s secret military ads are often aimed at their captive audience of minority students.
Students in well-to-do suburban schools don’t see these recruitment ads over and over again, day in and day out, because Channel One News is generally not found in those schools. Channel One is disproportionately shown in schools in lower-income areas. The ads are powerful inducements for young people facing limited career choices. Add to that, the ads have the implied endorsement of the school district (why else are they being shown to students while they sit at their desks?).
Alloy’s Matt Diamond sees the stream of ad revenue from the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard and Marines as a pot of gold. The more kids from "Channel One schools" that enlist means the ads are working and the money will continue to flow to Diamond and Company. Channel One News has effectively become a marketing arm of the U.S. Government. If it wasn’t for the military money flowing into Channel One, the company would be out of business.
We have asked Channel One News to stop cutting out the ads from the webcast of their show. They have never responded and as of November 8, the commercials are still being edited out.
