Channel One News is controversial for a number of reasons. The commercials are probably the biggest reason a vast majority of US schools have refused to allow Channel One News to be shown to students.
The contract between a school and Channel One states that there will be no more than two minutes of advertising in a daily 12-minute program. For years Channel One kept their end of the bargain. Over the last seven year, as Channel One has had one financial crisis after another, the company has expanded their amount of advertising without getting approval from schools.
What you see in this video clip is an ad for Disney Channel’s movie Prom. Yet Channel One does not consider this advertising that should be counted towards its two-minute limit.
Teachers are being laid off because schools don’t have proper funding. Cuts are being made everywhere in public schools. Yet at the same time the Disney Channel is usurping school time plugging their April 29 premiere of Prom.
Channel One News plays over a minute of a song from the Prom soundtrack. That doesn’t sound like much waste of school time, but that’s one minute per student and that is just one day. Channel One says that nearly six million students watch their program.
Disney pays Channel One for the right to advertise their product. Channel One pays school nothing. The schools get no cut of the Disney money.
The public should be outraged to find out their tax money is subsidizing Disney’s marketing. After all, every second of school time has been paid for by taxpayers.
