Q: Why was there a THREE MINUTE story about Tae Kwon Do on Channel One News today?
A. Channel One was covering the first martial arts contest between North and South Korea.
B. A sports figure from China has been accused of being an undercover CIA agent.
C. The NBC Network is the new producer/partner of Channel One News. NBC will be telecasting the Summer Olympics this August. Channel One is featuring stories about Olympic sports to increase NBC Olympic viewership among 11-18 age group.
The answer of course is "C." Our old friends at Channel One News are once again producing "news" stories to help their advertisers [Also: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5] and financial backers. [Also: 1, 2, 3]
First there is a problem with the Marines sponsoring this story. "Glory Road" is a name Channel One gives to some of its human interest stories. These have little – to absolutely nothing – to do with current events or hard news. They are used as filler to help pad out the 12-minute show. Because of Channel One’s terrible financial status, the company can’t afford to send reporters to many news-worthy events. So they do a human interest story that costs next to nothing to produce, has long shelf life, and can be used to obtain revenue from an advertiser – in this case the U. S. Marines. The beauty of this story, as far as Channel One goes, is it offers an additional opportunity to repay a close friend – NBC News.
NBC saved the day for Channel One when they agreed to produce Channel One News for free (at least there is no publish indication that Channel One is being charged anything). Why would NBC do this? That’s simple: They instantly become Channel One’s largest advertiser and they get to pound their brand into the heads of kids from sixth grade until they graduate. When students have watched NBC being plugged on Channel One for SEVEN YEARS, they can’t help but prefer NBC. Brian Williams, Al Roker and the star of My Name Is Earl, and other NBC personnel have been pitching NBC on Channel One News since this partership began in September.
Students will see MANY, MANY Olympic sports stories from now until the end of school. NBC wants this young captive audience because they will help bring their parents to the TV set in August.
This Tae Kwon Do story can be considered BOTH a three-minute ad for the Marines AND a three-minute ad for NBC Sports. Either way it alone exceeds the two-minute per day ad limit Channel One has promised schools.
| A three-minute promotional story for the 2008 Olympics. | |
|---|---|
 |
The story is introduced as a "Glory Road" feature story. This is a name of a segment that is routinely used as a long-form Marine recruitment commercial. |
 |
It is quickly apparent that this is going to a LONG story (3 minutes 3 seconds – one of the longest ever run on Channel One News) about the Lopez family. In December, Mark and Diana Lopez, the two on the left in the picture, secured their spot in the US Olympic team. This type of brother/sister story is perfect for NBC’s marketing department. |
 |
Students are forced to watch this incredibly long story that probably had many teachers and students scratching their heads wondering, "Why is this on our TV sets?" Channel One News last broadcast was on DECEMBER 20, 2007. A lot has gone on in the world since then. Channel One News has a lot of nerve to serve up this promotional story when they could have spent the time reviewing events they did not report on for 12 days. The advertiser is KING at Channel One, not the students. |
 |
This is just plain stupid. Channel One’s Tony Anderson on the right asks Diane Lopez to show girls how to deliver a Tae Kwon Do kick. NOBODY should be showing students how to hurt another person. If one student "practices" this kick on another and hurts that student, the school will be in legal trouble. The school implicitly endorsed this "kicking lesson" by forcing children to watch the show. |
See for yourself: We videotaped Channel One’s middle school broadcast off their web site so the public can see this story in its entirety. Channel One will only have this broadcast on their web site for a short period of time and then it will be gone never to be seen again. Channel One generates ad revenue because they are in public schools. Everything about Channel One ought to be transparent and readily reviewable by the public. Instead Channel One News is a very secretive company that has a long history of blocking information from being made public.
The quality of this clip is not good but it gives viewers a taste of what students had to sit through. As you begin watching this look at your wrist watch. It will take three full minutes. Channel One says they still have "nearly six million" students under contract. Six million times three minutes is a figure that will make you sick.
From Channel One’s official transcript for January 2, 2008:
CHRIS: THEY’RE CONSIDERED BY MANY TO BE THE FIRST FAMILY OF TAE KWON DO, A KOREAN MARTIAL ART AND OLYMPIC EVENT.
CHRIS: AND AS TONY ANDERSON FOUND OUT, WHEN THE LOPEZ FAMILY ISN’T KICKING AND PUNCHING THEIR WAY TO VICTORY, THEY’RE PUSHING EACH OTHER TO SUCCEED.
TONY: ALL RIGHT I AM WITH THE LOPEZ CLAN, DIANA, THE LOVELY DIANA, STEVEN AND MARK. YOUR OLDER BROTHER JEAN TRAINED YOU CORRECT?
(SOT: ) “Right.”
TONY: HOW WAS IT GROWING UP IN A TAE KWON DO FAMILY, WAS IT STRANGE?
(SOT: Diana) “Sometimes, I mean during high school they were like those are the karate guys, or you know we would go out oh look at them watch out.”
TONY: A LOT OF PEOPLE YOU KNOW STUDY MARTIAL ARTS AND STUFF AS A HOBBY. WHEN DID YOU KNOW HEY I COULD DO THIS FOR A LIVING?
(SOT: ) “You know, I think the first time was way back 1988 the first time that Tae Kwon Do was an exhibition sport in the Seoul Olympics games, and I remember hearing that and going to my older brother and Jean we can make it! I remember from that day on it was my dream, it was never a question of if I was going to make it, but when.”
TONY: STEVEN’S DREAM CAME TRUE, HE IS A TWO-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST. NOW STEVEN ALONG WITH MARK AND DIANA, THE FAMILY FROM SUGAR LAND, TEXAS IS READY TO MAKE HISTORY, ATTEMPTING TO BECOME THE FIRST THREE SIBLINGS TO QUALIFY FOR THE SAME U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM SINCE 1904.
TONY: YOU’VE BEEN DOING THIS SINCE YOU WERE KIDS, NOW HOW WAS IT DOING MARTIAL ARTS AS WELL ACADEMICS, BALANCING THOSE TWO?
(SOT: ) “I enjoyed the challenge, sometimes I would be upset I had to go to school but I knew that that was an important part of my career, just being an athlete is not enough for me.”
(SOT: ) “Its the most important you know you cant do extra curricular activities if you don’t have the grades so that was always instilled in us that education came first but we were able to do both and be successful at it.
TONY: NOW HOW DOES MARTIAL ARTS TEACH YOU TO BALANCE IN LIFE? HAVE YOU GOT IN A FIGHT IN SCHOOL OR DOES IT KEEP YOU SO CENTERED AND FOCUS THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO USE IT?
(SOT: ) “Tae Kwon Do is an excellent sport because it teaches you how to defend yourself but at the same time how to avoid a situation like a fight and it teaches you to respect everybody.”
TONY: SO WHAT CAN YOU SHOW ME FOR THE FEMALES WHO WANT TO YOU KNOW DEFEND THEMSELVES AGAINST SOME OF THE GUYS OUT THERE?
Hold it!: Tony, don’t do that. Do you really want to use school time to show girls down to age ten how to kick a boy? You didn’t ask permission from school officials to do this. This is typical of the recklessness of Channel One’s management. What happens when a student watches this and then kicks a fellow student and injures them?
(SOT: ) “Oh I’ll show you a basic kick, it’s a front kick, the first thing you do is you bring your knee up.”
TONY: OH YOU WANT TO SHOW ME?
(SOT: ) “Bring your knee up. I don’t know if I can do this with heels.”
TONY: THIS IS ONLY IN SELF-DEFENSE. PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THIS, TAE KWON DO IS NOT AN AGGRESSIVE SPORT. IT’S MAINLY FOR SELF DEFENSE.
(SOT: ) “It’s an art, yeah.”
TONY: THANKS GUYS I APPRECIATE IT.
ANNOUNCER: TO WATCH AN EXTENDED INTERVIEW WITH THE LOPEZ FAMILY AND TO GET A SHORT TAE KWON DO LESSON, HEAD TO CHANNEL ONE DOT COM AND CLICK ON GLORY ROAD.
