Words sometimes can’t capture the utter waste of time Channel One has become. You have to see this nonsense for yourself. Check out this clip from Channel One News. It is one continuous clip. Use your watch and time the clip. Picture in your mind all the students who had to sacrifice their school time to watch this “hard news.”
Watch the video, then read on.
Video: the last portion of Channel One News on September 26, 2003
Did you time it? No? OK, it was two minutes. We could have shown you even more stupidity if we had included the entire commercial for Lays potato chips. The clip starts with just the last few frames of the new stackable Lays potato chip ad. Is there nobody at Channel One that reads a newspaper? It appears that nobody has read that young people are becoming overweight and many are developing Type 2 diabetes because they are becoming obese. What a bunch of morons to be advertising a new potato chip product to children. This is the handiwork of Jim “Sugar Daddy” Ritts, the president of Channel One News. He has approved one junk food ad campaign after another.
After the junk food ad, Channel One launches into the Gatorade Play of the Week. What does this have to do with anything? This is probably exciting for the Mississippi school that sent in the video, but for the rest of the poor souls having to watch it it is not important at all.
Then Channel One anchors promote the Jewel concert which is nothing more than an advertisement for Jewel’s comeback effort and for Acuvue2 contact lens which is one of the sponsors for the Channel One Jewel concert. Acuvue2 is not mentioned here but they are on Channel One’s formal commercials for the concert/contest.
The executive producer of Channel One News is a gentleman named Jim Morris. This content is considered “news” to this man. He has no problem forcing his reporters to shill for advertisers. Morris has been out of legitimate news so long that he doesn’t have a sense of what is “news” and what is an “advertisement.” He mixes both together and comes out with something really ugly.
The anchors say goodbye and then we see an ad for Channelone.com. Then a graphic that shows the name of Escambia County Middle School in Atmore, AL. This is on the screen for teachers to write down the name so they can send it in to Channel One. Channel One will then show advertisers that they have proof that students are actually watching the show (and ads). The clip ends with the fine print concerning the contest to win the Jewel concert. No child can read this fine print.
Two minutes of utter waste. This is typical for Channel One News. If your school still has this TV show blaring away every morning, you need to stop it. Students have only one chance to get an education and the school’s Channel One contract is a big obstacle to obtaining that education.
Ask for a meeting with your superintendent and have him or her watch the above clip. Ask him or her how he or she can justify the lost of two minutes multiplied by the number of students in your school district under contract to Channel One. If your superintendent says he or she doesn’t have a problem with the kids having some TV fun each day, then your school system has much bigger problems than Channel One News. If the superintendent is upset with this clip, then press for the school district to take immediate action to turn off Channel One News for good.
