News About Channel One June – Dec.

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latest news on the Channel One News Controversy.

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Click Here For News About Channel One In 2002

News About Channel One 2001 (June – Dec.)

Obligation’s Channel One Main Page …… News About C1 2000 …… News About C1 Jan – May 2001

 
WIDTH=”104″ HEIGHT=”96″ ALIGN=”LEFT” BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>The Mandatory

 Hollywood Curriculum: 

Channel One

Channel One is a marketing company that loans schools TV equipment in exchange for one hour a week of their students’ school time.

• Channel One advertises expensive athletic shoes, Internet sites, violent and sexually charged movies, candy bars and high sugar/caffeine soft drinks to children.
• A schoolchild will lose 7 instructional weeks (over 200 hours) of school if he or she has Channel One from 6th to 12th grade. (the normal situation in schools with Channel One.)
• Channel One often has more than two minutes of commercial time. They will often run "bonus" commercials after the apparent end of the program. Channel One has violated their contract and has exceeded their maximum of 12 minutes.

Channel One headquarters: Madison Avenue (correction: Oct. 2001, Channel One forced to move out of swank Madison Ave. offices.  They still are a "Madison Avenue" marketing company.)

Channel One studio: Hollywood

Now you see the problem.

See For Yourself – Obligation’s Video Page

Letter to Vestavia Hills, AL Citizens

January 3, 2001 – A Warning From Obligation president Jim Metrock:

You will be exposed to some very offensive content on our web site. I regret that, but it is necessary if we are to report on Channel One. Channel One is getting worse. Those who have visited our site have seen the decline. When Channel One advertises a filthy, "pothead" movie like "Dude, Where’s My Car", the public needs to know what Channel One told children to see. We have to describe the filthy dialogue and images that Channel One’s advertisers push on children. If we don’t, then how will the public know what Channel One is doing to children?

________________

Why is this man smiling? You would too, if you were "Casino Jack" Abramoff. He looks after the interests of casinos and Channel One. Both pay him an obscene amount of money.

December 17, 2001 – "Casino Jack" Abramoff

Channel One’s survival depends on federal government money – your tax money.  Without the public service announcements and military recruitment commercials, Channel One would be absolutely dead.

Channel One must continue to lobby Congress to make sure members don’t interfere with their moneymaking machine in public schools. Although Channel One has been a failure at many of its endeavours, they have been very successful in their lobbying, especially on Capitol Hill. That success comes in large part to "Casino Jack" Abramoff with Greenberg and Traurig, a lobbying firm.

Public relations-wise, "Casino Jack" is an odd person for Channel One to go to, since he is best known for his work with casinos. He represents the Choctaw Indians in Mississippi who have the Silver Star Casino. He just signed a deal to represent another Indian tribe in Michigan that need help in Washington with their casino. Also, "Casino Jack" last month had to give up a 1/3 stake in a cruise casino enterprise because he was about to be sued for millions. (You got to know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.)

"Casino Jack" doesn’t appear to care much about the social problems with gambling. As long as he makes the big money, then it’s OK.   Also, it doesn’t bother "Casino Jack" to push Channel One even if children lose valuable school time and sleazy and violent movies along with other junk is promoted to children during their class time.  Money is the key to Abramoff and his band of influence peddlers.

Jim Metrock said, "It is hilarious to picture ‘Casino Jack’ Abramoff telling members of Congress that the anti-family Channel One marketing company is something they should support. Casinos and Channel One have one thing in common – they don’t belong in any community."

December
10, 2001 – "Smooth Criminal"? In
The Classroom?!

December 3, 2001 – Channel One Launches Major Effort To Obtain Personal Information From Children

December 3, 2001 – Channel One Pulls Plug On Weekly Updates For Teachers

http://www.channeloneteacher.com/wkupdate/index.html

The link above will take you to Channel One’s "Weekly Update" for teachers. Like most things at C1, it is an exercise in futility. Few teachers care about Channel One and fewer will take the time to go to C1’s web site. (Channel One abandoned an email program that would have given teachers free email services. So few teachers signed up for it that the project was abandoned by Channel One.  It seems no many teachers wanted "[email protected]" as an email address.)

If you go to the Weekly Update you will see that the last update is dated "November 2" that is more than a month ago. It appears that Channel One has abandoned this effort also.

Another feature on the channeloneteacher.com site is the "Line Up Call" which is a defensive effort by C1 to conteract the complaints that Channel One solely determines what is going to be shown in the classroom.  Well, Channel One addressed that by offering teachers a chance to call in and suggest what news stories they should report on. It is all a big joke at C1, but it looks good.

If you go to their site today, December 3, you will see they are asking teachers what should they be reporting on tomorrow November 6! Yipes. The "Line Up Call" is another scam by Channel One. It’s a scam that they can’t even keep up to date. The message is clear – Channel One will determine what they cover and they couldn’t care less what teachers want.

(Channel One will obviously update their site as soon as they read this article.  Channel One employees regularly check out Obligation.)

November 29, 2001 – Seattle Deals Blow To Channel One – Partial Win For C1 Gives Company 4 More Years Before Removal

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134369669_schoolads22m.html

November
29, 2001 – Andrew Yani

November 28, 2001 – Tim Hutchinson Works Hard For Anti-Family Channel One

November 28, 2001 – New Video – "Channel One – The Hollywood Pipeline Into Classrooms"

November
26, 2001 – Channel One AWOL 

November 20, 2001 – C1 Promotes Groups Known For Explicit Lyrics

November 19,
2001 –  C1 Crams More MTV Down Students’ Throats

November 18, 2001 – Janet Choi Feeds Afghanistan

November 13, 2001 – This Way To Legal Troubles for C1

Jewel’s appearance on Channel One was timed for today’s release of her newest CD.

The loss of advertisers has cause Channel One to sell air time to companies that want to promote singers, television shows and movies. This is a big gamble for Channel One since it openly violates the contract with schools. This could have legal repercussions for a company already in big trouble.

Channel One wrote the contracts they required school boards to sign. It was Channel One that put unambiguous language in the contract that limited their commercial time to two minutes. Today’s program is shocking in its total disregard of the contract.

You can see today’s show by going to www.channelone.com.

Atlantic Records arranged for Jewel to appear during the entire Channel One show today.  She guest hosted beside Channel One anchor Derrick Shore. Shore, who makes no attempt to even pretend to be a journalist, has no problem helping Jewel push her CD. Channel One wasted considerable time promoting Jewel.  They even took time to show an old clip of Jewel pushing her 1995 CD on Channel One.  The captive audience of schoolchildren heard parts of at least four new songs from the Jewel CD.

Channel One is not considering the guest host time as commercial time which it is. Channel One is considerably over the two minute limit. Today’s show is not the first time this violation of the contract has happened, but it is the most extensive breach of the contract we have seen.

On the Channel One web site, children can read an interview with Jewel.  They can also enter a contest so they can win an autographed CD from Jewel.  

It is interesting that Channel One, the company that bills itself as the only source of news for many children, has steadfastly refused to use their web site to broadcast the news to children during afterschool hours, over the weekend and during summer vacation.  They have the capability to stream their broadcast on the web but don’t. But if you go to channelone.com you can see a streaming video of a Channel One anchor conducting a question and answer session with, you guessed it, Jewel.

Channel One has found a new source of revenue by selling guest host slots to movie and TV stars and recording artists, but it might result in more legal problems than Channel One can handle. State Departments of Education and state Attorneys General may not be amused with this company that violates its own contract so frequently and with such arrogance.

What the heck is this?!

Below: How to make a teacher feel like a fool.

November 12, 2001 – The Latest Insult To Teachers

Channel One has a big problem.   Potential advertisers are staying away from Channel One because Channel One can’t give them accurate figures for its audience.

Many schools have kicked Channel One out. Many schools have simply stopped showing Channel One News.  These schools are keeping the TV sets and have no fear of Channel One coming to take away the equipment. Channel One has been extremely tolerant of Alabama school districts that want to keep the Channel One equipment but don’t want to show the Channel One News show according to the contract terms.

Louis Pizitz Middle School in Birmingham is just one example of a school that has never honored the contract but they get to keep the equipment by special arrangement with Channel One.

In order to document their viewing numbers better, the Channel One folks in Norcross, Georgia came up with the idea of getting teachers to help. This is how it works:

At the end of the daily Channel One shows in September, October and some of November, Channel One flashed a unique code, such as "MOL764". The teacher is suppose to take time away from his or her duties as a public school teacher to write down this code so it can be sent to Channel One headquarters. These reports from schools will allow Channel One to tell advertisers that there are "X" number of students watching Channel One based on teachers correctly reporting the code for particular days.

The thinking is that if a teacher knows the code for the day, she or he must have shown the program to the captive audience of students. The code comes on the screen right after the Channel One News broadcast is over.

Although Channel One is dangling money in front of schools to help motivate them to help in this audience measuring process, Obligation believes that few schools will participate.

November
12, 2001 – Rating
the Channel One Anchors

November 5, 2001 – Cybiko and Channel One Pull Fast One on Kids

October 31, 2001 –  Sleazy MTV Will Get More Time On C1

Last week, Primedia’s CEO Tom Rogers proudly told a conference call for investment analysts that Channel One will continue their relationship with MTV. There will be another special on Channel One that will be coproducer by MTV. It will air before the end of the year.

Most parents understand the offensive content on MTV. MTV is routinely blocked by households that do not want their brand of vulgarity in their homes. Channel One executives, Jim Ritts and Jeff Ballabon, see nothing wrong with MTV coming into America’s classrooms. What Ritts and Ballabon want to do is to bypass parents and allow MTV to promote their brand to kids as young as 10-years-old during their school day.

Obligation’s Jim Metrock said, "Last year, I saw the MTV special on drugs on Channel One.  The idea that MTV, of all entities, was talking to our children about drugs was incredible. The MTV Channel promotes recklessness, whether it is dealing with drugs or sex. Their network drips with slime. MTV is just one more reason to remove Channel One from schools."

October 27, 2001 – Check Me Out!

Soleil Moon Frye, Channel One co-host on October 5, 2001 shouts "Check me out!" to promote that night’s premiere of TV show.

How do you tell 8 million young people that the premiere of "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch" is on tonight?

Answer:  Pay Channel One to have an actress from the show co-host Channel One News.

This actress, Soleil Moon Frye, did an impressive job in pushing her TV show.  She got a lot of face time during the show.  

Jim Metrock said, "Channel One is going bizarre.  Surely they know they are dooming themselves.  Channel One News turns a public school classroom into a circus. Parents aren’t going to allow this to go on much longer. Schools endorse this TV show when they make the students watch a commercial for it. Taxpayers subsidize the WB Network in its marketing campaign for this show.  Incredible."

Watch how Channel One ends their show on October 5.

October 26, 2001 –  Channel One Stops Student Produced Week

They have already gotten rid of their VP of Education.  They said goodbye to their ivory tower on Madison Avenue.  Their staff size has shrunk.  Life isn’t good at Channel One nowadays. The days of free spending and high-living are over.  

Now Channel One has announced a cancellation of their Student Produced Week.  This is a week where students from schools that are under contract to Channel One can come and assume various on-camera and off-camera positions. It is a great public relations tool for Channel One.

Channel One claims the reason for the cancellation is their fear that parents will be concerned about their children flying on planes, but that doesn’t sound truthful. Many of the schools that have sent students to their SPW are within driving distance of the Channel One studio in Hollywood. Obviously, if they wanted to continue the SPW they would offer it only to applicants that were given permission to fly. Also, SPW is not until next spring. No, the real reason for cancellation is that Channel One is hurting in the pocket book.

8 million children had to watch and listen to this band promote their music and yet-to-be released CD throughout the entire Channel One News show.

October 23, 2001 – Channel One Turns Show Over to Rock Band

October
19, 2001 – Channel One’s Recap of Terror Put To Music –

October 18, 2001 – Channel Done

Channel One is basically on life support. It is only able to pay its bills and make its payroll because of one unlike benefactor – the U.S. Government. If our Federal Government stopped supporting Channel One, Channel One would be finished. That is the incredible situation in which Channel One finds itself at the end of 2001.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy continues to stuff millions of tax dollars into Channel One’s shrinking bank account. The Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy spend big money on Channel One even though it is questionable that Channel One delivers the audience they claim.

Free flowing tax money is what courses through the veins of Channel One.  How long will that go on? Channel One hopes it is never ending but even government misspending comes to an end sooner or later.

There are rumors that Channel One has let go half of their staff.  Paul Folkemer is long gone.  Roger Wolfson, the former Senator aide hired to work on the "interactive Channel One", is gone.   Noreen Clarke, an educator who should have known better to work for this company, is gone. Others have been let go.

In August, the company was thoroughly embarrassed by a colossal blunder by Kathy Goodman of their Norcross, Georgia location. She thought it was a good idea to offer teachers $500 if they became sales representatives for Channel One. They had to stop their "money to teachers" scam. (It was doubtful that any teacher would have taken advantage of it anyway.)  Worse for Channel One, they caught the attention of many State Departments of Education, State Attorneys General, and State Ethics Commissions who overwhelmingly disapproved of Channel One’s unethical offer.

Channel One has lost advertisers.  They admit that.  The outlook is bleak. After ten years of exploiting children, Channel One is quickly running out of gas. Channel One may be Channel Done fairly soon.

Oct. 18, 2001 – Want To Go Bankrupt?  Advertise On Channel One.

Polaroid thought Channel One was the perfect vehicle to advertise their I-Zone cameras and Sticky Film. They were a huge advertiser on Channel One last year. What Polaroid’s marketing people didn’t understand is that a large number of classrooms with Channel One TV sets don’t watch Channel One News. Channel One’s claim of an audience of 8 million students is probably at least 3 million too high.

Polaroid filed for bankruptcy last week. They will reorganize the company and hopefully this great company will hire smarter people who will never advertise on Channel One again.

When you saw the Contentville.com commercials on Channel One, they didn’t make any sense. This company sold intellectual works, such as speeches, college-level papers, and magazine articles. Its potential customers were not 6th graders or even high school seniors, but they were big advertisers on Channel One last year. Part of the reason they advertised on C1 was because Primedia and Steven Brill who started Brill’s Content and Contentville.com because business partners. Since Channel One was hurting for advertisers, Contentville ads filled in the gaps.

Contentville ads featured a man who was probably in his late twenties or thirties expressing joy over what he could find on Contentville.com. This certainly wouldn’t make much of an impression on a middle school student.

Contentville.com didn’t file for bankruptcy. They just flat out went out of business.  Go to contentville.com and see what advertising on Channel One can do for your company.

October 17, 2001 –  Who Would Want To Buy Channel One?

A New York Post article yesterday speculated that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, majority owners of Channel One’s parent company Primedia, may take Primedia private and auction off pieces of the company.

Primedia (PRM) was once at $34 a share and is now struggling to remain above $2. Primedia has over $2 billion of debt and many think they cannot service that debt in this present recession.

Speculation has centered on some magazines being sold along with Bacon’s information service, but nobody has good information about the future of Channel One.

Few companies would want to buy a company that is such a lightning rod for controversy. If it was sold, it would be at a "fire sale" price. The company’s management is one of its chief liabilities. Jim Ritts, the current president, is a marketing man that has shown little sensitivity to the special needs of the children forced to watch his program. Jeff Ballabon, Morgan Wandell and some of the surviving executives would probably be immediately dismissed if another company purchased Channel One.

Any company interested in Channel One would have to have millions of dollars available to replace the aging inventory of TV sets that Channel One has in classrooms.  They would also have to work hard to convince advertisers to come back to the show. They would face opposition in about every state where Channel One has contracts.

From our view, it looks like Primedia is stuck with Channel One. It appears to be an unmarketable entity.  That is ironic since Channel One is chiefly a marketing company.

The best advice we can give Tom Rogers, CEO of Primedia, is to donate all equipment to the schools and take a tax write-off. Put an end to this company that has caused so much trouble in our country.

October 15, 2001 – Channel One Violates News Standards

It happens a lot.  Today was just the latest violation. Channel One’s "News Standards" were published several years ago in an effort to ease growing concerns about the sloppy quality of their TV show.  The new crew at Channel One now probably doesn’t even know about the policies the company created.

Channel One vowed never to allow a guest host to plug any CD, movie or TV show. Unfortunately, if you wave enough money under the nose of a Channel One employee, he or she will conveniently forget about their principles or any news standards.

Aaron Carter is billed as the " Prince of Pop" and his record company arranged for his appearance on Channel One today. Over the last few years, Channel One has been selling its guest host position to the highest bidders.  Vertical Horizon was a recent visitor on the show. Not only musical stars, but TV and movie stars have also been promoted on Channel One.

Students were told of Carter’s newest CD "Oh, Aaron" and that his songs would be played throughout today’s show.  Five songs in all were played.  If taxpayers knew about this, then there would be some angry people.

Plugging this artist is on top of the two minutes of regular commercials. Channel One has not only violated their flimsy news standards but also their contractual obligation to limit ads to two minutes.

To make matters worse, Channel One urged students to go to their web site, channelone.com, to read more advertising about Aaron Carter.  Channel One even has a contest that is a very transparent method of shaking kids down for personal information for their marketing purpose.

October 14, 2001 – Sex Up The Classroom!

Channel One Plays Controversial Pepsi Ad

A sultry singer is dressed in a skimpy two-piece outfit with see-through mesh on her legs and midriff.

She struts down a runway surrounded by screaming fans. She falls on her knees and provocatively sings to the captive audience of schoolchildren forced to be shown Channel One.

With moves that would challenge any belly dancer, the Pepsi singer shakes her hips and whips the fans into a frenzy.

This commercial first ran on Channel One in September. The folks at Channel One have a long history of allowing sexual images to be used to plug their advertisers’ products. It looks like the 2001-02 school year will be one of the more over-the-top years for Channel One.  As they lose advertisers, they become less selective about what is shown.  

Teachers are blind sided by Channel One’s lack of discretion. They don’t know what is coming next unless they preview the show. Obligation has sent an email to Channel One’s president, Jim Ritts ([email protected]) and the CEO of Primedia, Tom Rogers ([email protected]), protesting the showing of any soft drink commercials and especially ones that are so sexually provocative.  If we receive a reply, we will post it on this site. Don’t hold your breath.

To see the commercial go to our Channel One Videopage.

October 12, 2001 – Who Is Elissa Schein?

In June, Channel One lost one of its best salesmen – Paul Folkemer. In 1998, Folkemer walked away from Benjamin Franklin Middle School where he was the principal to take a job with Channel One. Overnight, Folkemer went from worrying about the carpool line to a cushy job as "Vice President of Education" with an office on Madison Avenue with what must have been a big pay increase.

His job was to try to convince people that Channel One had more to do with education than with advertising. It is safe to say that he failed miserably. That is probably one reason why he is now an assistant principal in charge of instruction in a small New York public school system.

Who will Channel One hire to replace Folkemer?  The better question
is "Can Channel One find another educator who will shill for this controversial
marketing company?"

Primedia continues to list "Paul Folkemer" on its list of Channel One executives.  They never announced that Folkemer is out of the company.  Primedia is being deceptive by not acknowledging that they have no VP of Education.

Channel One is listing Elissa Schein as their "Manager of Educational Services." That title doesn’t convey what she does. Obligation sent Ms. Schein an email two days ago asking her to tell us of her background and her duties. Is she replacing Folkemer? Is so, is she giving final approval to each commercial on Channel One like Folkemer did? If she is doing that, then she is a very important person in the lives of over eight million schoolchildren.  She would be the one who would determine what violent movie is going to be pushed on children.  She would be the one to determine what candy bar is going to be promoted during class. The public needs to know more about Ms. Schein. It is not surprising that Ms. Schein has not responded to our request.

The ploy Channel One used for the last three years was "You can trust us.  We have an educator (Folkemer) signing off on ALL the commercials.  If he doesn’t like it, then we ain’t going to show it." Schein may not be responsible for this oversight.  It might be Noreen Clarke who worked with Folkemer and who presently is still employed by the company.

Below is the information Channel One has posted about Ms. Schein.  Below that is a blurb that was published about Ms. Schein at her previous job at WNET. If Obligation hears from her, we will post any information she provides.

"Elissa Schein joined Channel One Network as the Manager of Educational Services after serving as Manager of Instructional Television Programming for the past six years at Thirteen/WNET, public television’s flagship station in New York. In addition to her primary responsibility for the acquisition and scheduling of the network’s K-12 educational programming, Elissa ran outreach events at the station, developed content for the Thirteen/WNET educational web site, presented at conferences, and chaired numerous committees for the Educational Services Department. Prior to her joining Thirteen, Elissa was an elementary school teacher and museum educator. Elissa received her BA degree from S.U.N.Y Binghamton, and her MS degrees in Early Childhood and Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education."

"Elissa Schein is Manager of Instructional Programming at Thirteen/WNET in New York City. She is responsible for the evaluation, acquisition, and scheduling of the more than 125 Instructional Television (ITV) series Thirteen broadcasts each school year, and oversees the publication of the Educational Services ITV Resource Guide. Schein served as Content Developer for Learning Link prior to her current position, and holds an MS in Elementary and Museum Education from the Bank Street College of Education."

October 12, 2001 – More on Channel One’s Move

How Fast Channel One Has Fallen

An employee of Primedia told Obligation that 1440 Broadway is the headquarters for About.com.  This is to be the new home for Channel One. About.com has fired so many people that they have some extra space for the Channel One gang.

This further cements the relationship between Channel One and About.com.  This will not make parents very comfortable.  About.com has a history of dealing in hardcore pornography.  A New York Post article last year highlighted Primedia’s entrance into hardcore porn with its purchase of About.com. About was a major advertiser on Channel One. About now has their porn behind an adult verification system and they call it by a different name (Adultseek), but About is still in the porn business.

Channel One should have nothing to do with a company that receives any revenue from pornography. Instead it appears Channel One is becoming a part of About.com.

A separate and very disturbing problem with About.com is their teen sites that offer some of the most vulgar content aimed at teens and pre-teens. We have highlighted much of that filth last year on this site. Channel One is going to continue to promote About.com.  They will try to funnel children to About.  This will be nothing but trouble for Channel One.  About.com adds one more reason for schools to throw Channel One out.

So now Channel One executives – the remaining ones – are setting up shop in abandoned office space at About’s headquarters on Broadway. The next move for Channel One is out into the streets. The way things are going for Channel One, that next move may be sooner than later.

October 8, 2001 – Golden Days Are Over For Channel One –

Channel One Moves Out Of Swank Madison Avenue Offices

From Jim Metrock: It was a short paragraph tucked away in a "Channel One News Weekly Update" that is read by few:

"ANNOUNCEMENT: Channel One’s New York offices are moving this week. As of Monday, October 8th, we will be located at 1440 Broadway, 17th Fl., NY, NY 10018. Our new phone # is: 212-204-3700; Fax: 212-204-3960. All e-mails remain the same. Please make note of the change."

Tough times have come to Channel One.

I have been to Channel One’s fancy offices on Madison Avenue several times.  The last time was on September 10. These folks had the entire 6th floor at 600 Madison Avenue that was in one of the pricer sections of the street – not far from Central Park.

For years, the money poured into Channel One. Exploiting schoolchildren was a easy way to make a nice – very nice living. But those days are coming to an end and Channel One has felt the sting of advertisers running away from their show. Many schools have thrown them out or simply turned their TV show off. The days of obscene profits are over. So Channel One has to look for a less expensive place to do their work.

Broadway may sound expensive, but 1440 Broadway is a huge step down for the Channel One crew. This is in an area below Times Square around 41st Street. No more Fifth Avenue shopping for the Channel One gang.  They will be shopping at Macy’s from now on.

October 3, 2001 – Channel One Finally Shows Its Advertisers

For nearly six years Obligation has asked Channel One to tell the public what is being advertised to the children forced to watch the show.  You can now see their program and its advertising at channelone.com.

Unfortunately, Channel One is again playing games with the public.

Channel One sends a different advertising feed to middle schools. The only difference, according to Channel One, is the high school version aimed at 14 year-olds and up contains commercials for PG13 movies.

Obligation urges Channel One to put their high school version of their program on the web since many parents and teachers are concerned about the long Channel One history of advertising sexy and violent movies during school. It is unclear what version Channel One is showing on its web site.

Also of concern is Channel One’s statement that they will only keep their programs on the web for 30 days.  That minimizes the value of such a feature for parents who want to review their programming and commercials.

Channel One is not including their entire program on their web site.  They are not showing the first part of the show which wastes incredible amounts of school time by running credits for various obscure Channel One employees, such as a "fact checker" among other employees.  This first part also displays the student artwork that begins each show.  Channel One may be embarrassed by to show the country that they require students to paint in a Channel One logo on each picture or it will not get on air. They also refuse to show the last part of their show that often has a bonus commercial that further violates their contract with schools.

Obligation encourages Channel One to give people the full show and to not mislead the American public.

October
2, 2001 –  Not Ready For Prime Time

September 27, 2001 –  Pat Ellis Receives Eagle Forum’s Leadership Award

Way to go, Pat!

Obligation’s Pat Ellis was honored by Phyllis Schlafly at the Eagle Forum Council XXX in St. Louis on September 22. She was recognized for outstanding leadership in exposing and removing commercial exploitation from public schools.

Mrs. Ellis has been fighting Channel One since 1994. No person has done more to free children from the onerous burden of sacrificing their school time to Channel One. Alabama schoolchildren and children from across the country owe a debt to Mrs. Ellis.  The demise of Channel One will probably be traced back to a school board meeting in Jasper, Alabama. After being ignored by the school superintendent, Mrs. Ellis rallied business leaders, ministers and other citizens to jam the school board meeting.  She collected hundreds of names of Jasper residents that wanted Channel One removed from their schools. The school board voted to end the contract. Channel One came into the classrooms, during the school day, and removed their TV sets.  The rest is history.

Mrs. Ellis could have quit there, but she contacted Jim Metrock with Obligation in 1996 and began discussing Channel One.  Mr. Metrock knew little about Channel One except that it had something to do with schools.  After reading the information Mrs. Ellis had gathered on Channel One, Obligation made removing Channel One a major project.

Mrs. Ellis has given written testimony at the 1999 U. S. Senate hearing on Channel One. She has been on numerous radio shows talking about commercialism in schools. She has been quoted in major newspapers. In 1999, the New Republic called her the person that started the conservative backlash against Channel One.

Mrs. Ellis is the Education Director for Obligation.

September 26, 2001 – Time For Columbine To Remove Channel One

September 21, 2001 – Middle School Teachers Are Urged To Turn Off Channel One

September 8, 2001 – Channel One’s New Season Turns Into A Disaster

Channel One executives shot themselves in the foot again. This time they may not recover.

Channel One’s offer of $500 to school teachers if they sign up a school for Channel One has backfired on them.  State ethics officers, state attorneys general, and state superintendents in many states are now investigating Channel One.

As of late today, Friday, September 8, Channel One is still offering teachers the $500 bounty on their web site.

The other contests being run by Channel One which encourage teachers to sacrifice school time in order to secure proof that teachers are honoring the contract will also get Channel One and teachers in trouble.

Jim Metrock said, "The Channel One people have very little regard for teachers.  These people think teachers are nothing but lap dogs to do Channel One’s bidding. Teachers should demand that their principal unplug Channel One for good. Channel One didn’t care if teachers got in trouble or if they were fired.  All Channel One is looking for are schools to replace those they have lost."

September 5, 2001 – Channel One Drops Major Contract Term –

Some Schools No Longer Have To Show C1 In 80% Of Classrooms

Finally Channel One is putting their contract on their web site for the public to see. You can view their contract at www.channelonehelp.com.  

In this version of their contract, Channel One no longer demands that at least 80% of all classrooms show their program. There is no minimum anymore. Does this change the contract for all schools? Are some schools being treated more strictly than others?

In the new contract, Channel One says that no teacher or student has to participate. This apparently means that all teachers could turn their show off and the school would still be in compliance.

Jim Metrock said, "Removing the 80% clause is a major change for Channel One. They still have the requirement that schools show the program at least 90% of all school days, but they are also saying that no classroom is required to show the program.  I hope schools will take advantage of this new language and turn Channel One off and keep the equipment."

September 4, 2001 – More Dirt From Channel One – Joe Dirt

August 29, 2001 – Denver Post Article On Channel One

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%7E124314,00.html

In an astonishing article by Eric Hubler, Denver Post education writer, it is clear that Channel One is in big trouble in Colorado with their offer to pay teachers for doing work for their company.

The Colorado State Education Commissioner William Moloney called Channel One’s programming "pretty low-grade." Moloney calls Channel One’s effort "a little exotic, if not outright bizarre."

The president of the Denver’s teacher union said of Channel One’s offer to pay teachers for signing up schools for Channel One, "I just don’t think it’s right. You can have your license removed."

Channel One’s spokesperson, Sonya McNair, is quoted.  She calls the $500 bounty "a sort of honorarium, an appreciation for sharing the important service that Channel One provides."

Tell that to the district attorneys of Colorado.

Ken Lane, spokesperson for Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, said, "This appears to fall under the Colorado code of ethics for government employees." The article goes on : "Lane said violations, if any, would be handled by local district attorneys.  Teachers who take the money could be fined and prosecuted, he said."

Consider it a … ah… honorarium. That’s it! An honorarium.

Jim Ritts sez

August 29, 2001 – Is Channel One In A Panic?

From Jim Metrock: Channel One is hurting and few are feeling sorry for them. Let’s look at what has happened at this controversial Madison Avenue marketing company.

1. Long-time advertiser and business partner, Reebok, has left Channel One. Reebok and Channel One teamed up for the physical education version of Channel One called PE-TV. There was no advertiser more important to Channel One than Reebok. Obligation hasn’t seen a Reebok ad in well over a year on C1.

2. Mars Inc., the big candy company and huge advertiser on Channel One, pulled the plug on Jim Ritts and Company. (Jim Ritts is Channel One’s CEO.)

3. Channel One heavily advertises its own companies or itself. When advertisers go away, you fill up that space with self-promotional spots.

4. Paul Folkemer suddenly left the company in June. One of his jobs was to convince the public that Channel One had something to do with education. Yeah, right. Now Channel One has to find another educator that will sacrifice their reputation for a big C1 salary. That will be a tough sell.

5. Channel One is relying on the Federal government to keep the company together. As advertisers fall to the wayside, ONDCP and the military become more and more important to Channel One’s survival.

6.  Channel One is desperate to prove to advertisers that they have the audience they claim. The various contests they are running for "key operators" shows that Channel One is under extreme pressure from their advertisers.

There are more indicators of Channel One’s decline. When this company gets thrown on the ash dump of history, schoolchildren across the country ought to unite in song. Ten years of this bad idea is long enough.

August 27, 2001 –  Sleazy Movies Are A Channel One Tradition

Earlier this year, Channel One advertised a series of extremely offensive movies. Teachers, who had no idea what they were showing to their students, became unpaid employees of Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and other movie studios.

Here are some examples from just one of Channel One’s filthy movies.

Head Over Heels PG13 March 2001

Channel One had no problem with cross dressing scenes. Only old-fashion parents would be disturbed by this stuff. "Get with the times," Channel One executives would say.
Lesbian dialogue is big in this Channel One-approved movie. Here are the happy couple at the end of this sleaze-ball film. Everything is normalized.  Channel One and the schools that still have a contract with them, are making sure that Hollywood’s standards become the standards for young people.
This innocent looking scene is one of the most disgusting and disturbing scenes in any Channel One-approved movie. In this scene from "Head Over Heels", two maintenance men enter a women’s restroom.  They don’t know that four women are hiding in another stall.  The men are fixing the toilet but the screenwriter for this offensive "teen movie" created a dialogue between the men that make it seem, to the women who could not see them, that they were having sex. This scene is not brief. You can read the disgusting script by going to our January-June section of News About Channel One. Only when parents and other taxpayers see for themselves what Channel One is doing to our children will they understand the urgent need to remove Channel One from their schools. Parents ought to sue a school for advertising this cultural rot to their children. The advertising of movies on Channel One is just one of the many reasons that schools are ending their relationship with this Madison Avenue marketing company.

August 27, 2001 –  Channel One Busted – Caught Trying To Misuse Public School Employees

Today, Obligation and Commercial Alert joined together in the press release below. Several weeks ago, Channel One began an effort to use public school employees to help them document their viewership. Several contests were created to get their "key operators" (the librarians or classroom teachers that operates the Channel One equipment in each school) to do various tasks that would benefit Channel One.

These key operators were encouraged to gather signatures of teachers who show Channel One to their class, to confirm that the equipment is working, to show teachers a motivational film that would encourage compliance with the Channel One contract, and to try to sign up other schools for Channel One.

All of these efforts will get teachers into big trouble with their school boards, but it is the last effort that should land Channel One in extremely hot water in most states. Channel One says that they will pay their key operators $500 for each school that they sign up for Channel One.  This effort bypasses the superintendent and principal. This compensation is going straight to the key operators pocket. Sign up 5 schools and you get $2,500.

Jim Metrock said, "Any public school employee who helps Channel One in any of these efforts is stealing from the taxpayers of their community. Channel One is just one of many vendors in the school. Any time spent working for Channel One comes at the expense of working for the school. The idea that a teacher would pocket money from Channel One is revolting. This may have gone on before.  Hopefully each state that has Channel One will launch a complete investigation."

Metrock continued, "Just imagine a teacher at a school with Channel One making calls and writing letters to neighboring schools extolling the virtues of Channel One. Would this same teacher do the same thing for a company that supplies hot dogs to the school cafeteria? A few years ago, a teacher that would help a vendor like this would be fired. It is disgusting that Channel One has such low regard for teachers. They see teachers as tools for their profit."

Press Release

Commercial Alert August 27, 2001

Commercial Alert and Obligation Inc. sent letters today to state officials in all 50 states requesting an investigation of an offer by Channel One, an in-school marketing company, to pay $500 to public school employees in exchange for convincing a school principal to enter into a contract to receive Channel One’s product.

The groups, which oppose the commercialization of schools, sent the letters to state attorneys general and chief state school officers in all 50 states, as well as to the heads of state ethics agencies. As an example, following is the letter to Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly.

Dear Attorney General Reilly:

This letter is a formal request for an investigation of the "Share It Program" conducted by Channel One Communications Corporation ("Channel One"), a school-based marketing company owned by Primedia Inc. Through this program, Channel One is offering $500 to public school employees in the State of Massachusetts for convincing a school principal to enter into a contract to receive the Channel One service.

In effect, Channel One is hiring Massachusetts’s public school employees to promote its controversial product. This is a conflict of interest for school employees. Public employment is a public trust — which is violated when employees use their public positions for private gain.

Public school employees should not act as paid agents of private corporations. It is not the proper role of public school employees to be a roving sales team for Channel One’s efforts to commercialize the schools. Such activities are wholly inconsistent with the conscientious performance of school employees’ duties to the taxpayers who pay their salaries.

We urge you to determine whether state ethics laws and rules –especially those related to conflicts of interest or outside earned income — allow Channel One to pay public school employees to use the color of their public position for private gain. If such payments do violate state ethics rules or law, then we urge you to investigate Channel One, and to identify and take all appropriate action against every public school employee in the State of Massachusetts whom Channel One has paid.

If you have any questions about this matter, or want more information, please call Jim Metrock at 205.612.3376 or Gary Ruskin at 503.235.8012.

Sincerely,

Jim Metrock, President, Obligation, Inc.

Gary Ruskin, Executive Director, Commercial Alert

<—-letter ends here—->

August 19, 2001 – One More Reason To Throw Channel One Out Of Serious Classrooms

From Channel One’s web site: "Starting September 24th, we’re giving you an all-access pass to about-to-break bands, as well as video and audio snippets of your favorite group’s latest CD before it’s in stores!"

Channel One started out their new season of broadcasting by announcing that MORE rock and rap music was going to be piped into America’s classrooms. Monday’s edition of Channel One will now showcase new musical groups and artists that are trying to get their big break.

Well, Channel One is going to give them their "big break" by playing a new band’s music. Channel One also will begin to play parts of music videos from more well-known groups.

Last school year, Channel One pushed school boards and principals to the limit when they turned their Thursday show into "All Request Thursday." Students voted on their favorite music and Channel One played the top vote getters on the air.

Classrooms were rocking last year and now the volume is going to be pumped up even higher.

"This is moronic," said Jim Metrock. "Taxpayers aren’t paying for Channel One to be promoting the newest rap singer or rock musician in public schools. Channel One is becoming more goofy every day. A teacher who truly cares about education has only one alternative when the Channel One TVs come on automatically every morning – turn it off."

Thursdays will continue to be "All Request Thursdays" and beginning in late September, Monday’s will be transformed into "New Music Mondays."

Note:  A school district does not have to wait until the end of the three-year contract to remove Channel One from their schools. The school board attorney should find that there is no penalty for ending the contract early.

August
15, 2001 – Ralph Reed Reported No Longer Working For Channel One

August 13, 2001 –  Throw the Bums Out. Slam the Door on the Channel One "Reporters"

High school and middle schools that are still under contract to Channel One should begin to fight back by refusing to allow Channel One "reporters" into their schools.

Students should begin to understand that these young "reporters" for Channel One are using students to grab fame and big money. Since their audience is under a very strict contract that requires the showing of Channel One for 90% of all school days, these "reporters", or "on-air personalities", don’t have to worry about being good at what they do.

This school year it appears that the Channel One "reporters" will be Errol Barnett, Janet Choi, Gotham Chopra, Seth Doane, Krystal Greene, Maria Menounos, Derrick Shore, and Andrew Yani. Students across the country should consider these eight opportunists as persona non grata on their campus.

Judging from last year, Derrick Shore is being promoted as the number one reporter and possible next "star" like Lisa Ling and Kris Osborn.

These young people are the "nice" face on an ugly company. If you are a student at a school with Channel One, realize that your school is forcing this company on you and that most students your age would never be treated this way at their school. They would laugh their heads off if they were shown a Channel One TV show.

August
13, 2001 –  Get Ready, America.  Channel One Begins Broadcasting
Again Today

August 8, 2001 – How
to Embarrass a Principal

August 8, 2001 – ChannelOneParents.com Is Dead

August
7, 2001 – Video clips from Channel One.  You won’t
believe what they are showing children.

August 7, 2001 – "Say ‘No’ To Channel One" PSA
on Alabama TV

August
6, 2001 –  Paul
Folkemer Leaves Channel One

July 17, 2001
-Channel One Advertises Unrated, Violent "Ape" Movie

July
2, 2001 – Channel One’s Junk Food Assault (Detroit Free Press – October
10, 2000)

July
2, 2001 – Channel One Promotes Another Drug Movie

June 11, 2001 – Coalition Urges Advertisers and Federal Government to Stop Advertising on Channel One

June
11, 2001 – Two Emails
to Jim Ritts and "Gang"

June 9, 2001 – Channel One and Media Literacy Don’t Mix

Back to News About Channel One 2001 (Jan – May)