Following the announcement
of a proposed merger between Primedia Inc. and About.com Inc.,
two media watchdog groups raised questions regarding whether
it was proper and appropriate for Primedia, a large media company,
to merge with About.com, which generates an unspecified amount
of revenue from Internet pornography.

Primedia owns several
child-targeted magazines, such as Teen Beat and Seventeen, and
Channel One, an in-school marketing company that delivers ten
minutes of "lite" news and two minutes of advertising
each schoolday to a captive audience of approximately eight million
children.

About.com operates roughly
general interest 700 websites, and several which appear to promote
an extensive library of pornography. For example, About.com operates
websites on "Adult Swinging,""Amateur Erotica,"
and "Fetishism." About.com’s adult film guide, "Margie
S."

tells About.com patrons that her adult film newsletter will "give
you the lowdown on the best xxx films & stars past &
present with plenty of links to the hottest porno places."

"Primedia shareholders have to look at themselves in the
mirror and decide whether they wish to go into business partnership
with porn peddlers," said Gary Ruskin, Director of Commercial
Alert.

"The mainstreaming
of pornography is a national tragedy," said Jim Metrock,
President of Obligation, Inc. "About.com provides visitors
with help in finding prostitutes, pornographic films, and links
to sites like ‘TeenX — the Best Teen Site on the Web!’
and ‘All Teen Pix.’"

On October 23rd, The
New York Times reported that some of the largest multinational
corporations, such as AT&T and General Motors, are major
distributors of pornography. "The General Motors Corporation,
the world’s largest company, now sells more graphic sex films
than does Larry Flynt, owner of the Hustler empire."

"This is what’s
worst about big business today — the incessant peddling of materialism,
violence, pornography, addiction, self-indulgence and anti-social
behavior," Ruskin said. "The more cultural sewage,
the better, as long as it’s profitable."

Ruskin noted that this
may be a cautionary tale for schools that bring corporate marketers
into the classroom. "When you let the camel’s nose into
the tent, you might end up getting the whole camel. Now the schools
are starting to smell the camel," Ruskin said.

"The public needs
to know who is talking to their kids," Metrock said. "I
have serious concerns about Primedia’s influence on children
with its Seventeen magazine and its very controversial Channel
One program. If Internet porn is acceptable to Primedia, then
the public

will find Primedia an unacceptable provider of content to children."

Ralph Reed, former Christian
Coalition Executive Director, is a lobbyist for Primedia’s Channel
One.

"Does Ralph Reed
want to associate himself with a corporation that promotes ‘Schoolgirls4U’?"
Ruskin asked.

Commercial Alert opposes
corporate exploitation of children and the excesses of commercialism,
advertising and marketing. Commercial Alert’s web page is at
www.essential.org/alert/.

Obligation, Inc. works
to remind businesses and governments of their responsibility
to children. Obligation’s website is at www.obligation.org/.

November 6, 2000 – SIZE=”+2″ FACE=”Arial”>Unbelievable!
Channel One Advertises Sexually Charged
"Charlie’s Angels" (PG13) To Middle School and High
School Students – "Channel One has run amok."

WIDTH=”200″ HEIGHT=”271″ ALIGN=”LEFT” BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>From
Jim Metrock:

On November 3, Channel One executives
gave the go-ahead to force feed millions of schoolchildren a commercial
for the sexually charged and violent PG13 movie "Charlie’s
Angels." Obligation will have more information shortly. A
middle school is monitoring and making copies of Channel One for
us so that parents across the country can understand what this
company is doing to schoolchildren. Channel One’s assault on children
is getting brutal.

Channel One is more aggressive
than ever. I truly do not understand why this company would risk
alienating parents and teachers more than they already have. Advertising
sleazy movies to high school students is repugnant. Advertising
them to middle school students is almost criminal.

This latest commercial promoting
a movie filled with sex talk and women in various stages of undress
mixed with a good measure of violence was approved by Channel
One’s Dr. Paul Folkemer. There was a time when no adult would
ever think about doing this to children. But times change. Channel
One has run amok. If you haven’t kicked Channel One out of your
school yet, this may be a good time to do so.

November 3, 2000 – New Discovery Concerning
A Violent Movie Pushed By Channel One

November 1, 2000 – Channel One Continues
to Promote Eddie Murphy’s Dirty Movie

Months after Channel One urged
children to see the premiere of the gross-out PG13 movie The Nutty
Professor – The Klumps, the Channel One web site is still promoting
the film.

Channel One encouraged children
to enter a contest to win Eddie Murphy prizes. The children had
to write about a teacher and why they were crazy – or "nutty."
One of the "winners" was a 13 year-old girl from Georgia.

You can read about the filthy
content of this Channel One-promoted movie by clicking
here.

Jim Metrock said, "Channel
One is contributing to the delinquency of minors. It is that simple.
This company has no business being around any child, much less
in any classroom. I urge Jim Ritts, Jeff Ballabon, Paul Folkemer,
and Channel One’s consultant Ralph Reed to stop this assault on
America’s children and to stop marketing entertainment of any
kind to their audience."

HEIGHT=”52″ ALIGN=”LEFT” BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>October 31, 2000 – Halloween Comes a Day Early for
Primedia – Boo! You Lost 1/4 of Your Stock Value

October 31, 2000 – Scantily Clad Actress
Parades For Preteens and High Schoolers in Channel One Commercial

Channel One executives just can’t
pass up the money that movie studios wave beneath their noses.
On October 6, Channel One ran a commercial in middle schools around
the country for a PG13 movie called "Pay It Forward."
To get the kids’ attention a partially-clothed Helen Hunt is prominently
shown in the classroom commercial. Children see Helen Hunt with
her blouse off and her arms out by her side and her middle school
age son is sniffing her arm pits and he says, "You smell
good." She is wearing a skimpy baby blue bra. (We all remember
Channel One’s infamous "Topless Girl" commercial from
the ’99-00′ school year, don’t we?)

HEIGHT=”269″ ALIGN=”LEFT” BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″> SIZE=”-1″ FACE=”Arial”>Channel One has of course shown worse,
such as this year’s commercial for the PG13 Supernova that showed
a person being gutted and others being killed by "something"
on a spaceship. These sexual images and ultra-violent images are
part of the long heritage of Channel One.

Jim Metrock said, "You can
imagine the disruption in class by seeing this young boy right
up on the breasts of this ‘older woman.’ What would a teacher
do if a boy brought a print picture of an adult woman in a bra
and displayed it in front of the class? What should parents do
to teachers and administrators who allow Channel One to do the
very same thing to sell a movie? The problem is not that Channel
One continues to show children ads for PG13 movies. The problem
is that a captive audience of impressionable schoolchildren are
compelled to watch commercials for ANY movie, for ANY product.
If anyone thinks a PG movie is automatically appropriate for middle
school students, then I think that person is completely clueless.
Channel One is making huge profits by dumping movie commercials
into our children’s classrooms. Nothing is sacred to these marketers."

Metrock said, "Based on our

experience in Alabama, there is no question that schools are turning
off Channel One in record numbers. Teachers, principals, and school
boards are fed up with having to defend the sexual and violent
images Channel One insists on bringing into America’s classroom."

ScreenIt.Com’s ratings for "Pay
It Forward"

Alcohol/Drugs – Heavy

Disrespectful/Bad Attitude – Extreme

Profanity – Moderate

Sex/Nudity – Moderate

Tense Family Scenes – Extreme

Violence – Heavy

October 27, 2000 – Mock Election Documents
Channel One’s Stunning Decline

October 19, 2000 – Contract With Schools
Continues To Be Breached

October 13, 2000 – PA Students Continue
to Protest Channel One

Ken McNatt and other students
in Oil City, Pennsylvania and other nearby cities are expanding
their new organization, Students

Against Commercialized Classrooms Organization (SACCO). As we
reported earlier, Ken McKatt began SACCO to address Channel One’s
presence in his high school. , "SACCO has already grown beyond
my

expectations. We have 23 total members. 20 at the Oil City High
School, 2 in the Oil City Middle School, and 1 at SACCO’s new
Cranberry affiliate"

McNatt said that SACCO’s main
focus is to eliminate Channel One in as many schools as possible.
"It is time that students take a stand and fight Channel
One, said McNatt.

This high school student is not
afraid to take on this powerful Madision Avenue company. McNatt
said, " Mr. Wandell, Dr. Folkemer, and Mr. Ritts, this is
just a fair warning: Channel One’s flight will be experiencing
turbulence from here on out. As students just like myself will
be reclaiming what we have lost, that being our valuable school
time."

Ken McNatt

October 7, 2000 – New Feature – Video
Clips From Channel One

From Jim Metrock:

What exactly is Channel One trying
to sell our students? Well, now you can see for yourself as you
sit in front of your computer.

You can now view specific Channel
One commercials taken from actual tapes that came from America’s
classrooms.

It is often very difficult to
get tapes of Channel One shows out of a school. Channel One has
configured their equipment so it erases its program every night
around 3:00 AM. This is appalling. If your child sees something
offensive on Channel One, then it may very well be erased by the
time you find out. Channel One executives have publicly said they
would supply tapes of their shows to anybody who asks for them,
but they have never fulfilled their promise when we and others
we know have asked them for tapes.

That is why we will be putting
samples of their content on our web site. This will allow parents,
teachers, students, and other concerned citizens to mobilize their
communities against this marketing company.

Downloading a video will take
up to ten minutes if you have a 56K modem. It is worth the wait.
You can use the waiting time to write a letter to your school
board members urging them to end Channel One’s contract. Click
here for the Channel
One Video Clips Page.

October 3, 2000 – Senator Brownback,
What Are You Doing Working For Channel One?

September 22, 2000 – MO Student Begins
Web Site Opposing Channel One in His School

A high school junior in Oak Grove,
MO has started a web site that offers information for those who
oppose Channel One. Jonathan Harm’s school has Channel One and
ZapMe! Channel One officials have always thought that students
were mindless robots that love anything that is on TV, especially
if it takes away from school work. Well, there are students who
understand what Channel One’s real mission is. Ken McNatt in Pennsylvania
is using the web to fight Channel One and now it’s Jonathan Harm
in Missouri. Teachers, school administrators and all taxpayers
ought to take a moment and listen to these young people. They
are intelligent, articulate, and, yes, courageous.

Mr. Harm will be posting valuable
information about what is advertised on the daily show.

Please visit Mr. Harm’s site at
http://switch.to/anti-ch1.

September 14, 2000 – Obligation Participates
in Demonstration Against "Golden Marble" Awards in NYC

Shamelessly advertisers and marketers
sat in the Grand Hyatt Hotel on September 14 and handed out "Golden
Marble" awards to honor the best advertising to children.
These advertisers also had two days of seminars on how to more
effectively manipulate children and to get a large portion of
their allowance money.

It was no surprise to see Channel One well represented at this
repugnant conference and award show. Alex Molnar, Susan Linn,
Mark Crispin Miller, Diane Levin were some of the academics there
to protest. Dylan Bernstein of the Center for Commercial-Free
Public Education was there from Oakland, CA. Pat Ellis and Jim
Metrock represented Obligation.

September 14, 2000 – GAO Study on Commercialism
in Schools Prominently Mentions Channel One

Weak News Content Mentioned With Controversy
Over Forcing Ads On Kids

On September 14, the General Accounting
Office issued a report documenting the rapid rise of commercialism
in public schools. Channel One’s type of commercialism is only
one type, albeit, in our minds it is one of the most outrageous.
The report which made news across the country is: GAO/HEHS-00-156
Public Education: Commercial Activities in Schools.

This is even more bad news for
the marketing executives at Channel One. This company that hated
to see its name in the public is now in the white hot spotlight
of public scrutiny. We urge citizens to ask your Congressperson
or Senator to send you a copy of this report or order it from
the GAO (the report is free). Or you can print it out from the
web site, but its 57 pages.

Check it out yourself.

Read the General Accounting Office report
on Commercial Activities in Public Schools by going to http://www.gao.gov/new.items/he00156.pdf

September 16, 2000 -An Email to Channel
One’s President Jim Ritts

Dear Mr. Ritts:

Please instruct your sales department and Dr. Folkemer to immediately
refrain from advertising violent entertainment on your show.

As you know, Channel One has systematically
marketed violent entertainment to schoolchildren. (Sorry, got
the tapes and, as you know, the FTC invited me to show them your
company’s ads for violent entertainment. They have the proof in
their files.)

I hope you will agree that the days of pushing violent entertainment
on children is over. The movie studios can’t pay your company
enough to wash away the stench of marketing violence to impressionable
children.

Please write me back and tell me if this practice will be discontinued
at Channel One. If I hear no reply, then I must sadly conclude
that Channel One will continue its current policy.

I also believe that either you or Mr. Rogers ought to issue a
public apology for this offensive advertising. You should run
the apology several times, on different days of the week, on the
Channel One show and make it available on teach1.com and issue
the apology through major news outlets.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Jim Metrock

September 11, 2000 –
FTC Mentions FACE=”Arial”>Channel One in Historic
Report on Marketing of Violent Entertainment to Children

“Target marketing
to children of entertainment products with violent content is
pervasive and aggressive,”

FTC chairman Robert Pitofsky
(September 11, 2000)

You bet, Bob. Violent movies, violent television
shows, violent music, violent video games. This is the world our
children live in. The marketing of violent entertainment is big
business, and that is certainly the case with Channel One.

In today’s monumental report, the FTC specifically
mentioned Channel One as a "less traditional" way that
marketers get their messages to children. The FTC has in its possession
tapes of Channel One’s ads for the movies Supernova, The Mummy,
The World Is Not Enough and television shows Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, New York Undercover, and the television movie, Stephen
King’s The Shining. They also have proof that Channel One played
music from groups known for their ultra-violent lyrics.

Jim Metrock said, "Channel One is busted.
How dare these high-priced marketers push violence into our children’s
lives. Channel One routinely places money ahead of the welfare
of children and they deserve the growing wrath of the public."

From the 9/11/00 FTC Report Appendix B:

"Entertainment marketers
look not only to reach teens but to be pervasive in the market
throughout the day, whether at home, school, or out and about.
Marketers also use a variety of less traditional techniques to
communicate to teens. Recently, a small industry of companies
that market to youth in educational settings has grown up. One
example is Channel One, which provides schools with a brief 12-minute
news program that incorporates two minutes of advertising, including
ads for entertainment products."

Metrock said, "We are
again sending a letter to Channel One asking that they release
the list of all movies and television shows advertised to children
since 1995, which was the first year PRIMEDIA owned the company.
The amount of violent entertainment advertised on Channel One
is believed to be considerably more than we mentioned. Obligation
only gets to see less than 30% of Channel One’s shows. Channel
One has gotten much more aggressive with its advertising over
the last three years. How aggressive? This January 14, Channel
One TV sets showed children a person being ‘gutted’ on the very
violent commercial for the movie Supernova. Channel One gave that
movie ad a big ‘okeydokey’ because they would make some big money
by pushing that particular movie."

"The marketers are
in our schools and they shouldn’t be," said Metrock. "They
are making our children feel inferior if they don’t buy expensive
athletic shoes or odd if they don’t eat candy bars all the time,
and not popular unless they are going to age-inappropriate and
often violent movies. These children are virtual slaves to the
marketers who bid for their attention. Now is the time to stop
this insanity. We urge communities to remove Channel One from
their schools."

Check it out yourself.

Read the Federal Trade Commission report
on how Violent Entertainment is Marketed to Children by going
to the FTC Web Site (www.ftc.gov).

WIDTH=”130″ HEIGHT=”194″ ALIGN=”LEFT” BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>

September 8, 2000 COLOR=”#ff0000″ SIZE=”+2″ FACE=”Arial”> – SIZE=”+1″ FACE=”Arial”>For More Than Four Years Channel One
Has Marketed Violent Entertainment to America’s Schoolchildren

Important
Press Release – Fri., September 8, 2000

BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>

September 8, 2000 – Chicago Tribune –
Bad Nutrition and Channel One

Great article by Bob Condor in the September
3, 2000 Chicago Tribune about how schools send contradictory nutritional
messages to schoolchildren. Schools take National School Lunch
Program money and then show Channel One with its incessant junk
food and soft drink commercials. Doesn’t make sense does it? That
is why our coalition sent letters to the U.S. Senate and U.S.
House Agriculture Committees this summer. (link to be provided)

September 7, 2000 – ChannelOneParents.com
Is Dead

It was announced last year with
great flourish. Channel One was going to have a web site just
for parents of children required to watch Channel One during their
school day. The concept was ludicrous from the beginning. Channel
One has been a big secret for parents and that is why Channel
One got little press attention from 1991 to 1996.

Jim Metrock said, "The HREF=”http://www.channeloneparents.com/”>ChannelOneParents.com
site turned out to be nothing more than a public relations effort
that was badly botched. A feature on the site called ‘Ask Dr.
Folkemer’ appeared to offer visitors a chance to ask the VP of
Education questions about the program. I was told by Dr. Folkemer
in January that he never answers any questions from the site and
that he was not in favor of having that feature. The several
questions I have asked Dr. Folkemer through the site have
always gone unanswered. The site was slapped together for PR purposes
and then forgotten about."

This web site has not been updated
for at least five months. It is no longer mentioned on Primedia’s
web site. The two remaining sites that are updated on a regular
basis are channelone.com and teach1.com.

September 7, 2000 – Channel One Forgot
the News!

All summer long and as recently
as this past Labor Day weekend, Channel One had opportunities
to bring their students the news and didn’t. The self-proclaimed
"only source of news for millions of kids" has failed
to use their web site (www.channelone.com) to keep children up-to-date
on breaking news.

Jim Metrock said, "Channel
One could easily get their anchors to cover stories on the weekend
and then webcast them on their web site. They have never done
this. This underscores the fact that Channel One isn’t, and never
has been, serious about providing news to children. They could
also update children visitors to their web site with news updates
throughout the night, but all this would cost money and gathering
news isn’t their main purpose anyhow."

Channel One’s web site will often
have three headlines and a few sentences about each of them in
their "News" section. Usually these headlines are not
about breaking news and they are usually very dated. The company
is currently not using its webcasting ability at all. In the past
they had provided video clips of portions of their daily show
but the last web video on their site is from May.

Metrock said, "This marketing
company will not do continuous updates of their news, they will
not run a web version of their show on weekends because there
is little chance for advertising review. If there is still anyone
in this country who thinks Channel One cares about children learning
current events, then this ought to convince them otherwise. Children
watch Channel One because they are under contract to watch the
show so their school can keep the TV sets. When it becomes voluntary,
Channel One knows they will attract few viewers."

September 4, 2000 – BusinessWeek Focuses
Spotlight On Nationwide Channel One Controversy

ALIGN=”LEFT” BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”0″>Diane Gramley Featured
in Business Week Article – "This is a big company preying
on my children."

BusinessWeek (dated September
11) hit the newsstands today and the cover story is "Too
Much Corporate Power?" Channel One is prominently mentioned
and Diane Gramley of Franklin, PA is shown with two of her children
standing in front of Rocky Grove High School. This courageous
woman has not only taken on her school board but the huge corporate
power of Primedia/Channel One. She is mobilizing her community
to throw Channel One out. 287 people have already signed a petition
urging the removal of Channel One.

Hopefully the News Herald, the
biggest paper in the Franklin, PA area will editorially support
commercial-free classrooms for the children of their readers.
Congratulations to the Oil City Voice. This newspaper has steadfastly
given space to those like Diane Gramley who want to maintain the
integrity of Pennsylvania classrooms.

This long article in America’s
premier business magazine will greatly help our efforts to raise
awareness of Channel One. More bad news is coming for our corporate
predator friends on Madison Avenue. When you exploit children,
don’t expect many people to say nice things about you you. If
there is a neighborhood school that still has Channel One, dedicate
yourself to getting these violent movie ads and junk food commercials
out of the school. Call us and we will help you. 205-822-0080

September
1, 2000 – Update on Morgan Wandell

August 26, 2000 – New School Year Starts

Massive Junk Food Assault Greets Children

Channel One Continues To Pound Kids With
Candy and Soft Drink Ads

Visit
Channel One’s Hall of Fame (Shame?)

HEIGHT=”1157″>

BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>Mt.
Dew is a long-time advertiser on Channel One. They consistently
run loud and hilarious commercials that would draw the attention
of even the most serious student in the class. Mt. Dew must be
very pleased with the effectiveness of Channel One. The goal
of Channel One is to get kids to buy and used (drink) their advertiser’s
products. That will result in advertisers remaining with Channel
One and they may even pay higher ad rates for this unique captive
audience. The fact that children should be consuming less of
products like Mt. Dew has made no impression on Channel One.

"In October 1998, the Center for Science
in the Public Interest released a study on the perils of excessive
soft drink consumption among teens. Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks
are Harming Americans’ Health revealed that soda consumption
among 13- to 18-year-olds is up 80 percent from 20 years ago.
The nonprofit health advocacy organization urges parents as well
as schools to discourage soft drink consumption and get rid of
soda vending machines, just as they have banished smoking."

Two companies have been critical to Channel
One’s continued existence: Mars, Inc. (Snickers, Twix, M&Ms)
and PepsiCo (Pepsi, Mug Root Beer, Mt. Dew).

It is obvious that Channel One has been very
effective in increasing the sales of candy and high-sugar, high
caffeine soft drinks to impressionable children. These two advertisers
have been with Channel One for at least seven years.

What Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science
in the Public Interest sees as "liquid candy" (soft
drinks), Channel One sees as "liquid assets" (cash).

ALIGN=”LEFT” BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>

BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>

A Channel One "Teaching Moment"

Selling sugar and caffeine to children
= money for Channel One "educators"

BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>This is "health
food" to Channel One executives.

1. Hostess advertises on Channel One. 2. More
kids eat Twinkies. 3. Hostess understands the power of Channel
One and spends more on commercials. 4. Channel One’s financial
picture becomes even more "healthier."

ALIGN=”BOTTOM” BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”0″>

Dr. Paul Folkemer, Channel One VP, goes around the country
telling parents not to worry about Channel One because he is
a former middle school principal and he approves all commercials.

In his three years with Channel One, Dr. Folkemer has approved
hundreds of soft drink commercials for his youthful captive audience.
Dr. Folkemer has approved hundreds of candy bar commercials.
Bon Appetit, Kids.

(picture from Channel One’s defunct ChannelOneParents.com.
They put some self-promotional content on this site last year
and then never maintained it. Makes sense. There is no such thing
as a Channel One parent.)

From Jim Metrock: Now Channel
One is pushing children to eat more Hostess Cupcakes and Twinkies.
These new commercials will be added to the Snickers, Twix, Skittles,
Spree, and M&Ms commercials that Channel One shameless brings
into classrooms. Of course, Channel One would like the kids to
wash that high sugar garbage down with a big Mt. Dew or Pepsi.

Our children are harmed by this. The studies are coming out left
and right that there is an obesity crisis and diabetes crisis
with our children. It is unconscionable that our public schools
are allowing this controversial marketing company to be peddling
this junk food to children during their school day.

Surely this is not what schools
signed up for when they decided to experiment with Channel One
back in the early 90’s. This company is making big money off of
advertising candy and high sugar soft drinks to a group of Americans
that is getting fatter and more unhealthy. They are harming children
as surely as if they were slugging children as they come into
the school house.

Channel One’s VP of Education
Dr. Paul Folkemer has gone on record as saying that Channel One
is doing nothing wrong by advertising candy and soft drinks to
its young captive audience.

These executives are taking home
big salaries that come from companies like PepsiCo and M&M/Mars.
These executives will not change their ways on their own. They
are not going to turn down M&M/Mars money simply because there
is an epidemic of childhood obesity. We the public have to correct
this. Believe me, we can do it. In my home state of Alabama, a
school system with Channel One is not viewed very favorably. Having
Channel One in your schools is nothing a principal or superintendent
boasts about. I urge those in other states to become active in
fighting for commercial-free schools. Make sure that your public
school district removes Channel One this school year.

August
24, 2000 Morgan Wandell ?!

BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>August
24, 2000 – MTV-Wantabe, Channel One, Hires "Real World"
Janet Choi As New Reporter

d COLOR=”#000000″ SIZE=”-1″ FACE=”Arial”>JANET CHOI (Picture from
MTV’s "The Real World" 1998)- She starred in MTV’s controversial
and over-the-edge "Real World" and now she is talking
directly to your middle school children.

"Real World"
was an unscripted show that placed seven people who didn’t know
each other into a house together and then filmed them. The footage
was edited down into a program that has run on MTV for several
years. Choi was in the series that was based in Seattle. The program
focused on people’s relationships and, of course, if it was MTV,
that meant a heavy dose of sexual talk.

Jim Metrock, president
of Obligation said, "Last year, Channel One ran a contest
for children to win tickets to the raunchy MTV Video Awards. Channel
One announced this February that they were collaborating with
MTV on a drug special which was absurd because MTV has, in various
ways, promoted drug usage among young people. And now they hire
a reporter whose main claim to fame is that she was on a vulgar
MTV reality show. Channel One wants to be more like MTV and that
is simply more bad news for children who are forced to view Channel
One each day."

More on Ms. Choi
and the New Channel One soon.

August 24, 2000 – Ken McNatt, A Student, Uses the
Web to Fight Channel One (www.members.tripod.com/iceman_km/ChannelOnePage/)

Who cares about
our policies and standards. Nobody reads them.

One of Channel One’s policy statements
says: "(We will) not air programming or commercial content
that promotes promiscuity, the use of drugs, alcohol, or tobacco,
or includes any offensive language, nudity, or sex."

This policy was violated by the
recent advertisements and contests for the two indecent movies
Channel One promoted to children (Loser and The Nutty Professor
II). Loser was nothing less than a pro-drug, pro-drinking movie
that "winked" and laughed at the use of date rape drugs.
The other movie was a gross-out, dirty movie by Eddie Murphy.
Both movies contained incredible amounts of sexual content and
offensive language. Channel One’s new crew ought to read their
own policy and either begin to abide by it or remove the parts
they have no intention of honoring.

What Channel One’s lobbyists
and public relation people tell the public and what Channel One
actually does are usually two totally different things. This
looks like it is going to be one of Channel One’s ugliest years.
Let’s hope Channel One TV sets are being unplugged across the
nation.

August
17, 2000 – Letter to Vestavia Hills, AL Residents – Past Time
To Remove Channel One From Our Middle School

WIDTH=”244″ HEIGHT=”410″ ALIGN=”LEFT” BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>Forget
News, Channel One Aggressively Promotes Pop Culture

Latest Contest Features Britney
Spears

Channel One’s Web Site Is Cause
for Alarm

From Jim Metrock: The infamous Channel One
web site is worth a visit by parents, teachers and anybody that
cares about children. When channelone.com first got started it
was a horror house of revolting features. Channel One had chat
rooms where children could meet up with anonymous Internet users
and they could go into "private rooms." A child was
asked for personal information as they signed on to these dangerous
chat rooms. All this stopped after months of protesting by Obligation.

Channel One reviewed
R-rated movies for its young visitors. They reviewed and rated
explicit CDs. They published an article that told kids how
to cheat on a book report. They gave kids sex
advice. All this ended because the public was finding out
about Channel One’s outrageous idea of a "children’s web
site."

Now after a year of having a ghost town for a web site, Channel
One is coming out swinging. A new crew at channelone.com has evidently
been given free reign to get kids to the site and to start getting
advertisers signed up.

This, of course, will cause Channel One
to lose even more schools. Pay a visit to channelone.com
and check out the contests.

SRC=”image/eddiemurphytemple.jpg” WIDTH=”200″ HEIGHT=”200″ ALIGN=”LEFT”
BORDER=”0″ NATURALSIZEFLAG=”3″>August 14, 2000 – New School Year
Starts With Channel One’s Web Site Promoting Eddie Murphy’s Latest
Dirty Movie to Children
Warning – This movie
is so indecent and the soundtrack so vulgar that our commentary
unfortunately needs to contain much offensive content. As Channel
One becomes more aggressive in marketing vulgarity to children,
we regrettably must print content that is deplorable. Parents,
teachers, and taxpayers need to know what Channel One is marketing
to children.

August 2, 2000 – Channel One Invests
In Travel Agency – Will Work The Kids To Get To Parents

This is from a June 26, 2000 Primedia press
release:

CHANNEL ONE PARTNERS WITH BYEBYENOW.COM

Primedia’s Channel One, the largest source of video news and information
for teenagers, has taken a non-cash equity position in ByeByeNow.com,
the online travel and leisure company. In exchange for an equity
interest in ByeByeNow.com, Primedia will provide advertising time
on Channel One during its daily in-school educational news broadcast
seen by more than eight million students (40% of all teens in
America) and 440,000 educators in more than 12,000 middle and
high schools across the country. Advertising time will also be
offered on ChannelOne.com, the companion educational web site.
ByeByeNow.com is a leading brick and mortar and online player
in the travel business that uniquely uses broadband video travel
services and is tied to a network of travel agents. The company
delivers the ultimate in customer service and personalization
through its web site; network of franchise travel stores and 24-hour
customer care center.

CHANNEL ONE, SEVENTEEN MAGAZINE
AND COVER CONCEPTS PARTNER WITH SWELL.COM

Primedia has also taken a non-cash equity stake in Swell.com by
offering the network of surfing/snowboarding/skateboarding Websites
advertising and promotional assets from Channel One, ChannelOne.com,
Seventeen Magazine, and Primedia’s Cover Concepts, which sells
advertising sponsorships for book covers given away in schools.
Swell.com is launching a network of sites designed to be the best
destination for coverage of the surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding
communities and lifestyle with world-class content, tools and
services for hard-core enthusiasts and those who love the lifestyle.
he Sites will have a significant e-commerce area for the sale
of gear, apparel and accessories relevant for these activities
and will be supported by significant offline promotions, (such
as Adrenaline Theatre), events (the Nike Big Air Show) and activities.

Some commercials for Byebyenow.com
appeared on Channel One this spring. The ads are not subtle. They
tell the children to tell their parents about their travel web
site. You will see more of this coming from the new aggressive
Channel One being lead by the old Whittle hand, Jim Ritts. Anything
appears to go now. It will definitely be a volatile fall for the
controversial Channel One.

To Obligation’s
Channel One News January-July 2000

Back To Obligation’s
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